Prime Times : Writers on Their Favorite TV Shows

by BAUER, DOUGLAS

• ISBN13: 9781400081141
• ISBN10: 1400081149
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 2004-07-01
• Publisher: Three Rivers Press

Summary

The literary mind and the boob tube are often thought to have little in common, but the two have been trysting in dimly lit rooms since television's earliest days. To prove the point, Doug Bauer asked a number of the finest writers of our time to reveal their own forays into a medium that has been called everything from a vast wasteland to the electronic dream machine of the global village. The results are surprising, passionate, very personal, and often downright hilarious. From Nora Ephron on The Mary Tyler Moore Show to Nick Hornby on The West Wing, Susan Cheever on Father Knows Best to Henry Louis Gates Jr. on Amos 'n' Andy, the full range of televised fare is capturedsitcoms and soaps, police dramas and reality TV, the very new and the very old, and the much criticized and denounced and the truly iconic and beloved. Prime Times is an eclectic gathering of autobiography, memory, and blade-sharp observation, all bound by the commonand, after all, literaryexperience of watching other people's lives while trying to understand one's own. From the Hardcover edition.

Author Biography

DOUGLAS BAUER has written for Esquire, The New York Times Magazine, Harper’s, Playboy, and other national magazines. He is also the author of <b>Prairie City, Iowa</b>, a work of nonfiction, and three novels. He lives in Boston.<br><br><br><i>From the Hardcover edition.</i>

Table of Contents

The west wing	p. 3
America, America, this is you : a complete explanation of why, exactly, I am going on record as loving America's funniest home videos	p. 11
Days of our lives	p. 17
The tribe has spoken : why I like survivor	p. 24
Father knows best	p. 45
The great ones	p. 52
The Andy Griffith show	p. 60
Beam me up, Scotty : Star trek	p. 67
Bring back big valley	p. 81
The wound and the bow : Howard Cosell and Monday night football	p. 90
Rob and Laura and the little garage	p. 113
Like Robinson Crusoe	p. 121
The Mary Tyler Moore show	p. 131
Infomercials	p. 134
You are not alone : MST3K, Lost in space, and the reality of science fiction	p. 142
A life of danger	p. 155
Prime times : Masterpiece theatre	p. 161
Dreamhouse	p. 168
Hawaii five-O	p. 175
The twilight zone	p. 187
The world in black and white	p. 195
Amos 'n' Andy and civil rights on TV	p. 202
Gracie and me	p. 208
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