The PopCult Bookshelf
Three of the most intriguing reference books on the history of television are back in print, and available at reasonable prices. Lee Goldberg’s Unsold Television Pilots 1955-1989, The Best TV Shows That Never Were, and TELEVISION FAST FORWARD (Sequels and Remakes of Cancelled Series) were just reissued last week by the author’s own “Adventures in Television” label.
Author Lee Goldberg is a two-time Edgar & two-time Shamus Award nominee and the New York Times bestselling author of over thirty novels, including the fifteen Monk mysteries, “The Walk,” “King City,” “Watch Me Die,” and the internationally bestselling Fox & O’Hare books co-written with Janet Evanovich. He’s also written and/or produced scores of TV shows, including “Diagnosis Murder,” “SeaQuest,” “Monk,” and “The Glades.” As an international television consultant, he has advised networks and studios in Canada, France, Germany, Spain, China, Sweden, and the Netherlands on the creation, writing and production of episodic television series.
He is also a huge television nerd, and we are all richer because of it.
Unsold Television Pilots 1955-1989
by Lee Goldberg
Adventures in Television
ISBN 9781511590679
$27.99 (paperback) $4.99 (ebook)
This is one huge, exhaustively-researched book that reveals all of the details behind thousands of TV series ideas that were developed and rejected by the networks from the dawn of television to 1989.
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.
This is an invaluable work of television history and research, a must-read for anyone who loves TV and who wants to know how shows get on-the-air…and how they don’t. The book has been revised and updated for this new edition.
This book was previously only available as a very expensive, 800+ page hardcover limited to the library market or as pricey, two-volume trade paperback edition. Now updated and revised… and available for the for the first time as an inexpensive ebook ($4.99) and affordable, single-volume paperback ($27.99). This is one you’ll want to add to your library so you can pine for the cool TV shows that never made it to the airwaves.
The Best TV Shows That Never Were
by Lee Goldberg
Adventures in Television
ISBN 9781511590747
$11.99 (paperback) $2.99 (ebook)
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. As you might suspect, it’s an abridged and largely re-written version of the above book, with a lighter approach and way fewer pages. If you’re not a hardcore television addict, then this may be the book for you.
TELEVISION FAST FORWARD
(Sequels and Remakes of Cancelled Series)
by Lee Goldberg
Adventures in Television
ISBN 9781511590761
$11.99 (paperback) $3.99 (ebook)
Previously published under the title “Television Series Revivals,” this new updated and revised edition includes more recent revivals. Let’s go to the PR:
“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 finally 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.
This NEW edition now includes updates of the original entries PLUS a complete list of television series revivals and remakes that have been made from 1992 to 2015.”
So there you have it, three new editions of classic books on televison history. You can order them from any bookseller, or click on the price for the ebooks for a direct link.
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