Customer Reviews

King of the Half Hour: Nat Hiken and the Golden Age of TV Comedy (Television)

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

 

 

As a child I watched Car 54 Where Are You ?, and then in later years I watched The Phil Silvers Show ( Sgt Bilko ) on the BBC - which they repeat regularly to this day. Perhaps one day they will show Car 54 again ?
It was strange to realise only recently ,that one man, Nat Hiken ,was responsible for both shows.
This excellent biography tells the story of how these shows came to be, and is a fascinating glimpse into the early days of TV. David Everitt gives great discriptions of the behind the scenes dramas, as well as analysing in an acessable way just why Hiken's work has stood the test of time.
If it is true that his work has largely been forgotton in America, then that is very sad. I notice that car 54 was released on video some years ago, and there is no authorised Bilko DVD . Shameful .
His attention to detail, and striving for perfection, created some outstanding comedy. However this was not without taking a toll on his health.
His premeture death, left us all the poorer.
I can't help but wonder what he would have made of today's sit-coms. All in all a great read .

THANKS so much to the Author for doing a book on one of the GREATEST people to grace the TELEVISION Screen! CAR 54, Where Are You? Is one of the BEST written and Expertly crafted TV Sitcoms to ever make it to the screen. I really feel sorry for people who have time to proof read sample pages on the internet and criticize mis-spelled words? From a GREAT book! Buy it!

While I can sympathize with not buying a book if you believe it is sloppily written, jacket copy isn't written by the author but by some copy writer at the publishing company. It shouldn't have gone out like that (why didn't spellcheck catch it? probably it was written in the layout program and not the word processing one), but neither the author nor the editor are on the hook for this one.

This is more a review of the sample presentation on this page, since it is supposed to entice the reader into buying the book. I'm a person who was looking forward to buying the book and now I have my doubts.

Books cost a lot of money. While I'll put up with the sloppy grammar and spelling which are the spice of life for internet writers, if I pay for a book I expect decent proofreading. What is on the front flyleaf? In discussing Hiken's greatest creation, Sgt. Bilko, the editor allows the author to misspell "Sergeant." Three times. On the flyleaf, which is supposed to dazzle us.

And then Amazon compounds the sloppiness. In going through the sample pages, I find that pages 7 & 8 aren't even from this book.

Some people claim that demanding literacy and correct spelling from authors and editors is excessive. Well -- they probably wouldn't say "excessive"; they'd say it was "sucky". Or "suckee", if they wanted to be exotic. These people make my jaw drop.

I gave three stars because it's not fair to rate a book high or low when you haven't read it yet.

*******
Since writing the above, I've read the book. It's worth the three stars I gave it. It's pretty good; worth reading. But just because there IS a book on a hitherto uncovered topic doesn't automatically mean it's a GOOD book.