Customer Reviews

And So It Goes

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Linda Ellerbee is the Queen of Hard Knocks, but she always comes up wiser -- and funnier. "And So It Goes" is a sharp and brutally honest look at the world of TV news. Ellerbee shares behind-the-scenes tales that will leave you shaking your head in disbelief, and catching your breath in uproarious laughter. Ellerbee is engaging, lively, provocative and above all else, frightening. NBC fired her months after the book was originally published, probably in no small part to the toes that Ellerbee stepped on in this book. Read it to see why.I teach journalism, and to this day, I still recommend this to my friends. I can also honestly say that this is probably my favorite book of all time. It's that good.

Direct, honest, and brilliantly written, Ellerbee's masterwork gives the reader an inside look into the world of broadcast journalism. Her 80's program NBC News Overnight was a unique vehicle for intelligent reporting and videography. It was the last show of its kind on network news TV which, if anything, has gotten worse since the writing of this book. When Ellerbee's Nickelodeon children's programs are more intelligently written than most of the so called "adult" news programs on TV, that's scary. It is unfortunately the case.

There are some books that should never be resigned to the dustbin and this is one of them. The message is timeless and, despite the humor, frightening. Ms. Ellerbee's wisdom is needed more today than it was back in 1988.

This book is great therapy for all of us who realize that the world is insane, not us.

I've probably read this book a dozen times from cover to dog-eared cover; my paperback copy is literally falling apart! I still open it sometimes just to read a couple of pages from the middle, and I'm always entertained by Ellerbee's wit.

Wit: a combination of rational intelligence and humour. Ellerbee displays both in abundance, and her writing style is pitch-perfect. She's worked in network news long enough to have seen all of it's strength and weaknesses, and long enough to have lived through one-too-many comical misadventures. Some of her anectodal experiences are downright hilarious:

Stealing Reagan's golf cart for a joyride. Spying on a button manufacturer from a rooftop across the street (to learn before the competing networks who'll be chosen vice president for a presidential campaign). Getting unintentionally stuck in the middle of a homecoming parade for the Iran hostages. Using dinner trays to "surf" down the aisle of a flying airplane. A rubber duck on the set. A "thing and a thing." And so it goes...

There are also some suprising revelations, such as Ellerbee's confession to a back-alley abortion, and her discovery that Ohio didn't become a state until 1954!

Read this book and be entertained... and simoultaneously enlightened about the field of broadcast journalism.

There can be few things more enriching, entertaining, and inspiring than merrily wending one's way through the fascinating memoirs of this legendary journalist. Ms. Ellerbee can now be seen on her marvelous news program for children on Nickelodeon, which is one of the greatest programs in the history of television. Ms. Ellerbee's thrilling story is sure to deeply touch all who read it, evoking both tears and laughter, often simultaneously. This is one of the greatest books in the history of the world, and should be on every required reading list in every institution of learning in the world.

It was a pleasure to read about another journalist's battle in succeeding in one of the most competitive field. If you want to know what a reporter has to go through, you'd want to read this one.