TV Land To Go: The Big Books of TV Lists, TV Lore, and TV Bests [Paperback]

Thomas Hill (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 27, 2001

Finally, all the entertainment satisfaction you get from television...in a book!

TV Land, the network of America's television favorites, delivers opinionated, informed, and, most of all, humorous takes on everything television! Who are the fifteen grumpiest TV characters? What are the twenty-nine most important comic formulas? What were Chuck Woolery's six careers? Plus TV haiku, TV anagrams, the great literary works that were the progenitors of the sitcom genre, and behind-the-scenes facts and stories that are sure to enhance your television experience. In fact, you'll never watch TV the same way again. TV Land to Go will become as indispensable as your remote control!

Editorial Reviews

Review

Carl Reiner Any book that includes three episodes of The Dick Van Dyke Show in its list of 100 Best has to be considered a major masterwork. I applaud its publication. Read this entertaining book and learn how it was done and how you too can do it. -- Review

From the Publisher

"Possibly the worst cookbook I've ever tried . . . however, the parts about old TV shows are pretty good."--Conan O'Brien

"Nobody presents reruns with as much verve, passion, and humor as TV Land. This book is clearly a product of that passion . . . that or obsessive-compulsive disorder."--Bob Newhart

"Any book that includes three episodes of The Dick Van Dyke show in its list of 100 Best has to be considered a major masterwork. I applaud its publication. Read this entertaining book and learn how it was done and how you too can do it."--Carl Reiner

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Fireside; First edition (November 27, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684856158
• ISBN-13: 978-0684856155
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,678,006 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Get it to go!, December 6, 2001

By 

Carl Lloyd "seymour7" (Grand Blanc, Michigan United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: TV Land To Go: The Big Books of TV Lists, TV Lore, and TV Bests (Paperback)

Put down your remote control and pick up this book! The only thing better than watching TV is reading about it in "TV Land to Go." Most of the book is a funny, factual account of all-things TV, but the author also has a ball (as in Lucille) creating his own lists of clever, subjective observations. I could totally identify with "The Seven Lessons Sitcoms Teach Us" and I loved "The Worst Possible Men's Softball Team Composed of Classic TV Stars"...Tony Randall covering first-base? Just imagine it! At the heart of the book is an ambitious list of the 100 best sitcom episodes of all-time. Each episode gets a thorough, "scientific" examination as this list alone runs over 180 pages...there's some very funny stuff in the episodes and also in the observations by the author. (As for his list of the 100 best episodes, he has not included a couple of "Cheers" episodes that ABSOLUTELY should have made the list...at least in my opinion. I was also glad to see a "Get a Life" episode on the list. You're bound to have your own suggestions as well.)

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A neat compendium, February 12, 2002

By 

J. Gifford (Las Vegas NV) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: TV Land To Go: The Big Books of TV Lists, TV Lore, and TV Bests (Paperback)

At times irreverent, TV Land To Go is a mishmash of trivia, lists, more lists, and plugs for the network TV Land. Much of the book is hilarious, especially the list of basic TV plots and the collective wisdom of sitcoms. I especially loved the examination of the amnesia plot in comedies and the proliferation of the "hit on the head" trigger and "hit on the head again" cure.

The list of 100 top sitcom episodes is interesting, but, like any list, is controversial (at least to classic TV types). Why the Leave it to Beaver episode with Captain Jack, when the boys take home a baby alligator, instead of the one where Beaver becomes trapped in a giant teacup? Why the episode of Happy Days when Richie fights back against bullies instead of the famous "jump the shark" episode, or the one where Richie returns to the show for the first time in years?

The thinly veiled ads for TV Land -- its shows, specials, books -- seems tongue in cheek, but irritates as well. I flipped past those sections quickly. Some of the lists of top shows are short, and are conspicuously filled with shows that TV Land currently airs.

A nice addition, overall, to your TV book library, but not the "classic compendium" it's purported to be.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Better Living Through Good TV, July 14, 2002

By 

W. Davidson (Melbourne, Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: TV Land To Go: The Big Books of TV Lists, TV Lore, and TV Bests (Paperback)

TV Land To Go is an entertaining reference book about Classic TV shows split into two halves, the first half is a a selection of "Best of" lists, some more expected ('Best TV Books ever', 'Best Made for TV dramas') and some wonderfully off the wall ('Characters, TV Shows and TV Stars not recognised by spellcheck', 'TV's 15 greatest grumps'). I also enjoyed the other unexpected pieces such as 'The Punctuation Awards' (best/most creative use of punctuation in TV show names) and the enlightning "The 29 most important comic formulae featured in sitcoms" (gotta love the 'whee wohn' - essential reading for all comedy script writers).

The second half of the book counts down the 100 greatest sitcom episodes of all time, and it's a far more entertaining read than I initially expected. It's also pleasing to see modern and non-TV Land shows such as Ellen & Seinfeld making the list along with the Mary Tyler Moore Show, I Love Lucy and The Addams Family. The countdown is based on the actual episode, not the overall show, so a great episode of a mediocre program would rate highly.

Overall, a clever idea that's well done and serves in making one want to watch more classic TV (I only wish we could get TV Land here in Australia!). Great weekend reading.