The most innovative and creative screenwriting book yet, from an author who knows first-hand what it takes to get a movie made.Based on an award-winning website hailed as "smart enough for professional screenwriters and accessible enough for aspiring screenwriters", Crafty Screenwriting is the first book not only to offer a successful screenwriter's tricks of the trade, but to explain what development executives really mean when they complain that the "dialogue is flat," or "the hero isn't likeable." Fresh, provocative, and funny, Alex Epstein diagnoses problem that other screenwriting books barely address, and answers questions they rarely ask, like "Why is it sometimes dangerous to know your characters too well before you start writing," or "Why does your script have to be so much better than the awful pictures that get made every day?" As a development executive who has accepted and rejected countless screenplays, and a produced screenwriter himself, Epstein can take you into the heart of the most important question of all: "Is this a movie?" A crucial book for anyone who has ever wondered what it takes to get their movie made.

    It’s a guide you’ll turn to again and again for information on every series ever telecast. There are entries for all the great shows, from evergreens like The Honeymooners, All in the Family, and Happy Days to modern classics like 24, The Office, and Desperate Housewives; all the gripping sci-fi series, from Captain Video and the new Battle Star Galactica to all versions of Star Trek; the popular serials, from Peyton Place and Dallas to Dawson’s Creek and Ugly Betty; the reality show phenomena American Idol, Survivor, and The Amazing Race; and the hits on cable, including The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Top Chef, The Sopranos, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Project Runway, and SpongeBob SquarePants. This comprehensive guide lists every program alphabetically and includes a complete broadcast history, cast, and engaging plot summary–along with exciting behind-the-scenes stories about the shows and the stars.MORE THAN 500 ALL-NEW LISTINGS from Heroes and Grey’s Anatomy to 30 Rock and Nip/Tuck UPDATES ON CONTINUING SHOWS such as CSI, Gilmore Girls, The Simpsons, and The Real WorldEXTENSIVE CABLE COVERAGE with more than 1,000 entries, including a description of the programming on each major cable networkAND DON’T MISS the exclusive and updated “Ph.D. Trivia Quiz” of 200 questions that will challenge even the most ardent TV fan, plus a streamlined guide to TV-related websites for those who want to be constantly up-to-dateSPECIAL FEATURES!• Annual program schedules at a glance for the past 61 years • Top-rated shows of each season • Emmy Award winners • Longest-running series • Spin-off series • Theme songs • A fascinating history of TV “This is the Guinness Book of World Records . . .the Encyclopedia Britannica of television!”–TV Guide

    Offering many insights into the wacky world of Brooks and his many collaborators, as well as an intimate look into his successful marriage to the brilliant and beautiful actress Anne Bancroft, It's Good to Be the King might just be the most delightful, engaging, and entertaining biography you'll ever read.

    

    Now, for the first time, she tells her full, extraordinary, switched-at-birth story.Kathryn Kennish seemed to have a charmed life as a stay-at-home mom in a wealthy Kansas suburb with her husband, John, a former professional baseball player, and their two teenage children. But Kathryn's world was turned upside down when she found out that Bay, the daughter she and John have raised since birth, is actually the biological daughter of a single mother named Regina. This news is followed by the equally mind-boggling fact that Kathryn's biological daughter, Daphne, who happens to be deaf, has been raised by Regina in a struggling neighborhood in Missouri. In her memoir, Kathryn reveals the surprising and intimate layers of her story—from the private details of the switched-at-birth revelation to all that occurs in its aftermath, including Regina and Daphne's move into the Kennish household. In the wake of this immense shift, secrets and previously unexamined issues from Kathryn's and her family's past surface as they are forced to reexamine everything they assumed about what makes a family a family.As Kathryn's family searches for their own "normal," she grapples with, and rejoices in, all the complications that come along with being a part of, and loving, an “unconventional” family. Her story is for all of us with not-normal families and a vicarious treat for anyone who has ever wondered what would happen if a relative was switched at birth.

    Twenty-five-year-old Amy St. Laurent was attractive, intelligent, and responsible. One October evening, she went out to show a friend from Florida the exciting nightlife of Portland's Old Port section. She played pool. She danced. And then, she disappeared. The police investigation into her murder riveted the state of Maine for months. This inside account of the investigation alternates between Kate Clark Flora's objective tale of dedicated police work and the dramatic recollections of then-Lieutenant Joseph K. Loughlin, who oversaw the case. police's growing certainty that she had been murdered, from the heroic efforts to locate the body to the flight from Maine of their chief suspect, and from the painstaking work of collecting evidence and building a case to the struggles over jurisdictional questions to the twists and turns of the eventual trial, Finding Amy is a dramatic story of brutal murder and exemplary police work.

    This book follows him through the process of setting up a new TV programme, punctuated with conversations with his agent.

