Customer Reviews

Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, Sixth Edition (6th ed, Revised)

5 star:		(65)
4 star:		(22)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The information contained in this book is astounding. I can't tell you how many times I have consulted this book whenever we see an actor on a TV show and wonder, "Where have we seen him/her before?" Rarely has that question not been answered in the pages of this book. I've bought the last four editions, and have a "hand-me-down chain" well established: my sister gets the second-most-recent edition, and she passes the previous one onto her son-in-law.

Inaccuracies? With the volume of television information out there, there are bound to be small mistakes here and there. The authors encourage readers to submit corrections to the book, and I myself have done so. (In fact, my name appears in the acknowledgments page of this edition as having contributed a correction.)

Out-of-date information? This book is only updated once every three to four years (to update it more often would be cost-prohibitive), and the last revision was in 1999. The publication information on the Amazon.com item page clearly says this, and the book's introduction also gives the "official" cut-off date for updated information. The next edition should be just around the corner.

My library would not be complete without this book, and I will, without hesitation, be buying the next edition as soon as it hits the shelves.

PRE-DELIVERY COMMENTS: This is the latest edition of a big fat guidebook to everything that is or was television in the US. Previous editions have been so thorough in their content that I can't imagine what will be added to this one I am a trivia nut-case and I'm sure there will be more lists and more cross-indexes than ever before! I have been buying this book every time it's revised since the 3rd edition, when I first discovered it. In addition to listing all TV shows in alphabetical order, it gives the cast members' names and the years they played their characters. It gives a synopsis of each show's plotline and the roles the characters played in the plot development. Cast changes are explained, where necessary. Every listed actor is cross-indexed in the back of the book to all the shows he/she played on, no matter how many shows there were.

Various appendices give fascinating insight into television history and trivia, like top 20 shows each year, theme music that became hit records and shows that hopped from one network to another in the search for success. Special shows, like The Tonight Show, get special treatment. A history of the development of the TV networks is also presented.

If enthusiasm qualified me for a free book, I'd have a carton of them on my doorstep, but I'll be buying mine, just like everybody else and doing it eagerly.

Brooks and Marsh have compiled what is far and away the best reference book for prime time television. Each entry includes the genre, the dates of first and last broadcast, the broadcast history of the show as to times and days of the week, and the cast members (hosts or regulars for reality programming). Then there is a description of the program, the length of which depends on how long that particular program aired. Clearly, the basics are covered in this compilation. My guess is that sooner or later they are going to have to come out with a CD-Rom edition or they are going to have to do two volumes.

The other strengths of this volume are the introductory essay "A Short History of Network Television" and the Appendixes which provide Prime Time Schedules, Emmy Award Winners, Top-Rated Programs by Season, Longest-Running Series, The Top 100 Series of All Time, Prime Time Series Reunion Telecasts, Series Airing in Prime Time on More Than One Network, Prime Time Spinoffs, Prime Time Series Based on Movies, Prime Time Network TV Series that Also Aired on Network Radio, and Hit Theme Songs from Series. The Index of Personalities and Performers allows you to track your favorites from series to series throughout the history of the tube.

In regards to their introductory examination of the trends in programming that have created specific eras in prime time, I would argue that Brooks and Marsh jumped the gun a little bit on characterizing the 1990s as the Ear of Choice. Certainly that is where we are now, but for the first part of that decade I think that network programming was dominated by female oriented programs. The Nielsen Top 10 included "Roseanne," "Murphy Brown," "The Golden Girls," "Designing Women," "Murder, She Wrote," and "Grace Under Fire" at some point during that period. Even shows will male stars-such as "Home Improvement" and "Coach"-presented ironic portraits of the traditional macho male. By presenting traditional males in explicit comic and inherently negative ways, even these shows work into the feminist perspective. Clearly women as the dominate audience for television were being courted by such shows and I think that constitutes a distinct era for Brooks and Marsh to include.

Note: If you are looking for a book that covers daytime programming, then Alex O'Neill's "Total Television" is where you want to start.

I've owned every edition of this book and it just keeps getting better and better. Now they even include all the 'minor' networks (A&E, Nickelodeon, BET, ...) and some of those networks' first run shows. Every prime-time show through the 1998 season is covered with cast lists and air dates. The appendices have expanded the yearly ratings to include the Top 30 shows. About the only thing missing would be highest and lowest rated episode of each show, and that might be asking for too much.

This book is one of the best print source for background information on TV shows. Those of you that contact me through the internet asking questions on shows, well, this is the first source I consult.

The only thing lacking is a notation on the number of episodes for the programs. This is usually one of the basic questions on a TV affectionado's mind. I'd suggest that this be added in the 8th Edition.

Buy the book! It is worth it and compliments your internet searches.

Regards,

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.

As a young (29) person who is still building a collection of classic TV shows, I found this book a very valuable tool. I don't like it that it says 'to present' in the title, because it seems like a ... trick to have people buy it once it's outdated.

Anyway, I'm going to comment first on what the book has, and the on the flaws.

The book comes with a list of more than 5,500 TV series. Each entry includes original and last air dates, cast and a synopsis, and often interesting notes. It also comes with the primetime schedules for all networks since 1947, a list of Emmy winner, and several rankings (top-rated programs, longest-running series, top 100 series, etc. The index is good, too.
The flaws: Information is not always accurate. I'd like to say this is occasional, but I have spotted several mistakes, and well, I haven't watched all 5500 series, as you can imagine. If I found like 5-6 mistakes in 30 series I really checked (even watched the tapes to make sure), I wonder what the real ratio is.

Also, there's missing shows (mostly from HBO and/or the last year, which probably means they didn't put a lot of work in updating the book).

Still, I think this is a great book to buy for TV fans. However, the information it contains can be easily found on the web (the list of Emmy winners, or information about shows, etc are freely available), so for the casual person who just wants to check a specific fact, it's probably not worth the money.

Okay, I agree with some of the comments that this could be a little more detailed...but geez! I mean, there's more detail here than in other books I've found. I will mention one guide that is superior in that it offers daytime faire, as well-which includes a lot of the programming I saw as a child. This book is Alex McNeil's "Total Television"(see my review for this one). As far as prime time goes, though, this is much more detailed, with a cast list for each show. Every show has genre designation: "Dallas"-drama, "The Jack Benny Show"-comedy, "The Honeymooners"-situation comedy, "The Ed Sullivan Show/Toast of the Town"-variety, "The Prisoner"-mystery/adventure, "Alcoa Presents"(see "One Step Beyond")-occult anthology, "The Simpsons"-cartoon, "The Muppet Show"-variety(and, yes, the "cast" is listed for these last two). It even includes late night: "The Tonight Show" and "Saturday Night Live"(both amazing histories-and the cast list for the latter!) After the genre, the first and last telecast is listed, the entire broadcast history(some may be renewed, for example), and then the cast for the show's run. There is also a handy schedule, by year to year, in the back. This book is a must have for any TV afficionado.

this book is great for tv buffs it brought back alot of memories from my past and present. there is only one thing that could make this book better and what i would like to see added is a list of each episode by name or at least something stating how many episodes were made for each show listed like for example "kolchak:the night stalker" (20 episodes),other than that the book is a bible of the tv and cable world.oh yeah also what would make it better is if a new edition was put out each year instead of the wide gap in years between editions so this way it is more up to date and accurate of the current times.

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.