Twin Peaks Books
Related Subjects: Cast and Crew
More Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Used price: $19.99

Didn't Live UpReview Date: 2007-07-02
An all-star cast of my generation! I swooned over Rod Taylor and Robert Culp!Review Date: 2006-05-22
And those stars that the magnificent author/director Paul Kyriazi lined up for this special version of his book!!! Well, all I can say is that I remember swooning each time I saw any of them on the big screen. (I hope my hubby doesn't read this.) But when I saw Rod Taylor--who narrates this story, with such a come-hither voice--starring in The Birds with that gorgeous Tippi Hedren, I almost fainted. Yes, he was that much of a hunk ... and still is, according to my sister!
Incidentally, people used to say I looked like Tippi. Ah-hhh, memories ... But getting back to this audio book, I loved it to pieces.
Keep up the excellent work, Mr. K. You're terrific, and almost as handsome as the great Rod! Ciao, baby ...
I never wanted it to end!! Fabulous!Review Date: 2007-01-16
The story is fantastic, gripping and sexy. I absolutely loved it!
Bravo!!!!
"Hard Rock Lovers".....Beautifully done!!Review Date: 2006-03-14
"Good" and "evil" are blurred. "Life" and "death" are blurred. Relationships are blurred, but the irony of fate is boldly presented and it's made abundantly clear that our "next" existence offers another chance to hopefully do better. The inevitability of change, the subtle and sometimes dramatic interrelationships between cause and effect as well as the ever-present, ever-looming scales of divine and poetic justice are persistent threads. A beautiful blending of drama and melodrama are used to develop both the story and the characters. The audio presentation is top-notch entertainment, particularly when you consider that all acting is accomplished solely through vocal artistry. The actors do a fantastic job of inviting the listener into their world and moving you effortlessly through the story.
I really enjoyed listening to this audio book. It is wonderful from start to finish and my congratulations go out to all involved. It's a winner on all levels.
WONDERFUL cast, beautifully performed, an EXCITING thrilling journey you won't forget!Review Date: 2006-03-14
Robert Culp kept me laughing with his perfect low-life agent performance, always the best! James Darren was the perfect rock star, mean, talented but sad, his performance was # 1. Ishtar Uhvana was great as Medusa, she added the sweetness to keep some reality in the rock world and her ending dialoque brought tears to my eyes. Loved Russ Tamblyn, George Chakiris was brilliant as the evil Reynaldo, and Nefta Perry as Connie played the perfect Rosie Perez.
The ending gives you hope and leaves you with happy feelings. You will want to play it again and again; it only gets better each time you listen.
Paul Kyriazi is my hero. I am his BIGGEST fan.
Thank you Paul for the fun and exciting adventure!

Used price: $8.43

Visiting my old communityReview Date: 2008-02-09
[...]Review Date: 2006-07-05
Local historian, Jacqueline Proctor, offers a view of San Francisco's development from its highest point. Home to some of the city's most beautiful neighborhoods and influential citizens, this story of those who dared to dream is part of the tapestry that makes San Francisco the city it is today. See a preview of her book at www.MtDavidson.org.

