A theatre, film, and television historian, I've spent the last fifteen years researching and writing about all three areas of entertainment. I'm also a travel and tourism writer for a variety of e-commerce platforms. Television history is an area that I have researched extensively over the last twenty years, resulting in my booksThe Encyclopedia of Television Theme Songs and Sitcommentary: Television ComediesThat Change America.
Anyone who knows anything about television comedy will tell you that producer/developer Norman Lear was the force behind some of the greatest sitcoms of all time including All in the Family, Maude, The Jeffersons, Good Times, Sanford and Son, and One Day at a Time. The Sitcoms of Norman Lear by Sean Campbell takes a closer look at this titan of television and the game-changing sitcoms he produced.
Archie Bunker, George Jefferson, Maude - the television sitcom world of the 1970s was peopled by the creations of Norman Lear. Beginning in 1971, with the premier of ""All in the Family"", Lear's work gave sitcoms a new face and a new style. No longer were families perfect and lives in order. Mostly blue-collar workers and their families, Lear's characters argued, struggled, uttered sometimes shocking opinions and had no problem contributing to - or at least, acknowledging - the turmoil so shunned by 1960s television. Significantly, not only did Lear address difficult issues, but he did so through successful programming.…
As someone who was both a funny kid and a lover of superheroes, it was
always exciting to find a book where those two things crossed paths.
In the young readers' books I’ve written for Marvel and DC Comics, I
always try to inject humor where I can. Humor can be healing. If I
couldn’t laugh, especially about things that have caused me pain, I
don’t know that I would be around today. I love books about funny,
sensitive kids with big hearts. The world is a cold place sometimes,
but whenever I see a young person making positive change and having
fun along the way, it reminds me that anything is possible.
Just when I thought there were no great leaders anymore, here comes Mayor Good Boy.
With this series, Dave Scheidt and Miranda Harmon have cornered the market on sweet, funny, and heart-warming. It’s got a high-concept family sitcom energy that is so pure in the best way. A highlight for me is the friendship between Abby and Aaron (and not just because I share their love of comics). How they support and encourage one another makes the world a better place. And the Mayor himself is an absolute hoot.
There are silly moments and potty humor, but there’s also depth. This story left me feeling all warm and fuzzy, which is a big plus in my book. A vote for Mayor Good Boy is a vote not wasted.
Goodbye politics! Goodbye stardom! Mayor Good Boy is turning over a new leaf and this time...he's going BAD! Maybe even...bad to the bone.
Mayor Good Boy might not be as GOOD as the town of Greenwood thought. In fact, it turns out that Abby and Aaron's favorite very good boy might actually have been...A BAD BOY this whole time?!
Everyone's favorite dog mayor is back in this hilarious graphic novel series featuring all-new hijinx and all-new fun!
"Mayor Good Boy will make you sit, stay, and roll over with laughter!" -- John Patrick Green, creator of the New York Times…
A theatre, film, and television historian, I've spent the last fifteen years researching and writing about all three areas of entertainment. I'm also a travel and tourism writer for a variety of e-commerce platforms. Television history is an area that I have researched extensively over the last twenty years, resulting in my booksThe Encyclopedia of Television Theme Songs and Sitcommentary: Television ComediesThat Change America.
For many, I Love Lucy, starring comic genius Lucille Ball, epitomizes what the great American classic television comedy is. Ben Nussbaum’s I Love Lucy: Discovering America’s Best-Loved Sitcom takes a closer look at this side-splitting comedy and gives us a glimpse into why 70-years later, people still love the antics of the title character.
Running from 1951 to 1957 and in syndication for more than fifty years, I Love Lucy has a permanent place in the hearts of American television-watchers and has reached multiple generations of viewers. Based on the humorous antics of a New York City housewife, her Cuban bandleader husband, and their landlord best friends, I Love Lucy was not only wildly popular but also groundbreaking for its filming techniques, for its use of a live audience, and for being the first television show to air reruns. INSIDE I LOVE LUCY: *The beginnings of the show as well as what made it…
My real name is Susan Berger and I'm a certified bookaholic. I'm also an actor and I love my work. Being older has been very lucky for me. I wrote children’s books as Susan J Berger. COVID closed my publisher and I'm not actively submitting at the moment. I write romance as Susan B James because I didn’t want my children to have to acknowledge that their mother knew anything about sex. Falling in love and living happily ever after is an ageless state. But in romance novels heroines are mostly under thirty. I happen to be chronologically gifted myself. And many of my favorite romances feature older heroines. I think we need more.
