Customer Reviews

Warm Up the Snake: A Hollywood Memoir

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John Rich set Hollywood on its ear with his refusal to accept the status quo. If you want an unpretentious view of the Hollywood system, this is the book for you. Mr. Rich's ability to find the humor in any situation, and his ability to laugh at himself, pulls you into the story from the very first page. His career was spent defining the purpose and power of television with such ground breaking shows as "All in the Family" and "Maude" and made us laugh with "The Dick Van Dyke Show", "Barney Miller" and "Newhart". It would be hard to imagine television without John Rich's contribution to the medium. As someone who works in the entertainment business, this book holds a special place on my bookshelf and I consider it a must read. I can't recommend this book highly enough.

I found this book to be a mini history of the television industry peppered with personal stories from Mr.Rich.The behind behind the scenes antidotes alone make this must reading for anyone interested in "the business." I wish that I coud have read a book like this prior to my working in the TV industry,it would have saved me a lot of time and given me a leg up on the competition.Perhaps the most important thing that John Rich said was at the beginning of the book referring to a recent job interview with some young TV executives-"people Don't hire legends"-"they threaten the rookies." In a nutshell that's why TV is in such a bad state of affairs today.People don't hire legends but they should.Jim Cox

'Warm Up the Snake' is a Hollywood thing. But I'm not going to go into its meaning, for that you need to read Chapter 13.

This is a story of working in Hollywood during the Golden Age of Television. As you would expect, it is full of the most interesting little tidbits about what happened during the filming of numerous of the favorite television shows of the time.

'The Dick van Dyke' show was his. And 'All in the Family.' He had a long stream of solid hits. And with them an association with a lot of the biggest names in the business. This was a time when television was experimenting. Black actors were beginning to appear in shows and no one knew what to expect. The sponsors who paid the bills were leary and occassionally refused to sponsor shows. No one knew how the shows would play in the Southern states.

This is not a weighty tome on the television industry, but it's a very interesting read on how things are done from the directors point of view.

John Rich's story is not to be missed by any fan, student, or, for that matter, teacher of film and tv. This is one of the great generals writing about war - the biggest battles, the most intricate strategies, accounts of gruesome casualties, and, of course, hilarious battlefield mishaps and blunders. It's an easy read, as Rich, with a style that is funny, bombastic, and at times reverential to the business he truly loves, "talks" to us as though we're having a drink at the Polo Lounge, or, more accurately, in his den, in front of a roaring fire. This book has a special place on my shelf!

I loved this book! John Rich was right in the middle of what are, in my opinion, the best years of TV.

The stories he tells bring back so many memories, and John is truly one of the best story tellers I know.

If you remember the TV hits of the 60's and 70's you gotta read this book!

Thanks for taking the time to share your professional life with us John!

I first heard about this book at an event that John Rich attended, and spoke about the book, in 2006. I'm glad I bought this book - it is superb. I've admired Rich for many years, as the crown jewel of comedy directors. He worked in the biz for fifty years, and did and saw everything in this crazy town. He had a reputation for being one of the most forceful of directors, who demanded nothing but the best from his actors - and "Snake" is a wonderfully frank text. He directed the early years of "The Dick Van Dyke Show" and "All in the Family", which contained some of the greatest moments in comedy. But this book is far more than just a relay of anecdotes about those shows - it is a bonafide biography that covers Rich's entire career and relations with other showbiz actors and producers...and one helluva career it was. This book was especially welcoming for me because these times are adorned by schlocky producers and directors, who are less concerned about quality and more concerned about making money for themselves and the studio. Rich wasn't about that...and the world of television is all the better because of it. Five stars.

There is no doubt that John Rich directed some of the greatest shows in TV history--you just won't hear many interesting stories about his work here. He does have a few behind-the-scenes insights into All in the Family and Dick Van Dyke Show, but otherwise he completely skips over his work with Murphy Brown, Hogan's Heroes, TV westerns and other classics. Rich devotes a few sentences to That Girl (he nicely slams Marlo Thomas) and Brady Bunch, while devoting multiple pages to shows you have never heard of like Mr. Sunshine or pilots that no one has ever seen.

He does take credit for pretty much everything successful that he has been associated with, yet he misleads readers by claiming some of his flops were hits (like On the Rocks?). Much of the book is spent bragging about the money he made as well as complaining about how he didn't get paid as much as he should have. The guy appears to have done just about everything for the money, yet he made some pretty unwise business moves as well. He also spends way too much time talking about the Director's Guild.

It's hard to know why this book doesn't have more stories about the many great series he worked on. The reason anyone would want to read it would be to get some insights into the popular sitcoms, yet he glosses over them like he can't remember them. It's possible in his old age that they all blur together and he just doesn't recall specific stories about them.

The 202 pages of text are also padded with script excerpts from All in the Family and Dick Van Dyke Show. Add the weak title and you have a disappointing book from a guy who should have a lot more to say about television history.