Used price: $17.16

A devilish readingReview Date: 2008-08-28
Who are you? And who is anyone?Review Date: 2008-05-13
But there's much more here ... look beneath the self-deprecating humor & you'll discover that Beymer is asking some Big Questions: who & what is The Real Me? Is there even such a thing? Is there some ultimate reality behind the social mask of ego? What is the point?!?
Is there anyone who hasn't wondered about those questions somewhere along the line? But most of us prefer not to delve too deeply into such a dark place. Richard Beymer has plunged in headfirst & given us a firsthand report of his experiences ... and in doing so, he enables the more hesitant among us to dip at least a toe or two into those unplumbed waters. You won't come away from these pages unmoved, and you'll have plenty of food for thought. Not for every taste, certainly, but recommended for those who care to venture outside the bounds of the Everyday.
A search for truthReview Date: 2008-02-21
The author's true nature becomes known through a process of facing his nature as an impostor in life. Throughout this book, just as we get a feel that the main character has awakened to his true nature, we find that it is only another video, another false self, another impostor. There is a constant pushing forth into new layers of awareness without any real breaking through the mode of impostor until the very end.
By immersing oneself in the flow of this book, one may see how difficult it is to break out of impostor mode. At least we can be aware that we are in it! Then through a process of playing all the videos of our so-called life, and the videos within them, and videos within them, and the videos and films created to explain them, we can finally come to a true knowledge of what this existence is all about. Impostor is a wild, funny, tumultuous tour of an amusement park fun house. The amusement park is the world, the fun house is your life, and there is a way out.
Jerry Katz
One: Essential Writings on Nonduality
What is this autobiography when not being what we think it is?Review Date: 2008-02-19
Did he or his mother spend time in a mental institution? Did he really have a brief dalliance as a young man that resulted in very eyebrow-raising results later in his life? Did he really rent that New York apartment, with its sinister connections to the apartment next door?
Did he really die by gunshot? Or on an operating table?
Is he really from another planet??
See what I mean?
The book takes the form of a movie script that attempts to chronicle the life of George (Beymer's alter ego) from his early teen years till the present. But the bizarre disconnects begin when we realize that George himself is actually writing and filming the script as it goes along. He is both a character inside the film and the observer who chronicles all the events, watching himself live (and die?). Add to this the time shifts, replaying of events with different characters and outcomes, and Spaceman George's desperate attempts to escape this planet once and for all, and the book is both confusing and exhilarating from beginning to end.
The format of a movie script is logical, given Beymer's line of work, but it might take some getting used to for those more accustomed to reading a linear narrative in prose form. But once the reader has made the mental shift from "prose" to "script," the story thrusts itself forward, with all its convolutions.
The premise of the book is that all Beymer's life has been an act, which is symbolized by George's obsession with filming absolutely everything that happens to him and the people around him. The inside cover of his book reads: "Who am I when not being who I think I am?" This encapsulates George's search for what is essentially an escape from Ego. And yet, even while he tries to escape from himself, he himself appears never to have fully participated in his own life. After all, he was supposedly filming it rather than experiencing it directly. The constant refrain in the book, especially from female characters, is that he never puts down the camera; he is always fretting about his life while not actually living it. So there is a contradiction in his own quest: he seeks to know who the "real George" is when all the acting stops, yet he also fights to escape from the "I."
The implications of the book, especially when it's assumed to contain some genuinely autobiographical elements, are disturbing. One senses that the dislocation Beymer suggests, between his actor persona and who he really is, is genuine. What is being chronicled here seems to be a very long struggle to discover his real identity, coupled with sadness that what began as a very promising career seemed to fizzle and never quite fulfill that promise. When one begins with a triumph like West Side Story, where does one go from there?
When you read the blurb on the back of the book, the impression of sadness is strengthened. "Richard Beymer is somewhat famous for acting in certain films and television shows bla bla bla..." The book itself is described as "a totally nonsensical contrivance that most likely will never get published." The blurb concludes, "In spite of evidence to the contrary, Beymer continues to think he exists...and so on and so forth bla bla bla..."
This resembles nothing so much as a tactic we all use at times, when trying to shrug something off as unimportant even though it would have been very important if only it had gone further, gotten noticed, been a success, etc. We play something down in this self-deprecating way because it really matters to us, and not because it doesn't. This blurb is humourous, but when you combine it with the contents of the story - the search for self, for success, for release - it comes across more wistful than amusing.
If you want to learn the straight, linear facts about Richard Beymer's life story, this is probably not the book you're looking for. But if you want an account of how things looked and felt from the inside - through the sex, drugs, failures and successes, all the seeking, and even the possible answers to Beymer's lifetime quest - then this crazy, careening, heart-wrenching movie script is exactly what you're looking for.
Preposterous IMPOSTER amuses & confusesReview Date: 2007-12-31
Impostor (rather than "Imposter") is a flawed, everything-and two kitchen sinks semi-fictional-memoir self published by actor/celebrity Richard Beymer. Beymer starred in West Side Story and made himself famous again 20 or so years later in the Twin Peaks television series. But don't expect tales about famous directors or working on movies and bedding starlets. Some of that is within the prose... but in dream-like stream of consciousness bursts of writing that zig and zag through a myriad of come-ons and self indulgent fantasies and ideas that will wear out most readers pretty fast. Instead, consider this an experimental work of fiction and enjoy the fun-house ride.
It starts quick and reveals most of its bag of tricks too soon,meaning it feels repetitious by the time you are 50 pages into it. But then again.. so what... why trust the reader to keep going if you don't lay it out for them? It's full of goofy revelations, half-baked philosophies, and it begins to feel like Kurt Vonnegut's Kilgore Trout is now an actor and frustrated filmmaker named Richard Beymer whose not quite sure how honest and truthful he wants to be about his life and thoughts about life that he wraps it up inside a 70s movie that should have been directed by Monte Hellman and Bob Rafelson--except it's a period piece done in 2007 that tries too hard. Or maybe you'll think of Hunter S.Thompson's adventures on Acid with his lawyer. It's manic, off-the-wall, frustrating, repetitious, annoying but clever enough and often funny enough to overcome its flaws and reward the patient reader with interesting insights, attitudes and plenty of spicy entertainment. It dares you to keep up with it and then makes it nearly impossible to do so. Oh screw you and all this game playing and nonsense. No wait... you crafty son. . . of . . . a. . .I'm gonna hang in there and play this game.
Beymer invents or perhaps that's invests himself as George a split personality who believes he's an alien cast in a life-long movie where he plays a very flawed personality struggling artist and actor who is trying to film everything he does. Got that? Good. Beymer's a trickster who wants to pull the rug out from you constantly and believes if he keeps hopping around using various literary devices and tricks he'll create energy and excitement and wit. Sometimes he's right. At other times he tries way too hard and the milk starts to spoil and go sour. Then, just as you start to give up and get too frustrated, Beymer throws something at you that works or is revealing enough you give the book another chance, and then another. It's baaad, it's good, it's awful, it's entertaining. It's challenging and different.
So who cares. Buy it and try to read it. You'll get some laughs out of the book and if you stick with it, a little bit more than that.