Jennifer Crusie writes some of the funniest heroines I ever met. I adore her voice and I wanted to add her to my list. When I went to Jen’s blog ArghInk to ask her which of her heroines was over forty. She said Andie.
Andie’s ex-husband North wants one last favor from her as closure. Help him settle the two delinquent orphans he inherited from a distant relative. He knows Andie can handle anything.
Her new fiancée isn’t pleased. When Andie meets the two children she quickly realizes things are much worse than she feared. The place is a mess, the children, Carter and Alice, aren't your average delinquents, and the creepy old house where they live is being run by the worst housekeeper since Mrs. Danvers. What's worse, Andie's fiancé thinks this is all a plan by North to get Andie back, and he may be right.
Andie Miller is ready to move on with her life. She wants to marry her fiancé and leave behind everything in her past, especially her ex-husband, North Archer. But when Andie tries to gain closure with him, North asks one last favor: Since the death of a distant cousin, he's become the guardian of two orphans who have already driven away three nannies. North needs someone to take care of the situation―and he knows Andie can handle anything.
Carter and Alice aren't your average delinquents, and the creepy old house where they live is being run by the worst housekeeper…
Pop culture is my life, and I like my characters to be well-versed in it. There's no reason to pretend otherwise, as what we consume informs who we are as people. Plus, there’s something beautiful in something everybody collectively knows. I’ve worked hard to make pop culture not just an interest but a career path. I currently program films for the Seattle International Film Festival, work as a playwright and performer, cover film, theatre, and burlesque for The Ticket at the Seattle Times, am a frequent guest on podcasts such asFilm at Fifty,and assist at various arts organizations all over the greater Seattle area.
To quoteNew York Timescritic Sam Anderson,“the sitcom is arguably the defining commercial art form of the American 20th century,” and this book gives that hypothesis weight. Over 24 chapters (starting in 1951 withI Love Lucy, the Rosetta Stone of the genre, and ending in 2014 with Dan Harmon’s cult hit Community),Austerlitz uses the television comedy format to discuss joke structure, technological advancements in the arts, and the evolution of American social and political consciousness over the previous half-century. Sitcoms are by their nature the tension between two opposing forces, centering on characters who strive to change their lot in life only to have everything reset by episode’s end, just in time to do it all again next week. There’s something both beautiful and menacing about that.
The form is so elemental, so basic, that we have difficulty imagining a time before it existed: a single set, fixed cameras, canned laughter, zany sidekicks, quirky family antics. Obsessively watched and critically ignored, sitcoms were a distraction, a gentle lullaby of a kinder, gentler America—until suddenly the artificial boundary between the world and television entertainment collapsed.
In this book we can watch the growth of the sitcom, following the path that leads from Lucy to The Phil Silvers Show; from The Dick Van Dyke Show to The Mary Tyler Moore Show; from M*A*S*H to Taxi; from Cheers to Roseanne;…
I am a professor of pop culture, so I know personally that talking about race can be so incredibly awkward at times – but it does not always have to be! Often, many restrict themselves from fully participating in these necessary dialogues only because of a profound fear of “saying the wrong thing.” As individuals responsible for preparing a new generation of thinkers prepared to innovate improved solutions for the society we share, inevitably, the topic of race must not only be broached, but broached productively. I write to provide tools to help make such difficult conversations less difficult.
This book is excellent in providing quantitative data to demonstrate how well-meaning people often make negative racial associations based upon media content – this book really helps readers question to what degree we are influenced by or are impervious to media images.
While they do not focus on movies exclusively, they do thoroughly explain subtle racial patterns within mainstream media.
Living in a segregated society, white Americans learn about African Americans not through personal relationships but through the images the media show them. "The Black Image in the White Mind" offers the most comprehensive look at the intricate racial patterns in the mass media and how they shape the ambivalent attitudes of Whites towards Blacks. Using the media, and especially television, as barometers of race relations, Robert M. Entman and Andrew Rojecki explore but then go beyond the treatment of African Americans on network and local news to incisively uncover the messages sent about race by the entertainment industry -…
When writing about friendships, it was important for me to highlight the highs and the lows of friendships. This approach takes the reader on a journey with the main character as she remembers the good times while she navigates through the tough times. By sprinkling in humor, a story that could sway to the serious side and stay there is suddenly entertaining and balanced, giving the main character’s plight depth and the reader an engrossing experience.
Welcome to the Neighborhood explores the complexities of forming adult friendships after moving into a new neighborhood and encountering an already established circle of friends.
I’ve felt like a fish out of water in a similar situation, and this story is eerily relatable.
