WONDER TWINS, POWERS ACTIVATE! Alan Sepinwall and Matt Zoller Seitz are collaborating on a book, to be published in Spring 2016, "that will examine various [tv] series while chronicling the six-decade history of the medium." Alan explains:
The book (we are still figuring out a title) will be a series of essays on the best and most important American TV shows in the medium's history: "I Love Lucy" to "30 Rock," or "Playhouse 90" to "Breaking Bad." If you're a film buff, you can think of it as a TV take on "The New Biographical Dictionary of Film." If you're a sports nerd, it's us doing the TV take on "The Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract" or Bill Simmons' "The Book of Basketball."
It's going to be all-original writing (although, as with "The Revolution Was Televised," some of the opinions expressed will be ones you've read from one or both of us in the past). Some essays will be long, some short (my goal is to find the TV criticism equivalent of James' explanation of Don Mattingly: "100 percent ballplayer, zero percent bullshit."), some will be sweeping overviews of the series in question, while others will focus on one small aspect of them. (With "St. Elsewhere," for instance, I might just write about the Tommy Westphall/snow globe ending and the persistent phenomenon of creatively adventurous series somehow infuriating their audiences by remaining adventurous to the very end.
Full disclosure, though I think some here know this: I represented Alan in his negotiations with his literary agent back in 2012. The contract does not allow me to guest-write the essay on Diff'rent Strokes, Webster, and the Politics of Race on TV in the 1980s.
ReplyDelete"If you're a film buff, you can think of it as a TV take on "The New
ReplyDeleteBiographical Dictionary of Film." If you're a sports nerd, it's us doing
the TV take on "The Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract" or Bill
Simmons' "The Book of Basketball." "
TAKE MY MONEY NOW. I don't care if it's a cliche. Like Glen Weldon's upcoming book on Batman and nerd culture, this'll be a pre-order for me, no question.
Co-sign with Finn. Now can we please - PLEASE - place that comma where it belongs: "WONDER TWINS POWERS, ACTIVATE!"
ReplyDelete(Opine away as to whether "Wonder Twins" is intended as a descriptive modifier or a possessive.)
So when WILL we get to read "Whatchoo Talkin' 'Bout, Menstoes?"
ReplyDeleteYes, presold for me too. Although I hope there's more about St. Elsewhere than just the snowglobe ending. Perhaps I'm biased because that show fell perfectly in my development as a young serial TV watcher, but it's so much more than that, and rather under-rated in the development of longform television drama.
ReplyDeleteYep. Hill Street Blues and St. Elsewhere were my absolute sweet spot, though it's funny to look back and realize that my parents were letting 10-12 year old me stay up late to watch, when I think about where we've tended to draw the content line with our kids at the same ages. (Granted, the expected content on your average TV drama is WAY different today than 30+ years ago.)
ReplyDeleteAs I think I've mentioned before, I was only allowed to stay up until 11pm one night a week in the mid-80s, thus forcing me to choose between St. Elsewhere and Hill Street Blues. (This was before we got a VCR.) So I would watch each one every other week, and my dad would describe for me the episodes I missed. It's one of my fondest memories of him.
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to read this book!