Used price: $39.99
Collectible price: $350.00

Easily a 5 star book except...Review Date: 2008-02-23
David Lynch: The Air is On FireReview Date: 2007-12-28
Couldn't have asked for moreReview Date: 2007-12-27
The most comprehensive publication of Lynch's art availableReview Date: 2008-01-06
great book, must haveReview Date: 2007-09-15

Used price: $19.50

Essential Reading for the Peaks FreakReview Date: 2007-06-30
Sure, some of the essays are somewhat pretensious and in some cases in accurate, but you will not find the series analyzed like this anywhere else. This book is a very unique resource. If you are a fan of the show, then you will absolutely love this book.
full of revelationsReview Date: 2007-05-14
Full of DelightReview Date: 2002-09-27
Take a mesmorising trip through the fantastic of "Twin Peaks" or go looking for clues to unlocking its strange mysteries - this book will give you all the leads. So whether you are into exploring doubling, postmodern culture, detective fiction, the fantastic, or merely the world of David Lynch, I strongly recommend getting a hold of this book. An amazing a thorough read - even better than the otherwise strong "Weirdsville USA"!!!
1/2 Simplistic garbage, 1/2 Pseudo-intellectual nonsenseReview Date: 2003-01-03
The above sentence comes from arguably the best of the twelve essays contained within this book, Christy Desmet's "The Canonization of Laura Palmer." She makes some extremely insightful points, but to reach them, you have to wade through pretentious written-with-thesaurus-in-hand idiocy like the preceding paragraph.
In general, those expecting to find opinions on what the Red Room really is, or whether coffee and cherry pie are a metaphor for something deeper, will have to parse through endless masturbatory babble, and for the most part will be ultimately disappointed by the lack of any revelations about the show itself (one notable exception is Angela Hague's interesting "Derationalization of Detection," which delves briefly into what actually happened to Cooper in the Black Lodge).
Some essays, such as Jonathan Rosenbaum's "Bad Ideas..." might simply be re-titled "Why I liked Twin Peaks," as it comes off more like high-brow film criticism than anything else, revealing nothing about the show other than why the writer thought it was good. Ditto Marc Dolan's essay "The Peaks and Valleys...", which contains only speculation as to why the show might have lost its audience. Henry Jenkins' is awful, doing nothing more than chronicling ultimately irrelevant discussions on alt.tv.twinpeaks while the show was airing.
A few of the feminist writers are equally terrible for different reasons. Martha Nochimson's "Desire Under the Douglas Firs..." had potential to be very interesting, but went on a "phallocentric" tangent, and from her we read insights like "The phallic nature of the thumbs up sign, and the phallic incapacity of the Old Bellhop, who cannot stand up straight, are complemented by the visionary presence of The Giant, a phallic presence, as emphasized by the visual foregrounding of The Giant's crotch. (153).
In addition, I fear, some of these writers seem to be a little out of their depth, and readers who are specialists in any of the fields contained within might be able to find numerous mistakes. For instance, in the essay about music (my own area of specialty) Kathryn Kalinak misidentifies leitmotifs, writes musical examples in the wrong key AND mode, and generally reveals herself to be musically illiterate. She also assigns import and symbolism to things that deserve none. She notes that in one scene, "a country and western selection on the jukebox mysteriously disappears for Shelley and Norma's entrance only to reappear a few moments later," citing this as proof that Lynch is trying to make us aware of the line "between illusion and artifice." Nonsense. It was an editing mistake. I could wax philosophical that the chess game between Cooper and Earle (which contained impossible positions/illegal moves) was Lynch trying to symbolically demonstrate any number of things, but it was really just Lynch being lazy, and that's fine.
The essays alone really only merit two stars, but following them "Full of Secrets" has several excellent appendices which contain writing/directorial/acting credits, a Twin Peaks calendar of events, and a complete scene breakdown from the pilot through FWWM, all very well done and useful.
For the rest of the book, well, you've been warned.
Leaves no owl unturnedReview Date: 2003-09-03
this is the book for you.
On the other
hand, if you want fun reading about a fun show, Agent Cooper's
Autobiography or Welcome to Twin Peaks: Access Guide would
be a better bet. ;-)
A dozen in-depth analyses of the unique TV series, written by a raft of PhD's,
including professors
from leading universities. No matter how many times you've
watched the programs, I guarantee that this book will tell you
things you've
never noticed . . . or even imagined. There's a complete listing of characters,
a calendar/timeline,
and 50 pages of scene-by-scene descriptions of all the
episodes, plus the movie.
The last chapter is a sort of free-for-all
panel discussion (or, as the eight
co-authors describe it, "a writing strategy that privileges the dialogic
interchange
rather than the monologic pronouncement"). Here are the concluding
remarks:
REEVES: Maybe David Lynch is possessed
by BOB so he is not responsible
for his actions.
ALL: Hmmmm . . .
In my opinion, this book's
sometimes pompous, sometimes far-fetched, sometimes
incomprehensible attempts to dissect the products of David Lynch's
wild creativity
are--if one takes a step back--wryly appropriate to Twin Peaks' own blending of
the mundane and the
weird.