I laughed and teared up too. This book gave me all the feels.
It’s an amazing debut about standing up for yourself, finding your tribe, and living a life that feels right to you.
A heartwarming and life-affirming story of family dynamics, mother/daughter relationships, and second chances-perfect for fans of Maria Semple and Abbi Waxman. After years of struggling to make ends meet, Brooklyn single mom Ginny falls for sweet, divorced Jeff, and relishes the idea of moving with her quirky eleven-year-old daughter Harri to his home in an upscale New Jersey suburb. Though she's never been impressed by material things, she is thrilled that getting a second chance at love comes with the added bonus of finally giving Harri everything she never could before. And then she meets the neighbors. Ginny is quickly…
Kimberly Potts is a TV and pop culture journalist and author who believes television is not only the ultimate entertainment medium, but is also the ultimate cultural common denominator. She has written for The New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, Vulture, The Hollywood Reporter, TV Guide, The Los Angeles Times, Yahoo, Variety, People.com, US Weekly, E! Online, Thrillist, Esquire.com, AOL, Movies.com, and The Wrap. Kimberly also co-hosts the Pop Literacyand #Authoring podcasts, and is a member of the Television Critics Association, Critics Choice Association, Authors Guild, and American Society of Journalist and Authors.
Film historian and professor Bogle does a deep dive on the history of Black characters and series on television, from the early days of the medium and stereotyped portrayals on series like Amos ‘n’ Andy through groundbreaking ‘70s shows like Sanford & Son and The Jeffersons, ‘80s juggernaut The Cosby Show, and the sitcoms of UPN and The WB in the mid-1990s. Bogle shares his opinions throughout the compelling chronicle, and does not suffer foolish performances or material gladly, making this a must read for any TV fan seeking a truly comprehensive account of TV history.
Analyzing four decades of African Americans in television, the author traces the history of black characters and themes, covering Amos 'n' Andy, The Mod Squad, Sanford and Son, Good Times, The Cosby Show, L.A. Law, The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Martin, and other groundbreaking shows.
A theatre, film, and television historian, I've spent the last fifteen years researching and writing about all three areas of entertainment. I'm also a travel and tourism writer for a variety of e-commerce platforms. Television history is an area that I have researched extensively over the last twenty years, resulting in my booksThe Encyclopedia of Television Theme Songs and Sitcommentary: Television ComediesThat Change America.
For those who love television comedy and/or are curious about major players in this genre of entertainment, Sitcoms: The 101 Greatest TV Comedies of All Time will delight. Paging through this colorful book (complete with plenty of accompanying photos), one gets a taste of such shows as I Love Lucy, Gilligan’s Island, The Facts of Life, Cheers, Designing Women, Roseanne, Seinfeld, and The Nanny among them.
The most beloved, most groundbreaking, and most entertaining TV comedies of all time are celebrated in words and pictures-many of them rare-by the award-winning authors of Broadway Musicals. In 101 lively chapters and lots of special features, the authors of Broadway Musicals explore our favorite form of popular entertainment-the TV situation comedy. Of the many hundreds of shows that have debuted over TV's 60-year history, the authors have carefully selected the most influential, popular, and enduring ones, from Gilligan's Island to Seinfeld, I Love Lucy to Will and Grace, creating a history of the medium that goes beyond stats and…
A theatre, film, and television historian, I've spent the last fifteen years researching and writing about all three areas of entertainment. I'm also a travel and tourism writer for a variety of e-commerce platforms. Television history is an area that I have researched extensively over the last twenty years, resulting in my booksThe Encyclopedia of Television Theme Songs and Sitcommentary: Television ComediesThat Change America.
The Golden Girls is one of television’s most enduring situation comedies. The story of four women in their golden years sharing a home in Miami, Florida continues to find a new audience with each generation. Jim Colucci’s book Golden Girls Forever: An Unauthorized Look Behind the Lanai is an intimate and in-depth look at the making of the show and the legacy it has enjoyed.
The complete, first-ever Golden Girls retrospective, packed with hundreds of exclusive interviews, behind-the-scenes and never-before-revealed stories, more than two hundred color and black-and-white photos, commentary, and more.
They were four women of a certain age, living together under one roof in Miami—smart and strong Dorothy, airhead Rose, man-hungry belle Blanche, and smart-mouthed matriarch Sophia. They were the Golden Girls, and for seven seasons, this hilarious quartet enchanted millions of viewers with their witty banter, verve, sass, and love, and reaffirmed the power of friendship and family.
Over thirty years after it first aired, The Golden Girls…
