This Sunday’s episode of The Simpsons will feature Neil Gaiman himself as a character.
Apparently Neil and Homer team up to group-write the latest tween lit hit and, of course, shenanigans ensue.
Archive for the ‘TV’ Category
American Gods coming to the small screen
Tuesday, August 23rd, 2011
Neil Gaiman is to adapt his novel American Gods into TV series for HBO.
Speaking at Edinburgh international book festival, he said: “I got the email yesterday saying that the final contractual tos and fros have been sorted out and I should be free within a couple of weeks to start writing.” The Guardian has the full story.
American Gods was the second Gaiman book that I read after Anansi Boys. I’m sure it will make good TV.
Terry Pratchett starts process to end his own life
Monday, June 13th, 2011
Sir Terry Pratchett was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2008 and is now been reporting that he has started the formal process which could lead to his assisted suicide at a clinic in Switzerland. He has been sent the consent forms requesting a suicide by the clinic, and claims that he planned to sign them imminently.
The Guardian reports that Pratchett “decided to start the process after making the film Terry Pratchett: Choosing to Die, which shows the moment of death of a motor neurone sufferer, millionaire hotel owner Peter Smedley, in the presence of his wife.” Pratchett goes on to say that “the only thing stopping me [signing them] is that I have made this film and I have a bloody book to finish”
Pratchett’s film will be shown tonight on BBC2
End of the Oprah era
Wednesday, May 25th, 2011The publishing world is mourning the end of the Oprah TV show – the final episode is broadcast today. The NY Times reports. I went to college in 1986 and can remember the Oprah show quickly becoming an established part of day-time TV, especially for a bunch of lazy students with nothing better to do. From The Secret to The Story of Edgar Sawtelle to James Frey and Eckhart Tolle, the Oprah has been a bookselling phenomenon. Love her or loathe her, she put books in front of millions of people.
South Riding by Winifred Holtby gets second life with BBC series
Monday, February 28th, 2011South Riding by Winifred Holtby was first published, posthumously, in 1936. The story is about a young headmistress living in a fictional Yorkshire neighbourhood; and the book itself has lived a fairly innocuous life in the midlist for over half a century until last week when Andrew Davies three part mini-series began to air on BBC One.
Sales of the book have spiked in a serious way, the novel was the bestselling book on AbeBooks.co.uk last week (on the heels of the first BBC episode) and it looks as if it will be one of our bestsellers on AbeBooks.co.uk in February.
This was not the first adaptation in the books history. The novel was first adapted for the big screen in 1938 starring Edna Best as Sarah Burton (the headmistress), Ralph Richardson as Robert Carne (a man tormented by his marriage) and Edmund Gwenn as Alfred Huggins (the sanctimonious hypocrite). Then in 1974 it was adapted for television by Yorkshire Television. BBC Radio 4 has done a radio version starring Sarah Lancashire and Philip Glenister in 1999.
With the success of South Riding The Guardian chose 10 more neglected literary classics for the Beeb to revive
Neglected English Reads:
1. The Real Charlotte by Somerville and Ross
2. The Vet’s Daughter by Barbara Comyns
3. The Rector’s Daughter by F.M. Mayor
4. School for Love by Olivia Manning
5. The Wife by Meg Wolitzer
6. A Way of Life, Like Any Other by Darcy O’Brien
7. The Odd Woman by George Gissing
8. The Blank Wall by Elisabeth Sanxay Holding
9. Ann Veronica by H.G. Wells
10. The Victorian Chaise-Longue by Marghanita Laski
Lisa Simpson Book Club
Wednesday, February 9th, 2011I recommend visiting the Lisa Simpson Book Club and catching up on all those literary references and gags from The Simpsons.
“Well, I think we should invest in a set of The Great Books Of Western Civilization. Look at this ad from The New Republic For Kids: Each month, a new classic will be delivered to our door. Paradise Regained, Martin Cheselwitt or Herman Melville’s twin-classics Omoo and Typee.”
The Strongest Link: Anne Robinson’s new book show
Monday, January 24th, 2011
Anne Robinson, the mistress of the killer put-down and one of Fleet Street’s most famous reformed drunks, is to front the BBC’s new flagship book show. Famous for presenting The Weakest Link, her new bookish chatshow will be a bit like Desert Island Discs (note to non-Brits, a famous person turns up and picks their favourite records, or in this case books, while chatting about their life). Guests will include the likes of PD James and the last surviving Mitford sister. The show begins in February.