Used price: $0.01
Collectible price: $34.01

A Captivating Read With an Unsatisfying EndingReview Date: 2006-11-18
Not worth the timeReview Date: 2006-04-22
Only for the most ardent Peaks fan...Review Date: 2005-06-26
IT SUCKS YOU IN...Review Date: 2005-11-03
This book grabs you from the start. I received it in the mail when I got home from work last night around 5:30, and I had it finished by 11:00--it's about 180 pages. Its conversational tone makes it a fast read, for sure, but it's Laura's completely unusual, fascinating experiences that really get the pages turning. The great thing about it is that it gives you further insight into the world of Twin Peaks, specifically Laura Palmer, obviously. TP is a very layered, complex "world" that requires multiple viewings to truly appreciate. Fire Walk With Me provided much appreciated insight into Laura's final week, but this diary goes so much further than that and highlights Laura's life from the age of 12 and off and on until 17, when she died. It is genuinely fascinating to see Laura change from a generally happy, if somewhat "different" 12-year-old into a tormented soul who welcomes death. The influence of Bob increases over time, though he had always been there. The pain seems so real, you can't really blame her for some of her outrageous and even hurtful behavior. I'm not going to give away anything specific, but suffice it to say that there is ample support for Dr. Jacoby's statements in the first season: To Agent Cooper that Laura should not be faulted for her cocaine addiction, and to Bobby that she didn't mean to hurt him, she just had no control over her own life.
Speaking of Bobby Briggs, this book goes into quite a bit of detail about their relationship. Although he softens considerably over the course of the show, this diary cements the idea that he was always misunderstood. If there was any doubt that Laura's relationship with Bobby was actually much deeper than her relationship with James Hurley, this book puts that doubt to rest for good. Here Bobby emerges as someone who understands Laura better than almost anyone, even though he didn't know her "secret." But he sensed it was there.
There are some pretty surprising revelations in this book, quite a feat, really.
Jennifer Lynch really succeeded in capturing the essense of Laura Palmer's struggle with Bob. I'm guessing she was briefed by her Dad beforehand--David Lynch has said that he has the world of Laura and Twin Peaks mapped out in his mind, and that TP will always be there, just no one is pointing a camera at it right now.
I must also comment on one poster's assessment of Bob's speaking through Laura as "dumb." How is it dumb if that was the reality in Laura's life? As for the poster who suggested that Jennifer Lynch was working through her own issues in writing this book, that is just uncalled for. Nothing in this book is inconsistent with what we already knew about Laura Palmer. Was there any doubt that she was one seriously screwed-up chick?
A lot like Go Ask Alice: but even more sad if that's possibleReview Date: 2006-06-19
I have to say reading this book gave me the chills. It was very heartbreaking,sad and terrifying as you read how Laura Palmer's life unfolded from ages 12 to 17.
I know there are a lot of theories from fans regarding whether BOB was real or someone Laura's sub-consciously made up to block any truth that her father was abusing her. But as Agent Cooper said in the show: Would it be any easier if I told you a man would rape and murder his own daughter?
In reading this you can almost hear Sheryl Lee's voice: from joy to sadness, terrified to angry, hopeful to hopeless: all the emotions are conveyed here.
In a way this would be a companion piece to the young adult novel "Go Ask Alice" , which was based on a true diary. Both books delve into the world of the All Amercan Girl and see their dreams go horribly astray.
Kudos to Jennifer Lynch for writing a very powerful work that may in fact help people who have beeen victims of abuse break free so that they don't become Laura Palmer herself.


