Here are some capsule reviews of two television reference books I read recently…
THE HARRY O VIEWING COMPANION by Steve Aldous & Gary Gillies.
This is the HARRY O book diehard fans like me have been waiting decades for and thought would never happen. It traces the show from development through demise and is packed with interviews and fascinating details…and is even illustrated with some original script pages with handwritten notes from the screenwriter and actors.
The book is much, much more than just a fleshed out episode guide and provides remarkable insight into television production..and the state of primetime network TV in the 1970s.
If you really want the full HARRY O story, I strongly recommend this book (though it is outrageously overpriced) and Ed Robertson’s MEN OF ACTION, which has a terrific chapter on the series (I am biased, since I published that book).
As much as I love this book, there are a couple of niggly errors. On page 4, the authors say that MANNIX was not a lone operator, but a PI who worked who worked for a big agency and has a boss. That was true only in season one. He was on his own for the following seven seasons. Most viewers don’t even remember that first year.
On page 9, they refer to “Billy Rosenberg’s” HARRY O theme. The composer was Billy Goldenberg.
On page 196, they refer to BERT D’ANGELO: SUPERSTAR in a list of cancelled P.I. series… but it was not. Bert D’Angelo was an SFPD Robbery-Homicide Detective who’d transferred over from the NYPD.
And on page 206, they refer to a short-lived Tom Selleck medical series called RYAN’S FOUR. The series actually starred Tom Skerritt.
But other than those quibbles, that only a TV nerd like me would ever notice, this book is fantastic.
NO LESSONS LEARNED: THE MAKING OF CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM by Larry David & Lorraine Ali
This is a terrific book — and I’m not even a fan of CURB. What I do like are television reference books. This is all that, but also so much more. It’s a breezily-written (but substantive), detailed look at all aspects of the making of the series, giving guys like me everything they want from deep-dive into the creation and production of a TV show. But it’s also something of a Larry David memoir, a revealing look at his unique, creative approach to comedy, writing, and production. It’s packed with interviews and revealing insights into the Larry David, the TV industry, network politics, and TV production. But it’s also a pleasing “coffee table” book, beautifully designed, full of pictures, memos, etc. This is obviously a must-have for CURB fans, but also anyone interested in TV production, history, and writing. I loved it.