    The author's procedural method is detailed and precise. The parts of a play are learned progressively, which fosters an understanding of the concept of artistic unity. Examples are clear and comprehensive. Actors, directors, and designers will benefit from end-of-chapter questions and summaries meant to stimulate their creative process as they engage in production work.

    When Erik Barnouw--premier chronicler of American broadcasting and a participant in the industry for fifty years--first undertook the project of recording itshistory, many viewed it as a light-weight literary task concerned mainly with entertainment trivia. Indeed, trivia such as that found in quiz programs do appear in the book, but Barnouw views them as part of a complex social tapestry that increasingly defines our era. To understand our century, we must fully comprehend the evolution of television and its newest extraordinary offshoots. With this fact in mind, Barnouw's new edition of Tube of Plenty explores the development and impact of the latest dramatic phases of the communications revolution. Since the first publication of this invaluable history of television and how it has shaped, and been shaped by, American culture and society, many significant changes have occurred. Assessing the importance of these developments in a new chapter, Barnouw specifically covers the decline of thethree major networks, the expansion of cable and satellite television and film channels such as HBO (Home Box Office), the success of channels catering to special audiences such as ESPN (Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) and MTV (Music Television), and the arrival of VCRs in America'sliving rooms. He also includes an appendix entitled questions for a new millennium, which will challenge readers not only to examine the shape of television today, but also to envision its future.

    Perhaps more than the gorgeously stylized visuals and impeccably re-created history, it's the show's richly drawn characters stumbling through their personal and professional lives that get under our skin and keep us invested.In Mad Men on the Couch, Dr. Stephanie Newman analyzes the show's primary characters through the lens of modern psychology. Lending her trained professional eye, she poses and expertly answers pressing questions such as:Why does Don constantly sabotage himself? Why is Betty such a cold mother and desperately unhappy housewife? (Hint: It's not just because her "people are Nordic.")Why does Pete prevail in adversity when Roger crumbles?Why is Peggy able to rise profesionally in the male jungle of Madison Avenue when Joan can't?Can these characters ever really change?With critical commentary that is both entertaining and insightful, Mad Men on the Couch will provide viewers with a unique persepctive on the show.

    Carmela Soprano from the hit Tv series 'The Sopranos' offers a complete guide to entertaining - from dinner parties to barbecues, from student parties to birthdays and anniversaries.

    Led by veteran Gil Grissom, the remarkable team assigned to the Criminalistics Bureau's graveyard shift -- including Catherine Willows, Warrick Brown, Nick Stokes, and Sara Sidle -- must combine cutting-edge scientific methods and old-fashioned savvy as they work to untangle the evidence behind the yellow police tape. While Nick and Catherine investigate a newly discovered fifteen-year-old murder, Grissom and the rest of the team must uncover the indentity of a cold-blooded killer -- one whose execution-style, "double-tap" signature has provoked the interest of FBI agent Rick Culpepper.

    Many of the important essays and interviews from those pages have been revised and reorganized for The Essential Wrapped In Plastic: Pathways to Twin Peaks. The Essential Wrapped In Plastic is a work of critical analysis and historical reporting. The core of the book is a detailed episode guide that reviews each chapter of David Lynch and Mark Frost’s landmark series (which originally aired on ABC television in 1990 and 1991). These reviews are supplemented by comments from actors, writers, producers and other creative personnel who provide intimate and first-hand remarks about Twin Peaks. Each critique also includes analysis of scripted scenes that were deleted from the final televised episodes, allowing for a deeper understanding of how Twin Peaks was being crafted as it went along. The last episode of Twin Peaks is examined in detail, with a chapter that focuses on the installment’s final, mesmerizing act—an essay that sheds light on what really happened to the series’ enigmatic protagonist, Dale Cooper. The feature film, Fire Walk With Me, is the subject of two in-depth essays. The first delves into the character of Laura Palmer and shows how David Lynch transformed the idea of Laura (from the series) into a fully realized character (in the film). The second essay radically challenges the design of the Fire Walk With Me prologue, arguing that Dale Cooper is a more prominent and vital presence in the story than might first appear. Vibrant and provocative, Twin Peaks is an enduring masterpiece. The Essential Wrapped In Plastic is a crucial guide to this remarkable work.

    From the co-creator of the landmark television series Twin Peaks comes a novel that deepens the mysteries of that iconic town in ways that not only enrich the original series but readies fans for the upcoming Showtime episodes.

    Michael Straczynski brought his ambitious vision to the screen.Then launch into a comprehensive overview of the groundbreaking premiere season, including in-depth, episode-by-episode summaries of all of the first twenty-two shows--from the pilot, "The Gathering," through the climactic season finale, "Chrysalis"--with analysis by author and B5 expert Jane Killick.Veteran viewers or first-time fans, relive the adventure--or find out what you've been missing--with the complete companions to Babylon 5!