A MUST READ THRILLER!!!!Review Date: 2006-11-25
While I thrilled to the pacing, style, and content of the book, I also enjoyed the author's observations through the eyes of the book's heroine. Alex is a female cop - the Chief of Homicide - in a modern (still male-driven) Police force in So. California - Pasadina. She is also a mother of a teenager (and I'll leave it to you who also have been parents of teenagers to imagine WHICH job gives her the most problems). From the opening series of events, to the closing phrase, you, the reader, are asked to join in the team's efforts to "Run the Risk"!!! AND, YOU DO, willingly.
Run the Risk, as I take it from the book, is the term used by fire investigators when they have done all that they can in a situation, given the circumstances, their FULL professional expertise and experience, and are left with the time-sensitive need to make a decision: cut A wire; cut THE wire; cut the WIRES; cut the RED wire; cut the BLUE wire; but, still, DO SOMETHING or the bomb will go off!!
I found this parable to ring true for most of all that we do in the world today, given the speed of events we are faced with, and the consequences of our decisions. AND, the need we have to ACTUALLY LIVE with the results of that decision!!
I LOVED THIS BOOK!! As an "expert" in "serial killers", I found this one a new and truly horrifying one - even worse than Hannible Lecter!!!
I am running to obtain the next in this series. THANK YOU SCOTT FROST!!
More like an Action Movie than a Crime NovelReview Date: 2006-08-07
Los Angeles homicide detective Alex Delillo's daughter is kidnapped by a serial killer who likes to murder people with explosive devices. The novel basically deals with Delillo's race against time to save her daughter and catch the mad killer.
This book is fast-paced and decently written, but at the expense of character development. In many ways, this book resembles a non-stop action movie. The characters literally run from one implausable action scene (often involving a ticking bomb and an explosion) to another. The book never slows down and allows us to get to know these people. Many of the characters therefore end up rather sketchy and bland.
I also found the daughter character in this novel to be highly annoying, which is unfortunate since we are supposed to fear for her life. There are also many loose ends in RUN THE RISK that are not wrapped up in the ending.
Overall, I give this book a very mild recommendation. I would only recommend this novel to people looking for a good action read.
"support for S & M/torture--Bush would love it"Review Date: 2005-11-29
exploits torture, sexualizes it (oh so subtley) and leaves for the
un-doubtedly unending sequels the "punishment" of the villain. I
cannot help but feel total DISGUST for the writer who has some
real skill and accomplishments (does NOT need to do this). He does NOT help society look at the pros and cons of torture (?46%
of us think "some" torture is OK!!!????) but encourages us to get
some kind of vicarious feeling from the long drawn-out descriptions--feels really "sicko" to me. As a volunteer in a library who does not believe in "censorship," this is the one
exception I have run across. (We had choices of audio-tapes & I
simply could not recommend this one). With ratings of "5" I fear
for our future (along with everything else currently going on).
Good writer, not-so-good bookReview Date: 2007-01-25
Most of the characters are believable and even engaging.
The pacing is (by and large) superb.
But it's got some terrible, terrible flaws.
First, and worst, it's about a serial killer.
This is the hoariest of cliches, on a par with an Evil Twin or "It was all only a dream!!!!"
Clearly, a licensing board should be set up to charge authors a penalty-fee every time they use this immensely tired plot device.
Second--related to the first--the plot (though rapid) is just one damn thing after another. It's as though the author hadn't really thought things out to the end before writing. There is an abrupt and pointless shift from Chasing a Terrorist (a cliche, but not half as bad) to Chasing a Serial Killer (yawn).
Third--related to the first two--there are lots of loose ends. The romance sputters and stalls. The mother-daughter conflict sputters and stalls. The police turf-conflict (another cliche) sputters and stalls. The serial killer never really develops or (and this is worse) becomes scary.
All of this is too bad, because Frost is a good writer.
His second book, Never Fear, is miles better.
A very promising and suspenseful debut thrillerReview Date: 2007-06-05

