TV Sets: Fantasy Blueprints of Classic TV Homes [Hardcover]

Mark Bennett (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 2000

Author and artist Mark Bennett compiles his entertaining collection of blueprints extrapolated from the storylines and sets of the 1950s to 1980s television sitcom homes millions of Americans grew up with. An extraordinary work of imagination, these blueprints of TV homes that are as familiar to us as our neighbor's den and backyard give us a fascinating "real life" view that the camera angles never offered.

From Ward and June Cleaver's house to Rob and Laura Petrie's apartment to Mary Richards's Minneapolis bachelorette apartment to the Jetson's "house" in the clouds, each home is lovingly recreated with painstaking precision in the fine blue lines of architectural blueprints.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

This book of architectural blueprints is a loving, if obsessive, tribute to the minutiae of televised domestic life. Author Mark Bennett's excrutiatingly detailed plans span 25 years of television history, from Tiger's doghouse on The Brady Bunch to The Addams Family's entire manor, including Lurch's harpsichord, Gomez's train set, and Uncle Fester's laboratory. Also included are Laverne and Shirley's bachelorette pad, The Jetson's space unit, and Archie and Edith Bunker's Queens row house. Incredibly, all the plans are drawn to be architecturally feasible; that is, one could actually build from them. To accomplish this feat, the author often had to imagine rooms and areas not shown on the television programs, but only referred to, like Ward Cleaver's den or Ralph and Alice Kramden's bedroom. Included are detailed renderings not only of the characters' homes, but their entire towns, such as the whole of Mayberry and a complete layout of Gilligan's Island. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

You can almost see the milk and cookies waiting on the kitchen counter for Wally and the Beav. Pages later, in Brooklyn, there's Ralph Kramden's lunch pail on the sideboard, just beside the door to a bedroom we'll never see. Here, in blue on blue, are architectural drawings of the ephemera of our childhoods--the sets of favorite old television shows. -- The New York Times Book Review, Patricia T. O'Conner --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 132 pages
• Publisher: Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers (August 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1579121071
• ISBN-13: 978-1579121075
• Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 8.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #971,879 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hey Folks...give the guy a break, July 25, 2001

By 

Scuba Steve (Reston, VA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: TV Sets: Fantasy Blueprints of Classic TV Homes (Hardcover)

This book is awesome! It isn't perfect, but who cares? What a blast from a carefree past. Personally, I think that the guy did an amazing job considering that the sets changed over the years and that he did many of the blueprints years ago...without the aid of a VCR. Realistic dimensions? Yeah, whatever. I wasn't planning on building these places from these diagrams. Also, who says that the sets had realistic dimensions?

I picked the book up on a clearance rack for [$], but, after viewing it, I think it's worth the full price. I can't tell you the memories this thing brought back. This is a killer present for your Baby Boomer friends who were TV addicts as tykes.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Look at the title, March 1, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: TV Sets: Fantasy Blueprints of Classic TV Homes (Hardcover)

I think it is important to keep in mind the word FANTASY while enjoying this book. Mr. Bennett makes no claims to be a professional draftsman or architect. These are just his interpretations of interiors from TV shows; most of which never existed as complete structures, but rather as a group of sets on a soundstage. They were all done from simply watching the shows on TV. It's a fun and lighthearted book that will entertain anyone who spent numerous hours in front of the TV while growing up.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great!, May 12, 2006

By 

DEK - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: TV Sets: Fantasy Blueprints of Classic TV Homes (Hardcover)

This book is as close as you'll get to actually entering the beloved houses of the programs we all loved as kids. Neat-o!!!