Tabloid Baby [Hardcover]

Burt Kearns (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 490 pages
• Publisher: Celebrity Books (October 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1580291074
• ISBN-13: 978-1580291071
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (46 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,263,231 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

107 of 109 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hilarious! A pop history book that reads like a novel!, October 24, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Tabloid Baby (Hardcover)

I'm one of the many media-types who have been waiting for this book for months. It was worth the wait. I started reading and couldn't put the thing down. This book tells an inside story of the television business in a way I've never seen before. It's a history book that reads like a novel. It's hilarious, it's sad, it's shocking, and it moves. I never thought I'd feel sympathy for the guys who ran that sleazy tabloid TV business, but the characters are rich, multi-sided and likeable--even the ones you have to despise-- and you really root for the main character to get out of the business while he's still alive! This book names names and it reveals secrets, but at the same time explains what tabloid television might have been-- and what today's TV business could have been like--if the good guys won. I know some of the people mentioned in this book. They're not going to be happy. But they can't deny how accurate Kearns is. He's a pretty brave (crazy?) guy to lay it all on the line like this. This book is going to rock a lot of worlds in the TV news business. I predict it's going to be huge.

40 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What's the buzz?, January 19, 2000

By 

Reader from LA (LA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tabloid Baby (Hardcover)

Let me begin by saying that I work in the "business" that Tabloid Baby deals with.

And let me also be up front about how I first encountered this book...because I'm sure that many of the people writing reviews on this site read it the same way.

In all my years of doing television for a living, I don't think I've ever seen a more photocopied, illegally reproduced 500 plus pages than I did with Tabloid Baby - and I am talking about people literally comandeering photo copy machines for an hour to get this thing out to their friends in L.A. and New York and everywhere in between.

I have never seen more executives and management types running into offices, slamming doors and soaking themselves in a BOOK of all things!

I'm talking about people who haven't read anything deeper than the front page of the LA Times Entertainment section since freshman Lit. 101.

It was for that reason that I avoided Tabloid Baby for as long as I could. Afterall, I am a person who actually goes out of my way to read books that may not include my name in them.

It just so happened that I picked up one of the photocopied volumes while eating lunch at an other wise empty conference room table.

It was the longest...and I have to admit...the most enjoyable lunch I've ever eaten alone. I went in preparing to eat Mr. Kearns for lunch. I came out with a solid, grudging respect for this book. I will pay it the highest compliment I can for any book coming out of this self deluded town. It is real. That's it. You want to meet a real person? You want to have Hollywood reality rubbed in your face? You can't do better.

Is he lying? I wouldn't know. If you're going to tell me he's lying...reprint the lie so we can all see it. Otherwise, you're just another hack with an axe to grind, as far as I'm concerned.

Otherwise, buy this book. And - unlike the rest of us Hollywood hypocrites - buy it from Amazon. That's the only regret I have about the whole adventure. If I ever meet Burt Kearns on a street corner, I'm going to pay him my thirty bucks on the spot. And I'll shake his hand too.

Thanks for the space.

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Seriously, a very solid example of the new journalism, November 20, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Tabloid Baby (Hardcover)

At least on this webpage, there have been many superlatives about tabloid baby. Having finished reading the book, I can attest to its engaging prose and very funny stories. However, I do not place it in the top ranks of the literary canon as do so many other fans (friends?) of the author. kearns has done a credible reporting and research job and is perhaps too honest in his confessions and opinions, which are often from-the-hip and scattershot. Tabloid baby is clearly a work of passion and authority, though flawed as any work of this type might be. Kearns should be commended, but not canonized. His debut is a very solid example of new journalism, informative, compelling and inviting. I draw the line at comparisons to Hunter Thompson, and draw the line at four stars if only to counter the "hype."