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algSo I'm in Swampscott visiting my cousin and her family. (It seems like I'm in Massachusetts more than Brooklyn these days!) She has a bunch of interesting-looking books on her shelves, and I'm taking the opportunity to peruse them.
The one I read last night: Best of the Britcoms: From Fawlty Towers to The Office by Garry Berman
It was really entertaining! I am a PBS junkie, so I'd seen quite a few of the (famous) Britcoms Berman talks about in the book -- and I wrote down a bunch of titles, because even though sometimes I don't "get" British comedy (or, like many plebian US-ians, find it depressing!), I do love me television shows about wacky British vicars!
I like that the book is divided into decades (beginning with the 1970s), and that before each decade is a little introduction in which the author explains basics of things the American audience (the target for the book) may not know. For example, before the section on the 1970s, there's a brief history of British television. I did not know that British television was ordered to be shut down during WWII! (BBC began airing again, according to Berman, in June 1946.)
I did find myself wishing that the index was slightly more comprehensive. There's no listing for "vicar" -- so I have to read the book and make myself notes if I want to know about any Britcom about vicars besides The Vicar of Dibley. On the other hand, I don't think this is meant to be a comprehensive encyclopedia as much as it is a cute "reference" guide for your coffee table. (That's totally fair.)
As expected, the entries for shows like Fawlty Towers and Blackadder and The Office are much longer -- and contain more actor, writer, and producer quotes -- than the meager half-page shows like Ever-Decreasing Circles got. There's also small tidbits of the author's opinion threaded in, but I didn't find that to get in my way at all.
Now that I've read this book, first thing on my list to buy when I have some pocket change is the dvd set of Extras
, because the pages dedicated to it make it sound incredibly charming.
(Today, while sitting in a sun-drenched courtyard in Salem, I finished Second Line: Two Short Novels of Love and Cooking in New Orleans by Poppy Z. Brite
, which was a gift to me from the trifles family that I've been carrying around for a month. The first story in the book, about the boys as teenagers, was a lot more enjoyable for me than the second, a very self-indulgent story that was mostly just loosely strung together vignettes about characters I wasn't invested in enough to really care about. Still: that first story was great. Teenage boys in love in New Orleans! Plus cooking!!!)
The one I read last night: Best of the Britcoms: From Fawlty Towers to The Office by Garry Berman
It was really entertaining! I am a PBS junkie, so I'd seen quite a few of the (famous) Britcoms Berman talks about in the book -- and I wrote down a bunch of titles, because even though sometimes I don't "get" British comedy (or, like many plebian US-ians, find it depressing!), I do love me television shows about wacky British vicars!
I like that the book is divided into decades (beginning with the 1970s), and that before each decade is a little introduction in which the author explains basics of things the American audience (the target for the book) may not know. For example, before the section on the 1970s, there's a brief history of British television. I did not know that British television was ordered to be shut down during WWII! (BBC began airing again, according to Berman, in June 1946.)
I did find myself wishing that the index was slightly more comprehensive. There's no listing for "vicar" -- so I have to read the book and make myself notes if I want to know about any Britcom about vicars besides The Vicar of Dibley. On the other hand, I don't think this is meant to be a comprehensive encyclopedia as much as it is a cute "reference" guide for your coffee table. (That's totally fair.)
As expected, the entries for shows like Fawlty Towers and Blackadder and The Office are much longer -- and contain more actor, writer, and producer quotes -- than the meager half-page shows like Ever-Decreasing Circles got. There's also small tidbits of the author's opinion threaded in, but I didn't find that to get in my way at all.
Now that I've read this book, first thing on my list to buy when I have some pocket change is the dvd set of Extras
, because the pages dedicated to it make it sound incredibly charming.(Today, while sitting in a sun-drenched courtyard in Salem, I finished Second Line: Two Short Novels of Love and Cooking in New Orleans by Poppy Z. Brite
, which was a gift to me from the trifles family that I've been carrying around for a month. The first story in the book, about the boys as teenagers, was a lot more enjoyable for me than the second, a very self-indulgent story that was mostly just loosely strung together vignettes about characters I wasn't invested in enough to really care about. Still: that first story was great. Teenage boys in love in New Orleans! Plus cooking!!!)