Home :: Books :: Entertainment  

Arts & Photography
Audio CDs
Audiocassettes
Biographies & Memoirs
Business & Investing
Children's Books
Christianity
Comics & Graphic Novels
Computers & Internet
Cooking, Food & Wine
Entertainment

Gay & Lesbian
Health, Mind & Body
History
Home & Garden
Horror
Literature & Fiction
Mystery & Thrillers
Nonfiction
Outdoors & Nature
Parenting & Families
Professional & Technical
Reference
Religion & Spirituality
Romance
Science
Science Fiction & Fantasy
Sports
Teens
Travel
Women's Fiction
The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows: 1946-Present

The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows: 1946-Present

List Price: $27.95
Your Price: $18.45
Product Info Reviews

<< 1 2 3 4 5 >>

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Prime Time Television 1948 to Present (and in the Future)
Review: This book is the ultimate collectors item for the Coach Potato.
It lists all pertinet data from any TV show from any channel including cast, running dates, summary, and directors and producers. It also has a section on the growth and expansion of the television networks including the cable stations. It'll settle any dispute or quandry you have with a friend on over any show.
A great reference and coffee table book for those noveau collectors looking for the new trendy book.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: You love TV? You'll LOVE this!
Review: This book offers something for everyone, from the casual viewer, to the die-hard fan of TV shows through history. I think that every house should have a copy!

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: An Uneven And Decidedly Opinionated Book About TV
Review: This book sort of considers itself the "industry standard" at giving you the facts about television shows. And, in many ways, it does give you a sense of many of the programs listed here, more than six thousand, as the cover states. However, it frequently doesn't know whether it wants to give you the gossipy dish on a program or to clearheadedly state the facts of a show, and it frequently misses the historical records or the most important points.

For example, in the case of television's most celebrated flop, "My Mother The Car," they flatly state the plot of the program, but nothing about how outrageous the concept was or any of the commentary about it. Meanwhile, just over the page, they talk of how many people found the critical darling, "My So-Called Life" whiny and melodramatic!

Either a tome like this should treat all shows with no editorial opinion included, or they should dish the dirt on all programs. It makes the authors seem like rank amateurs to try to be both critics and paladins of televison facts.

One final note: They always state, with each ensuing version of this book (currently at the Eighth Edition), that the text is "completely revised and updated." This is a lie. The reviews and comments on every show reviewed in a previous edition is exactly the same as it was when it first appeared. Some of these are embarrassingly outdated, like the comments they made about the landmark miniseries, "Roots."

This book is helpful to people who are aware of the programs firsthand and won't be swayed by the author's biases. However, with internet resources available, this book and many others like it may soon be as dead as many of the shows it purportedly reviews.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Missing Show
Review: This edition encompasses the earlier ones and adds lots of cable channel info. However, I discovered that the program "Shades of LA" which was in the previous edition is missing, or else not where it should be.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Enjoyable reference encyclopedia
Review: This encyclopedia is a great reference source for everything having to do with every American TV series ever produced. From I Love Lucy to The X-Files, they're all here, presented in concise summaries with data on every major cast member, the basic plot, and important episodes, as well as interesting trivia. very enjoyable to read, and great for TV historians. It seems that they do a revision every three years or so. It's been almost four years since the last revision, so hopefully we'll be getting one soon, which should obviously include data on all the new series, more data on the ones still on the air, as well as the finales of all the ones that have ended, such as Seinfeld, Murphy Brown, Home Improvement, et al.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A MUST FOR T.V. TRIVIA BUFF'S
Review: THIS HAS GOT TO BE THE BEST SOURCE OF TELEVISION SHOWS INFORMATION EVER! IF IT'S NOT HEAR IT WAS NEVER THERE

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Superb!
Review: This is a comprehensive and entertaining guide to US network and cable TV series. It contains so much information (e.g. cast lists, synopsis, trivia, air dates) and will keep any TV fan reading till past midnight! An excellent book - I'm looking forward to the 7th edition.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Great Book
Review: This is a truly great book for any television fan.
It basically covers every telivision show and sitcom since the creation of the TV. It does however have it's errors. It has missed characters, and episodes, as well as missing shows.
Granted it does have 95% of the shows you are looking for, it doesn't cover cartoons as much as it should. It does have Nickelodeon and Disney cartoons. It covers mostly NBC, ABC and CBS television shows, but very few cartoons. It neglects the saturday morning cartoons that you would expect to see in this book. The cartoons from the 70's 80's and 90's.
There are books for that, but you would expect this book to have them in it. There are over 6000 shows in this book, so it does have plenty in it. And I know you will find shows that you have forgotten about. I know I did.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The authority on television.
Review: This is perhaps the most useful reference book ever, giving complete information on everything that's ever been on prime-time or late-night television in the United States. Plus a complete index of all the actors, and a bunch of useful appendices. Good for looking up specific information, and also fun to read cover-to-cover, if you can find the time.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The best book of TV shows ever published
Review: This is the definitive book of prime time network TV shows and is a must-have for every household for its usefulness and in depth information about TV shows and television in general. It contains something for everybody and it is TV fans dream come true. Keep this book either in your bookcase or right next to the latest issue of TV Guide at all times.


<< 1 2 3 4 5 >>

© 2004, ReviewFocus or its affiliates