Prime Times: Writers on Their Favorite TV Shows [Paperback]

Douglas Bauer (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 3, 2004

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 captured—sitcoms 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 common—and, after all, literary—experience of watching other people’s lives while trying to understand one’s own.


From the Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Bauer (Prairie City, Iowa) creates a pop culture junkie's dream in this anthology of essays about television by many of today's most popular writers: Nick Hornby dissects the allure of The West Wing, Elizabeth McCracken hilariously confesses her adoration of America's Funniest Home Videos, Jill McCorkle waxes nostalgic about The Andy Griffith Show. Personal examination, program dissection, social commentary and mere recollection share the pages of this lighthearted yet uneven collection. The essays work best when they move beyond the show. Lloyd Schwartz credits his love of language to Burns and Allen. Gilligan's Island becomes a profound backdrop for Lan Samantha Chang's reminiscence of her own cultural isolation in Wisconsin. In contrast, Nora Ephron's paean to Mary Richards reveals little of the show or of Ephron, and James Alan McPherson's theoretical examination of Star Trek feels incongruous among the more compelling personal pieces. The biggest flaw is the assumption that readers know the programs discussed. Mark Leyner's take on Hawaii Five-O, for example, will baffle those who haven't seen the show. With the skill of the writers and the wealth of material, this book succeeds by doing what most literature hopes to discourage: it inspires the reader to put down the book and turn on the television.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

Better than most of the TV we watch, this collection offers commissioned essays from 23 established writers on their favorite programs, including The West Wing, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Andy Griffith Show, and more. Readers will enjoy the trip down memory lane, but they may be disappointed to find many of the authors less concerned about TV than about "Me." Still, there's Nick Hornby on West Wing: "Bartlet's people are smart, ironic, and thoughtful; that's how we know that what we're watching is only a TV show." Henry Louis Gates Jr. on TV in the 1950s: "Seeing somebody colored on TV was an event. 'Colored, colored, on Channel Two,' you'd hear someone shout." In his poignant essay, David Shields convinces us of the importance of Howard Cosell. And, to our amazement, Elizabeth McCracken makes a strong case for America's Funniest Home Videos: "It won't erase my problems, but it sure as hell won't remind me of them." Good fun and a bit of pop cultural history, too. Alan Moores
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Three Rivers Press (August 3, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1400081149
• ISBN-13: 978-1400081141
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,877,264 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Book This, Dan-O., August 24, 2004

By 

takingadayoff "takingadayoff" (Las Vegas, Nevada) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Prime Times: Writers on Their Favorite TV Shows (Paperback)

Twenty-three writers write about their favorite TV shows or shows that stick in their minds for some reason. Nick Hornby, a British writer, writes about West Wing, a show about a fictional president, but can't imagine Americans enjoying an English show about a fictional prime minister. I guess he'd be surprised at the much-viewed collection of Yes, Prime Minister videos at our house.

Alan Lightman remembers three episodes of Twilight Zone that scared him, his brothers, and the housekeeper silly. After forty years he gets details of the shows wrong (the Chinese restaurant was really a diner, and the plastic surgery patient was a woman rather than a man, as he remembers), but it doesn't matter. The time and the memories are important, not the TV show.

Mark Leyner writes an unlikely, but funny essay about a South Korean academic he encounters who suspects that everything that has happened in the world since 1968 is a figment of Steve McGarrett's imagination.

As a former teen who loved Big Valley, I enjoyed reading Jayne Anne Phillips's memories of the strong character played by Barbara Stanwyck and that hunky Heath and the handsome, but apparently celibate older brother (played by Richard Long) who lived part time in San Francisco. "Hm," Phillips muses.

MST3K, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Davey and Goliath, Secret Agent (formerly Danger Man), The Dick Van Dyke Show, Star Trek, even Survivor all get analyzed, remembered, and misremembered.

An especially original essay has Lan Samantha Chang watching Gilligan's Island shortly after her family has immigrated to Wisconsin from China. She remembers identifying with the castaways and decades later when she sees the show again, understands the show on a completely different level.

Great for browsing and skimming, Prime Times is a lot of fun. Also recommended is Gilligan Unbound, an unexpected analysis of Gilligan's Island, the Simpsons, Star Trek, and The X-Files by a professor who watches TV without shutting down his brain.

2.0 out of 5 stars Elitist Snobs Condemn TV While Claiming To Love The Medium, December 27, 2008

By 

Mediaman "TVviewer" (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Prime Times: Writers on Their Favorite TV Shows (Paperback)

A variety of elitist writers and academics slam the television medium under the guise of writing "on their favorite TV shows." Don't believe the sub-title of this book--many of the essays pick apart famous shows and tell readers why they should be skeptical of the medium.

The problem is in who was selected to write the chapters--some famous fiction writers who think their clever prose raises the validity of their criticism. Others are college teachers with noses in the air, pretending to like the medium but using their writings to condemn it.

One must note that the female writers in general are snottiest when approaching the subject. English teacher Phyllis Rose's piece on Survivor is a complete waste of time and Susan Cheever's supposed homage to Father Knows Best ends up being wrong in every way, using the cliched criticisms about the mistreatment of women in the 50s (she instead brags about watching The Simpsons with her children today!).

It is nice to see some appreciate for Mary Tyler Moore and Dick Van Dyke, but much of what's in this book is worth skipping. People who know little about the medium provide commentary based on their stereotyped memories rather than on accurate images.

One message comes through loud and clear from most of the writers--you can't believe what you see on TV. Well, after reading this book it's obvious that when it comes to television criticism you can't believe what you read.

5.0 out of 5 stars Watching with the T.V. off., June 14, 2007

By 

David C. Roller (United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Prime Times: Writers on Their Favorite TV Shows (Hardcover)

A 2007 summer reading list mini review.

Every summer my family turns our TV off and keeps it off until September. This gives us more opportunities to bond as a family. We go for walks, we go to ballgames. We go fishing, swimming, play tennis and we read lots of books. Usually, I am in the right spirit for this annual event, but I took to it slowly this year. Which is why I was online the 2nd evening ordering TV programs on DVD from our library to arrive at the beginning of September. While surfing for volumes, I came across this book and placed a hold on it.

When it arrived, the introductory story of the painter who went on a retreat to paint nature and ended up painting TV sets struck a chord with me. This was because it was exactly what I did. Instead of watching television, I was reading television. I quickly got into this amazing book. I was especially struck on how much I enjoyed the essays praising programs I don't especially care for. Reminiscences about television seem to be steeped in biography rather than criticism. I especially was moved by Lan Samantha Chang's finding solace in Gilligan's Island in light of her parents being real life castaways from mainland China.

I wonder if the TV guide will count for summer reading.