Used price: $7.17

SOPRANOS vs. HILL STREET BLUESReview Date: 2007-10-12
Robert Moore asserts that Thompson was somehow nearsighted when he believed that the second golden age of television was on a decline. I'll admit that that is a nearsighted view to take, but I'll challenge Moore once again to defend the current glut of "acclaimed television". To compare "The Sopranos" to "Hill Street Blues" is like comparing stale meatloaf to a filet minion. "Hill Street Blues" is one of the finest crafted series ever created for television. Sure, it suffers from formula, and from some cornpone theatrics. But while "The Sopranos", perhaps nobly, aims for "art", it fails at being well-crafted. It supplants ambiguity and nihilistic cynicism for actual drama, and in doing so casts the worst insult at its audience - boredom. "Hill Street" is always entertaining and engaging, if sometimes contrived. Art or not, "The Sopranos" is simply poorly-crafted, overrated TV, and is incredibly banal in its execution.
Further, I'll challenge the assertion that "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" is great television. It has its moments, and it bends convention (always a plus). But the reason for the incredible number of academic papers written on its behalf has to do with the fact that college kids are nerds, geeks, and dorks. I know - I'm one too. I was even an English major. But I don't write about my geekdom to impress scholars. In fact I don't write about it at all, otherwise my desk would be filled with papers on "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine", a show I enjoyed tremendously and feel at least on par with "Buffy", possibly superior. Do I care to push my interests into an "academic" community? Do I give a rat's a** to "convert" anyone to my side? No. I simply enjoy the show.
I write this in all earnestness, because I'm a dramatist and I take my craft seriously. As such, I can say this - there is not a single series on television right now that I would be proud to write for. Not one. I think back to the years of "Homicide", "L.A. Law", "Picket Fences", "Murder One", "St. Elsewhere", and, yes, "Hill Street Blues", and think, "Where did the real TV go?" "Veronica Mars", "Dead Like Me" and "Smallville" don't cut it for me, and they certainly don't belong in any discussion about true quality drama.
I do believe that there will one day be a third "Golden Age" of Television (maybe even not *on* television). As a writer, I plan to be at the forefront. But I do fear it may still be a long ways off.
Memories of Great TelevisionReview Date: 2006-06-14
the place to startReview Date: 2002-10-07
An essential book for understanding the development of TV in the past quarter centuryReview Date: 2006-06-23
The book's greatest strength is in its identification of the qualities that make up quality television shows and the discussion of the development of a series of shows in the eighties and early nineties that encapsulated those qualities. These parts of the book are very, very good indeed and one will be hard pressed to find better discussions of why HILL STREET BLUES, ST. ELSEWHERE, and MOONLIGHTING were great shows. The lead-up chapters that detail the pre-history of quality TV are also outstanding. Most of my review is going to argue with several of Thompson's points, but I want to be explicit that one of the virtues of a good book is that it makes you want to argue with it. Ludwig Wittgenstein told one of his students that a mark of a great book was that it made you want to throw it across a room and yell at it. I think Thompson is very wrong at several points, but he is wrong in important ways, and a reader can learn a great deal by debating Thompson as he or she reads.
One of the parts I want to argue with he is characterization of what counts as a Quality TV show. I'm not quite sure he is correct in dismissing, for instance, STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION, as a quality TV show. I guess my complaint is that Thompson wants to establish a genre, one that would exclude unrealistic shows such as STAR TREK. But what of BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER? This is very widely considered to be one of the truly great series of the past decade. Several of the television critics he quotes with approval--in particular David Bianculli and Ken Tucker--were both passionate admirers of BUFFY, lavishing praise on the show unequaled by any other show. Furthermore, Thompson seems to view the way that shows are received on college campuses as a mark of a show's quality. No show comes anywhere close to BUFFY in the way that it has been received by the academic community. In fact, academic papers on BUFFY come close to matching all papers written on all other shows combined in the past ten years. Yet, Thompson clearly states that two marks of quality shows are that they tend to win awards and that they are realistic. BUFFY received vast critical acclaim (and its reputation seems to grow with each passing year), but much to the consternation of the critics that praised it, it failed to receive any Emmys (apart from some minor ones) or even major nominations. And while it was a hybrid show (a blend of fantasy, drama, comedy, romance, and teen genres), one of the marks of a quality show as identified by Thompson, it was a show about vampires, which would clearly seem to violate the realism rule. Perhaps Thompson would have adjusted his criteria with the appearance of BUFFY (and perhaps he already has). My point is that the criteria of quality TV as outlined by Thompson describes no necessary or sufficient conditions, but more in the way of the "family resemblances" of which Wittgenstein (to refer to him again) wrote in his work. There are qualities that shows tend to have, though some will lack. But I suggest the "realism" criterion should be jettisoned entirely.
The book's greatest flaw is in more or less assuming that the age of quality television had ended. In fact, the group of shows that came after this book went to press far surpasses in literateness and intelligence the group of shows Thompson focuses on. If you watch an episode of THE SOPRANOS and then watch an episode of HILL STREET BLUES, you will immediately be struck by how much more complex and intelligent the former is. I recently started rewatching MOONLIGHTING and doing so confirmed how far television has come since that show, both in intellectual complexity and in production quality. The latter is an important point since as Thompson points out MOONLIGHTING was one of the most expensive shows ever produced. But my main point is this: I'll take THE X-FILES, BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER, THE SOPRANOS, FARSCAPE, SIX FEET UNDER, ANGEL, THE GILMORE GIRLS, DEAD LIKE ME, THE SHIELD, OZ, FIREFLY, SMALLVILLE, LOST, DEADWOOD, WONDERFALLS, THE WEST WING, ALIAS, 24, and VERONICA MARS over Thompson's group of shows any day.
I should note that in the final chapter Thompson does express some hope that the age of quality television has not ended, but there is definitely an overarching "rise and fall" tone to the book as a whole. The fact that he bizarrely finds such shows as TWIN PEAKS and NORTHERN EXPOSURE as harbingers that quality TV has pretty much exhausted its possibilities shows this. Thompson may hope that the era of quality TV is not over, but it is pretty clear that he fears that it is.