Three years ago, I read Robinson’s autobiography and there is a lot more to her than The Weakest Link. The book is called Memoirs of an Unfit Mother and the title is very apt.
It’s great to see another book show coming into the fray. I always loved Desert Island Discs so I’m sure this format will work.
Portlandia: Did you read?
Friday, January 21st, 2011Lots of buzz about the latest sitcom in the US – Portlandia, which rips apart Oregon’s haven for liberal, eco-friendly, coffee-loving, vegan, do-gooding, left-wing types. NPR toured Portland and gave its impression of the city. I believe the two main characters run a feminist bookstore but aren’t interested in selling books – sounds like Black Books to me.
Do you know anyone like these Portland folks? Who knew reading was a competitive sport?
Holy Transformation! Batgirl was a Librarian!
Thursday, December 10th, 2009Cloudy With a Chance of Murder
Wednesday, November 25th, 2009There’s definitely a change in climate for Al Roker. America’s most popular weatherman is trying his hand at writing murder mysteries.
Roker, who has been the weather and feature reporter on NBC’s TODAY show since January 1996, draws on personal experience and his love of cooking in his 320-page crime novel released yesterday.
While the title The Morning Show Murders may have his coworkers squirming a little, Roker reassuringly denies using the book as an outlet for any work-related grievances that have or may come up. And when asked by a colleague if any of his workmates are featured in the book, Roker laughed, “On the advice of my attorney, I say no.”
Roker does admit that the central character Billy Blessing, a celebrity chef, restaurateur and a popular network breakfast television show host, is based on a recognizable TODAY show celebrity. “He’s a chef. He’s African-American, bald, a little stocky,” Roker said.
About the book:
Nobody can dish morning TV like Al Roker, who’s seen every side of a business that looks good on camera—even when sharks are circling inside the gleaming glass Manhattan media headquarters. Treachery abounds in Roker’s riotously thrilling debut novel—at once an ingenious murder mystery and a delicious behind-the-scenes look at network TV. As fact and fiction collide and the backbiting ignites, The Morning Show Murders will make you wonder: How much of this stuff is real?
Network TV can be murder. Just ask Billy Blessing, famous for his smile, charm, and ability to survive the shark tank that is high-stakes morning TV. But though Billy has outlived his fair share of prima-donnas, his cooking segment on Wake Up America! is a staple of the American diet, and his Manhattan bistro is a mega-success, his career has just taken a very dangerous turn: His show’s perky cohost, Gin McCauley, has launched into some brass-knuckles contract negotiations. A visiting Mossad agent is about to tell all on the air. And then the network’s head honcho is murdered in his luxury apartment, and an ambitious D.A. decides that Billy is to blame.
Forensics show that Gerry Gallagher was poisoned and that the fatal coq au vin came from Billy’s restaurant. Gerry had an impressive list of women in his black book—and a news assignment in Afghanistan had plunged the TV exec into the heart of a violent international secret. Now unsavory characters are coming out of the woodwork, and another murder strikes the show’s inner circle. Billy knows that someone’s trying to frame him. He also knows that a ruthless international assassin has just arrived in New York City. And suddenly, for the most trusted guy on TV the ultimate career move is not about ratings. It’s about staying alive—and stopping the next murder from becoming tomorrow’s breaking news.
Oprah nightmare for publishers
Friday, November 20th, 2009Oh the horror! If you look up towards the sky in Manhattan right now, you will see some very sad people dotted along the ever-so-high ledges of those massive media corporation buildings.
Yes, just when book publishers thought life could not get any worse comes the news that Oprah Winfrey, the publisher’s best friend, will shutdown her daytime talk show in 2011. All this comes on the heels of the rise of e-books, the Kindle, the Nook, the Sony e-thingy, and the demise of book coverage in the mainstream US media.
So what will be the ultimate go-to source for bookselling when Oprah pulls the plug?
Frankly, there isn’t another ‘superpower of recommendation’ like the Big O, who has the book club selections and features countless authors on the show. Publishers will have to target multiple media sources, including the unofficial media of blogs and social networking sites, and hope many small hits will create a bestseller.
Somehow, I think Oprah loves her literature and that she’s going to remain linked to books one way or another. Odd how this announcement comes very soon after her recent interviews with Stephenie Meyer and Sarah Palin? Perhaps these two ladies were the straws that broke the camel’s back? (Oprah’s lawyers should note I am not actually saying Oprah is a dromedary) I’d probably be ready to pack it in after discussing vampires and foreign policy respectively with those two.
