Customer Reviews

I Like It Better When You're Funny: Working in Television and Other Precarious Adventures

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

 

 

A fan of Charles Grodin's cable show, I enjoyed hearing more of his takes on the media and American culture which are, as usual, honest, reasonable, and interesting. He talks of the negativity of Rush Limbaugh's "hate radio" show and the dishonestly disguised bias of Fox News Channel's Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity. Grodin questions their motives and the inability to give anyone outside their party credit for achievements. As he points out, many of us share a concern for the lack of civility and respectfulness in our society, of note the obscenity children are subjected to (he shares his thoughts about Howard Stern as well.) And we should share concern for those less fortunate than us (his remarks about how the poor in our society fare in the justice system are also eye opening.) He also revisits his O.J. shows and shares stories of working on his television show and favorite guests and experiences. A humorous and insightful book.

This is light, fast reading and a fun book. Grodin seldom names names, but he gives many examples of cantankerous behavior within show biz people in tv and the big screen. I now want to read other books he has written. I enjoyed his work in the movies, but never watched him on tv until he went with CBS. His humor fits well with 60 minutes II.

Fast reading book. Quite funny. Well written and certainly gives food for thought. Would highly recommend this one and hope there are more coming. Well done!

Grodin is a genius.Couldnt put it down

I found Mr. Grodin's latest book fairly interesting. I am the opposite of Mr. Grodin politically, but I still enjoy all of his work, and that includes this book.

I'm a Grodin fan, and really enjoyed his previous couple of books. Unfortunately, this one is a big step down. Although he's well known for writing his books in longhand, and usually gives the reader the "feel" of being spoken to, this one seems as if it was phoned in. The sad fact is, the last 8 years of Grodin's life have consisted basically of: got his CNBC show, lost it, got an MSNBC weekend gig, lost it, looked for work for a while, landed at CBS 60 Minutes II. The events that connect all this just really aren't that interesting, and not at all funny. And the occasional transcripts of his talk shows fall really flat on the printed page. Love ya Charlie, but your movie talk of the past was far more entertaining than predictable takes on Imus, Stern, Regis, etc. The book jacket promised something like an unprecedented, revealing look into Grodin's personal life. Must have missed it.
Better luck next time, if indeed a publisher is willing.

I usually like Grodin on TV and elsewhere. I have not read any of his other books so I have no basis for comparison there.
But...this book SUCKS! So boring. The jacket promises all sorts of "hard-hitting" and shocking revelations but the book is mainly comprised of Grodin's musings and mental meanderings. He goes to great pains to remind us time and again that he is considered "dangerous" by producers and network honchos, that everyone holds their breath when Grodin speaks because you never know what kind of politically incorrect, terrible truth he's going to utter. However, we all know that Grodin is a moderately talented, generally pleasant, relatively intelligent and articulate, and above all NICE guy. And this book does nothing to dispel that notion. He simply recounts a few anecdotes from his career and otherwise justs jots down his random thoughts. Just read his post-September-11th postscript to see what I mean.
There is just nothing there. No trenchant commentary. No patriotism or anything searching for an answer as to why this happened. Just garbage - "that pile of rubble used to be the Marriott", "there was smoke in the air", a mild jab at Bill O'Reilly that comes out of nowhere and means nothing, I mean, you don't have to buy this book to hear this kind of obvious pablum.
Where in God's name was the editor's critical faculties when he read this .. "the weirdest moment in the Simpson saga came when a defense expert was called and his name was Grodin!". This is page 79. First of all, note the exclamation point! Exclamation points should be used sparingly! And they should be used to underscore information that is truly noteworthy!This little coincidence just isn't really mind-blowing, is it?!!!
But forget the punctuation. Is this little coincidence, which no one else but Charles and his mother noticed, really the weirdest thing for Grodin that happened during that saga? Not the bloody gloves, not Simpson's book "I want to tell you", not Fuhrman's
videotapes or F. Lee Bailey's cross-examination of Fuhrman, not Faye Resnick or Kato or Henry Lee's testimony which was destroyed by the prosecution, none of this was weirder than a witness with the name Grodin? I just mention this because Grodin made his name as a talk-show personality with his show that dealt with the Simpson trial, and the thing that fascinated him the most was that his name matched that of a witness. It's a good thing Charles' last name isn't Smith. He'd walk around in a state of perpetual wonderment and disbelief.
If that isn't enough stupidity for one book, the transcripts of talk show banter featuring Grodin and some unfortunate guest or interviewer are more boring and useless than watching your toenails grow.
Grodin so desperately wants to be "edgy" and "dangerous", but there's nothing in this book to even remotely suggest that he's anything more than an avuncular milquetoast who slapped together this pitiful book in order to make a few house payments.
Stay away from this book. Unless you love every single thing you read, including stop signs and cereal boxes, you will probably hate it.
Here's an appropriate exclamation point for you, Charles. I want my money back!