How did Thompson get it so wrong? I think the answer comes from his assessment of the effect that TWIN PEAKS had on television. Late in the book he writes, "TWIN PEAKS had an overall negative effect on quality drama." This is an absurd statement and I think it stems from Thompson's missing the overall effect that TWIN PEAKS had on television narrative. Although Thompson writes penetratingly and insightfully about most of the shows he takes up, he neglects one aspect of television that TWIN PEAKS changed. Thompson was a contributor to a book on the soap opera entitled WORLDS WITHOUT END: THE ART AND HISTORY OF THE SOAP OPERA. One thing all of the shows Thompson writes about except TWIN PEAKS is that none of them is structured around a master narrative. ST. ELSEWHERE and HILL STREET BLUES might contain six or seven or more lesser story arcs, but there isn't a real overarching story. There is a sense in which none of these shows is about anything in particular. The closest would be MOONLIGHTING with the ongoing flirtation between David and Maddie. What Thompson misses is that TWIN PEAKS introduced for the first time into a series an overarching master narrative. Although the show itself failed to produce a compelling long story arc in its second and disastrous season, the notion of a show being structured around a very long central story had been introduced. The first show that would profit from this would be THE X-FILES, with its seasons-long narrative dealing with alien colonization. The form would first be perfected in BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER with each of its seven seasons structured primarily around a single main narrative, although there were also a host of smaller arcs as well, some extending over several seasons. This narrative form has been taken to its logical extreme by LOST, which will in the course of its currently projected six seasons tell a single story, very much the way an epic novel would. A substantial number of the shows that I list in the previous paragraph have absorbed the formal structures developed by TWIN PEAKS, THE X-FILES, and BUFFY.
In fact, while Thompson was lamenting what he imagined to be end of television's second golden age, what he was writing about was a group of shows that laid the foundation for an even better group of shows in the nineties and our decade. I have searched to see what Thompson has written since the publication of this book to see if he has repented of his own prophecies, but without success. It is quite possible that Thompson disapproves, but hopefully he has been delighted that television not only did not regress to standards of a previous age, but has actually continued to improve.
The book is out of date in other ways as well. For instance, Thompson speculates that the reason the hour-long drama was fading from the airwaves (a fading away that turned out not to occur) was its poor performance in syndication. This is true, but Thompson was writing before the advent of the DVD and one thing that we have learned is that hour long shows excel on DVD. BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER has dramatically out performed on DVD most half-hour shows (as well as most hour long shows) that out did it in ratings during that show's seven-year run. LOST with its enormously complex plot, has done exceptionally well on DVD. The economics of DVD packaging is still being worked out, but in conjunction with syndication quality shows have a economic life that continues to make them viable in the industry.
Despite my disagreements with the book, this remains essential reading for anyone interested in the development of television in the past twenty-five years. Unlike Thompson, I remain optimistic about the future of quality TV. I have had my heart broken by a number of asinine cancellations (especially on FOX, where I have had to witness the demise of such great shows as WONDERFALLS, FIREFLY, and ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT). I suffer a bit in reading this book about how networks would stick with shows that were doing poorly in ratings to develop and promote them. That happens so rarely now, though I am delighted that the new CW network has stuck with VERONICA MARS, a ratings failure despite being one of the most critically acclaimed shows on TV. But as excellent as the book is, it remains a cautionary tale about prognostication. The unstated theme of the book seems to be the rise and decline of quality TV, whereas actual history has proclaimed the rise and further rise of it.
The case for television dramas as the mediums high art formReview Date: 2003-06-26
That is why in the final analysis I see Thompson's argument as being not so much for a specific time period of great television, but rather advancing the proposition that the hour-long dramatic television series is the chief art form of the medium (yes, even more so than the situation comedy). I would even extend this argument to the mini-series, from "Roots" and "Shogun" to "War and Remembrance" and "Lonesome Dove," because the guiding principle of the extended narrative form remains the common denominator. "24" takes the idea of season-long story arc a unique extreme, but "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" did all of its complete seasons have a first-half story arc (e.g., Spike & Dru in Season 2) that then merged with a second-half story arc (e.g., the return of Angelus) that provided a framework for all of the individual episodes. Then there was "Murder One," which rather successfully devoted an entire season to one sensational murder trial. When a series loses its driving story arc, as when Dave and Maddie consummated their love on "Moonlighting," or when what was supposed to be the hook becomes the line and sinker as well, as when the question of who killed Laura Palmer ultimately derailed "Twin Peaks," the demise of the show simply affirms the principle in the negative.
Thompson's starting point is January 1981 when prime-time television was about to make a sudden and dramatic turn towards quality because of "Hill Street Blues," the show that Steven Bocho did not want to make and that nobody wanted to watch, but which became "television's first true masterpiece." However, Thompson argues that it was "St. Elsewhere" that was "TV's greatest show, ever" (having to do with key notions of "intertextuality" and "self-reflexivity"). Ultimately he is not defining a particular time period (especially since the "golden age" in question is clearly not over), but explaining why in the "vast wasteland" that Newton Minnow bemoaned so many years ago "quality" television is flourishing in terms of hour-long dramatic programming. Within that context Thompson clearly makes his case for much of the best television ever made having appeared on the networks since 1980. The book is half critical evaluation of these programs and half insider's tour looking at the decision-making process as well as the social, economic, and artistic forces that ended up revolutionizing the medium. Thompson also more than adequately proves he knows his television history, which is necessary to help convince those of us who are true students of the medium. Consequently, the fact that the title of this book is not a fair representation of its most significant claim, is not to be held against the author, because he has made in public an argument I have been making in private (okay, in class as well), for several years.

