#1 New York Times Bestselling Author & TV Producer
Why one critic isn’t watching E-RING any more.
Last Wednesday I performed an experiment. I watched the latest episode of E-Ring
while applying a branding iron directly to my face, just to see which
of these two forms of torture I could stand the longest. I have deduced
that, while eventually the branding iron heat burns through your nerve
endings, the pain of E-Ring lasts forever.
I got the sad news today that Charles Rocket committed suicide. He’s perhaps best known for his short stint on SNL, where he got booted for using an obscenity on live tv. I worked with him on the ill-fated ABC’s series MURPHY’S LAW, starring George Segal as an insurance investigator. Rocket turned a one-shot guest-star appearance as Murphy’s scheming rival, in an episode that Bill & I wrote, into a regular role. He was the best thing about the series and we loved writing for him…as did everyone else on staff. It’s a shame his career never took off the way it should have– he was a very talented man (he even did a dramatic role in DANCES WITH WOLVES).
HARTS OF THE WEST lasted a mere 15 episodes on CBS back in 1993 and it’s coming to DVD… for a second time. Back in 2002, two episodes were released on DVD. Now, to sate the appetite of the legions of HARTS OF THE WEST fans (who I think are called Westies and are holding their annual convention in Deerpark, Washington this year), all 15 episodes are finally being released in a boxed set.
This is good news for my friend Harley Jane Kozak, who was one of the stars and who remains a red hot sex object to diehard Westies and mystery book lovers everywhere.
Lots of interesting TV news in Variety today…
Steven Bochco replaced COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF creator/exec producer Rod Lurie…and has wasted no time making the show his own. Five of the original eight writer/producers have been booted. Staying on are Dee Johnson, Scoop Cohen and Stuart
Stevens who will be joined by Bochco veterans Alison Cross and Joel Fields. Variety says Bochco wanted a smaller staff and doesn’t plan to hire any more writers. Reportedly, big staff changes are also in the works at GHOST WHISPERER on CBS. It’s ironic that the two highest rated new series of the season are undergoing such internal turmoil.
Just when you thought it was safe to get back in the water, NBC has picked up SURFACE for the full season.
Cartoon Network has ordered 26 episodes of a new animated revival of the 60s cult classic GEORGE OF THE JUNGLE. They haven’t said whether it will be "re-imagined" or not.
And ABC has ordered a pilot called COLE TRACER PI, about the star of a cancelled TV detective series who teams up with the show’s technical advisor to solve crimes. It’s being directed by Joe & Anthony Russo, who are three-for-three when it comes to directing pilots that get series orders (ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT, LUCKY, and LAX).
The November issue of Crimespree Magazine will include editor Jon Jordan’s very nice review of my new book THE MAN WITH THE IRON ON BADGE:
Harvey Mapes could be me. He’s a guy who reads a
lot of PI novels, loves the old PI television shows and he thinks he can
solve mysteries. The similarities are almost disturbing. However Harvey is
fictional, and a bit more willing to take chances.The book sets up nicely
with Harvey working in his guard shack for a gated community in California.
One of the residents makes a nice monetary offer to him in exchange for
services, in short the old rich guy wants his wife followed. Harvey having
read many books and seen many TV shows feels he’s up to the job. What ensues
is a wonderful story of the pitfalls of overestimating yourself, and what
happens when you surpass your own expectations.Goldberg has a knack
for combining just the right amount of humor and realism with his obvious
love for the PI genre and his own smart ass sensibilities. THE MAN WITH THE
IRON ON BADGE is a terrific read and I for one would love to see this become
a series. Goldberg is the real deal and should be on everyone’s must read
list.
Thanks so much, Jon. I’d like to write more about Harvey, too.
My cousin Danny Barer pointed me to this very funny ebay listing for a pair of leather pants.
You are bidding on a mistake.
We all make mistakes. We date the wrong people for too long. We chew
gum with our mouths open. We say inappropriate things in front of
grandma.And we buy leather pants.
There’s more, and it gets every funnier.
I’ve often wondered who the heck was reading V-LIFE. Now I know: nobody. Variety has announced that they are killing the two-year-old magazine in February, but the name will live on Fridays in a special section of Daily Variety. Rumor has it Colonial Fan Force will immediately mount a campaign demanding that V-LIFE be brought back in its original format with its original staff.
There are a couple shows I enjoy listening to sporadically on the weekends when I’m ferrying my ten-year-old daughter around to all her soccer games, tae kwon do classes and play dates.
Michael Feldman is, in my view, the radio equivalent of David Letterman or Conan O’Brien. His exuberant NPR program WHAT DO YOU KNOW? is a talkshow/game show but it’s really just a forum for him to make jokes about the news and, when the show travels, whatever city or state he happens to be visiting that week. It’s a very funny, often hilarious show. It’s apparently been on the air for over a decade, but seems to generate absolutely no buzz.
I also like to catch Peter Sagal’s WAIT WAIT DON’T TELL ME, another NPR game show, which is just an excuse to make jokes about current events. The show is uneven, depending a great deal on how sharp the panelists are as they make jokes during a variety of simple news quizzes, during which phone-in listeners vie for the chance to have NPR announcer Carl Kasell record a message on their telephone answering machines. Most weeks you can find Paula Poundstone among the group (thus answering the trivia question "whatever happened to Paula Poundstone?"), and she seems to bring out the best in the panel, which usually includes Roy Blount Jr, PJ O’Rourke, Adam Felber, and Sue Ellicott. Like WHAT DO YOU KNOW, this show also seems to exist below the pop culture radar.
Then again, they’re both on the radio…and who listens to radio any more?
It’s official now —Variety reports that Daniel Craig is the new James Bond. And although director Martin Campbell ("GoldenEye") promises a tougher, grittier Bond, they couldn’t resist introducing Craig to the press by having him arrive by speedboat wearing a Brioni suit. Seems more Brosnan than Connery, doesn’t it?
"Casino Royale" examines Bond’s formative years with Campbell set to chart
the character’s "tough arc" and establish to auds how 007 developed his penchant
for Aston Martins, Martinis and beautiful women. Other script details include news that there will be no Moneypenny or Q
characters in this film.
Many thanks to Sarah Weinman at Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind for making my new book THE MAN WITH THE IRON-ON BADGE a "pick of the week".
This book is getting a ton of
review attention and it’s easy to see why: on the surface, it’s a classic
wish-fulfillment tale, but the substance that lies beneath is what elevates
Goldberg’s novel into a thoughtful, sometimes sweet and always engaging look at
what it takes to grow from a boy to a man. In a way, I see why it took so long
to reach readers: many other writers would need another 100 pages to tell the
same story, but credit to the author for putting it across without a wasted
word.