Customer Reviews

TV: A Novel

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is unlike any other I've read. It is a one of a kind look into a world that is rarely considered- the producers and staff behind TV shows and the one man who seemed to do it all. Fast paced behind-the-scenes action puts the reader in the moment. Historical references give the book the feel of non-fiction, making it all the more intriguing as you're left to wonder..."Did this really happen?" Great Descriptions. TV has something for everyone, not just sports fans or television insiders. The main character is one you hate to love...or love to hate. Reading TV is a lot better than watching it- here you're part of the action.

This book is one of the easiest, quickest reads I have had the pleasure to enjoy. Brian Brown has created a world that paints a very realistic picture of the high pressure, intense world which goes on behind the camera and when commercials air. But the best thing about "TV" is the gripping story of a man who lives his life at the extremes. A man who must confront his own demons while being confronted himself by the changing landscape of the business that he helped create. Highly recommended.

I found TV to be a compelling, hilarious, and even insightful look at the televison industry. Brown's character descriptions had me begging for more. Each page held my attention from start to finish. I recommend TV to all entertainment lovers...you'll never watch a televised sporting event the same!

This book is unlike any other I've read. It is a one of a kind look into a world that is rarely considered- the producers and staff behind TV shows and the one man who seemed to do it all. Fast paced behind-the-scenes action puts the reader in the moment. Historical references give the book the feel of non-fiction, making it all the more intriguing as you're left to wonder..."Did this really happen?" Great Descriptions. TV has something for everyone, not just sports fans or television insiders. The main character is one you hate to love...or love to hate. Reading TV is a lot better than watching it- here you're part of the action.

Though giving the book only 3 stars, I would still cautiously recommend it. The book started out great and I was hoping and expecting that it would maintain that quality throughout. Thereafter, however, there was one huge flaw, which was so annoying that it caused me to take away two stars all by itself and that was incredibly annoying pinball chronology of the story. The book relentlessly bounces back and forth from one decade to another such that each time I resumed the story, I had to check: Is this little flasback/anecdote from the 60's? The 80's? the 50's? The 90's? Back and forth it went without rhyme or reason. (I noticed that Publishers Weekly refers to this as a "desultory timeline" which they found "awkward", but I would call that an understatement.) And to make matters worse, it seemed that each anecdote/flashback had the exact same two purposes. One was to show us that Caesar Forunato was 10% genius and 90% total jerk to virtually everyone who crossed paths with him, family included. In other words, he was almost completely unlikable. The other purpose of the flashbacks was to allow Mr. Brown to walk us through all the great and innovative moments in television history, crediting most of those achievements to Fortunato. All in all, it certainly had its entertaining moments (and when it was in the present it was at its best), and Mr. Brown certainly knows his terrain well, but I felt it could have been done better.

Brian Brown has captured the essence of what it is to live and work within the fascinating world of live television. Few authors are able to tell such an engaging story, weaving complex plotlines with such a unique brand of humor and incisive social commentary. "TV" gave me a remarkably informative glimpse behind the scenes and introduced me to one of the most compelling main characters I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. .

the story of caeasar fortunato and the wonderfully bizarre cast of supporting characters kept me glued to the book. i especially enjoyed the author's use of flashbacks to explain the origin of this man's flaws as well as his (occassional) attributes. both a purely fun piece of fiction and an interesting study of the psychology of success, tv is sure to please.

I've worked in the entertainment industry for the past decade and never have I encountered a story on film or on page that so aptly captures the hysteria, vision and passion that flows into this medium. TV is that rare, wonderful story that reflects not only a time and place but also an era in our history.

There are a few books that are worthy of becoming cult classics, read and passed on and on -- The Power of One, Atlas Shrugged come to mind as books that somehow transcend others in their redemptive value. T.V. shares much in common with these, and, I agree, with the novels of Hunter Thompson. But it is also unique in its kind, a story that hits its hysterical high notes and then delves into its main character's psyche with all the relentless honesty and soul trudging of a true epic. This novelist has an amazing store of knowledge, experience, talent, humour, and Caesar Fortunato is, I think, one of the most interesting characters American fiction has produced in years. Bravo.

While this book was easy to read and entertaining, I just could not get past the author's inability to create a well rounded main character. This and other poorly written parts of the book have assured a place in my "will not read again" stack.

Brian Brown created a near perfect character. Ceasar Fortunato was never described as being bad at anything. In fact, the worst we heard of him being was when he was cut from his high school baseball team, he was a "typical" batter. He was supposed to be a virtuoso at the piano, a scholarship awarded basketball player, some artistic visionary in television, was attractive, and got laid and/or became the object of a woman's love all the time. There were no flaws whatsoever in the character, so he was given problems with gambling and narcotics. It was an easy way out for Brian Brown, rather than trying to create a character that may have flaws and faults that I'm sure that even TV producers possess. The only thing that prevented Ceasar from being a perfect speciman, one who is physically attractive, has many friends, is an excellent athlete, finishes his life as a very popular radio personality who is capable of molding others, and has an astute appreciation for classical music that even people in the music biz cannot compete with, is this contrived gambling addiction. If Brown had spend some time demonstrating how Ceasar went on a downward slope, it might have been more believable. The whole story was done in flashbacks, so we eventually learn that Ceasar took bribes to skim points on a college basketball game. We are also told about a girlfriend whose father ran some bookkeeping op in his bar. We are left to our own devices to assume that these incidents were his path into the world of gambling. But we are not shown how he was sucked in, how it overtook his life, how he went from skimming a couple of points in exchange for a car to begging his son for money so he can bet just one more time. We are just to assume that he got to that point. Likewise, the author was unable to demonstrate how Ceasar went from being a punk kid in TV to being corrupt. No time was spent on describing how Ceasar first realized that a gratutious expense would not be questioned, so why not two gratutious expenses? Once again, we are just to assume that he woke up one day and decided that he wanted to live his job in a fashion where it would only work to his personal advantage. All this being said, I am convinced that Brian Brown did not want to think out a well rounded story for the fictional producer as much as he wanted to call out his one time colleagues. If you want a story on the corruption in the entertainment biz, take a look at Easy Riders, Raging Bulls. At least what is in there does not pretend to be fiction.

The fictional characters who were thinly vailed portrayals of a real-life character was insulting to the intelligence as well. The best skateboarder in the world is Brett Falcon? Come on... You didn't want to spend the time describing a character that could convince the reader that he was the best pro skateboarder in the world, so you come up with a play on Tony Hawk's name? There are so many occurances of things like this in the book that it makes me sick.

The condescention of some of the commentary made it difficult to read after a while. It would break out into these little sidebars. For instance, when talking about the 1977 Academy Awards, it had to break out in a page long story about Sylvester Stallone and how he fought against all odds to get Rocky made. So many little stupid sidebars like that just came across as know-it-all-ism. When he started describing how in the late 1800s, Daimler created the first motorbike, I think reached my wits end. Adding that you know little facts such as these do not add to the story and are certainly NOT a substitute for thourough plot and character development.

In conclusion, as someone who got out of the broadcasting biz at an early age, I did enjoy the story. But this story seemed to be more of an opportunity for Brown to blow the whistle on some of this behavior rather than tell a story.