Used price: $3.90

A yummy steamy readReview Date: 2007-07-02
In Susan Johnson's story "Wedding Surprise", it's the hero who has a twin. Sophie Piper is a teacher and she's been hot for Jake Finn, the football coach, since she met him six weeks ago. They're both at the same wedding and Sophie decides to take advantage of the situation. What she doesn't know is that Jake has a twin, Jasper. And that guy she's just seduced? Well, that's not Jake... I found this to be an enjoyable read - great dialog and steamy sex.
"Double the Pleasure" by Jasmine Haynes tells the story of Kristin Prescott, the shy twin who generally fades in to the background, and who has the hots for her boss Ross Sloan. To give herself confidence, Kristin pretends that she's her sister, Kirby and goes after Ross. Though this seems to be a common plot in twin stories, this was a fun read. My only problem with this story is a minor nit - I don't know of too bosses who use formal names for their assistant ("Miss Prescott"). I know, it works as part of the story, but it bothered me.
"Skin Deep" also by Jasmine Haynes is the prize in this trilogy. Jasmine is super confident. After being burned, she likes her relationships casual. And the man she really enjoys is Jack Taylor, a sales rep for her cosmetics company. They've been having phone sex and now Jack wants to meet her. Bravo to Ms. Haynes for creating a hero who doesn't have a lot of hair or height, but is still a sexy man. This was a nice change from your typical hero and a terrific read.
I bought this book because I enjoyed Somebody's Lover by Jasmine Haynes and wanted to see if that was a fluke or if Jasmine Haynes is really that good. After reading this book, I've discovered she's really that good - I'm off to find more of her books!
In your face sex.Review Date: 2007-05-13
*OKAY*Review Date: 2006-07-22
Jasmine Haynes is a writer to watch!Review Date: 2005-08-03
In Wedding Surprise by Susan Johnson teacher Sophie Piper had been lusting after Coach Jake Finn for awhile. When she gets the chance at a friend's wedding to make her sexy dreams of Jake come true she jumps right into bed with him, little realizing that it's actually his twin brother Jasper. She soon realizes her error and her feelings for Jake haven't changed but now that it looks like she's finally got a chance with him how does she tell him that she ended up with his brother?
Susan Johnson's stories are always steamy and Wedding Surprise is no exception. I had a little trouble with the brother switch but I still enjoyed Wedding Surprise and fans of Susan Johnson will enjoy this short story.
Jasmine Haynes' Double the Pleasure and Skin Deep are by far the best stories in this collection and focuses on twin sisters Kirby and Kristin Prescott. In Double the Pleasure Kristin Prescott has been in love with her boss, Ross Sloan, for a long time. However Kristin has always been the shy and overlooked twin. In order to make her fantasies of Ross come true she pretends to be Kirby and seduces him. But once she become involved in a passionate affair with him how does she tell him that she's really his reliable secretary? Or does Ross already know? Skin Deep is Kirby's story. For two years Kirby has been having a "phone relationship" with Jack Taylor. Now Jack is moving to the same city as Kirby and is determined to make their relationship more than just talking. Kirby finds herself falling for Jack but after a devastating relationship she's afraid to let Jack inside her heart. Jasmine Haynes, who also writes as Jennifer Skully and JB Skully is quickly becoming a writer to watch. Her stories are sensual but the sensuality doesn't overload the emotional connection between the main characters. Readers who are new to Jasmine Haynes will enjoy these stories so much that they will find themselves looking for her other titles.
Melissa
Reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed
Different and enjoyable.Review Date: 2007-05-01
4 stars for WEDDING SURPRISE by Susan Johnson.
Great fun. Fun characters, neat guys, surprising predicament, neat ending.
For a list of my reviews of other Susan Johnson books, see my 3 star review of "Hot Property" posted 9/30/08.
4 stars for SKIN DEEP by Jasmine Haynes.
This was different from typical romance novels. The hero was short and bald, and they had an unusual relationship. They had never met in person but had a phone sex and phone friend relationship for many months until he came to her town to meet her. I was surprised that I continued to think about this story and the characters days later.
3 stars for DOUBLE THE PLEASURE by Jasmine Haynes.
Entertaining, not great, but still fun to read.
CAUTION SPOILER:
I did not like that Kirby had a conversation with Ross with the door open. It was obvious that there would be a crisis if Kristen overheard them which was what happened.
To date, I've read one other book by Jasmine Haynes. My 3 star review of "Open Invitation" Copyright 2006 was posted 6/21/08.
Sexual content: strong. Setting: current day U.S. Copyright: 2005. Genre: contemporary romance.

Aces!!Review Date: 2007-08-20
This, along with The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer (A Twin Peaks Book) by Jennifer Lynch and the faux travelguide: Twin Peaks: An Access Guide to the Town by David Lynch and Mark Frost, completes a set of official book companions to the series.
One last note: as with "The Secret Diary..." there are a few inconsistencies between the description of some events in the books versus the TV series and the film prequel "Fire Walk With Me", but not enough to detract from the book's value overall.
^o^
Related Subjects: Cast and Crew
More Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10