Posts Categorized: Television Reference

SHOW: The Making and Unmaking of a Network Television Pilot By

SHOW: The Making and Unmaking of a Network Television Pilot This is the inside story of one of those doomed TV pilots, a would-be 1990 sitcom about presidential speechwriters first titled E.O.B., then The War Room, and finally Word of Mouth, developed by the acclaimed writer/producerteam of Bruce Paltrow, Tom Fontana, and John Tinker, fresh off of their Emmy award-winning success St. Elsewhere and in huge demand by the networks. The producers granted journalist Daniel Paisner unprecedented access, revealing for the first time exactly how television gets made… and how it doesn’t.

Television Fast Forward By

Television Fast Forward Did Gilligan and his fellow castaways ever get rescued? Is Dr. Marcus Welby still making house calls? Is Marcia Brady single? What kind of father did Beaver Cleaver grow up to be? Did Steve Austin and Jaime Sommers finally tie the bionic knot?

Those burning questions... and many, many more... about your favorite TV characters are finaly answered in the new, 2015 edition of this unique and entertaining book, which examines every TV series revival, sequel or remake that was made from the 1950s through the early 1990s.

Best TV Shows That Never Were By

Best TV Shows That Never Were This lively and entertaining book looks at the three hundred best and worst TV series ideas—known in the industry as "pilots"—that never made it to primetime from 1955-1990. From the adventures of a Samurai D.A. to the antics of an invisible alien baby, Lee Goldberg reveals the most astonishing, funny, and bizarre shows that never were.

UNSOLD TELEVISION PILOTS 1955-1989 By

UNSOLD TELEVISION PILOTS 1955-1989 This is the ground-breaking, exhaustively-researched book that revealed, for the first time ever, all of the details behind the thousands of TV series ideas that were developed and rejected by the networks since the dawn of television.

The book was an instant, national sensation when it was first published in 1990, winning enthusiastic critical acclaim and enormous media attention, including on-air praise from TV legend Johnny Carson on “The Tonight Show,” and was adapted into two hour-long specials, “The Greatest Shows You Never Saw” on CBS and “The Best TV Shows That Never Were” on ABC.