#1 New York Times Bestselling Author & TV Producer
Over the weekend, novelist Bill Crider scanned the delightfully lurid covers of nearly 200 of his vintage paperbacks, many of them by Harry Whittington (under a variety of names). I don’t know what I like more, the illustrations or come-ons like these:
"He used two women to feed his brute cravings."
"The sultry story of pagan revelries, lonely men, and a native girl."
"Her luscious body was used as a man trap"
"Faceless, he might be a devil or saint…but he had the lusts of a man."
This was a good weekend for TV. It kicked-off Friday with a fantastic episode of BATTLESTAR GALACTICA, which has not only become one of the best dramas on the air, it has single-handedly reinvigorated the sci-fi genre on television. It used to be all the sci-fi space dramas took their cues from STAR TREK as if it was sacred text. Not any more. BSG showrunner Ron Moore has changed everything. He started by telling stories involving genuine characters instead of noble cardboard heroes who only do "the right thing" and never get laid. He’s subverted every other tired cliche along the way, too (but if you miss them, just tune into STARGATE or STARGATE ATLANTIS). You don’t have to like scifi shows to get hooked on BSG.
On Sunday, while my Tivo was capturing 24, I watched Tom Selleck in the TV movie JESSE STONE: NIGHT PASSAGE, based on Robert B. Parker’s book. Like last years STONE COLD, Selleck played an ex-LAPD cop who becomes police chief of a small, Massachusetts town. The movie was a welcome change from the plethora of procedural dramas on TV. It was full of atmosphere and character and punchy dialogue. There were no forensics, cool flashbacks, or autopsies, just a simple crime story well told. The mystery was weak, but the other pleasures more than made up for it.
What I don’t get is why they chose to shoot the last Jesse Stone book, STONE COLD, as the first movie, and then do the first book NIGHT PASSAGE (which begins with Stone’s arrival as police chief) as the second movie. It was especially awkward since a key character in NIGHT PASSAGE is killed in both the book and movie version of STONE COLD and presumably remains alive through the next few TV movies (the next one up is DEATH IN PARADISE, the third Stone book), further confusing things.
There’s a new, fifth STONE novel coming this year from Parker and I’m eager to read it — for some time now, the Stone books have been far better than the Spensers. One of the key differences between the TV movie adaptations and the books is the creative decision to relegate Stone’s ex-wife to just a voice on the phone. I think it was a brilliant idea and adds to Jesse’s isolation.
This weekend was also the premiere of the BBC series HUSTLE on AMC. I didn’t watch it, since I’ve got the series on DVD from England months ago. The show is fine, a nice diversion, but the cons get tiresome and the episodes begin to blur into sameness. Still, it’s nice to see Robert Vaughn back on TV again.
Now that those noir-loving folks at Hard Case Crime have broken the news, I can finally share it here (after hinting about it for some time). My friend Richard S. Prather’s novel THE PEDDLER is going to be reissued… with a brand new cover by Robert McGinnis (who also did the one on the left). THE PEDDLER is stark departure from Prather’s light-hearted, often hilarious Shell Scott detective novels. It’s a dark and brutal tale about the rise (and ultimate fall) of a greedy young man working his way up in the San Francisco prostitution rackets. The prose is lean and sharp, in the same league as Harry Whittington’s classic noir tales. It’s a shame Richard didn’t do more books like this. But the fact is, he had a lot more fun writing the Shell Scott books and, as he says in an upcoming interview I did with him for the Private Eye Writers newsletter, he wanted his readers to feel better after reading his books than they did when they started. I don’t think he realized just how invigorating reading a lean, vicious little crime story can be for someone like, say, me.
I’ve been lobbying Charles Ardai at Hard Case Crime for a while — as have a few others — to bring Prather’s best work back into print. I’m hoping the inevitable success of THE PEDDLER prompts a long-overdue resurgence of interest Prather’s work and his incredibly entertaining Shell Scott series.
My third "Natalie blog" is now up on the USA Network’s MONK site.
I thought there was something different about the font lately on the interstitial titles of LAW AND ORDER and its off-spring…apparently, I’m not the only one.
(Thanks to Bob Sassone for the heads-up).
BL asked in a comment on another post here: "i’m surprised you haven’t blogged about Frey and LeRoy yet. i’m curious to see what you have to say."
I haven’t written about it because I have nothing to add that hasn’t already been said. They are liars and they got caught. Lying is very much in vogue these days, not just here, but all over the world (eg President Bush saying Iraq was producing weapons of mass destruction, President Clinton saying he didn’t have sex with Monica Lewinsky, the South Korean geneticist who made up all his research results, Jayson Blair making up news reports for the New York Times, etc. etc.) I’ve written here before about how blithely and unapologetically people are "anti-factual" and "disembling" and "honesty-challenged" nowadays. What amazes me is that Frey et all actually think that they can perpetuate a very public, widely repeated lie and get away with it. The fact that these unabashed liars simply don’t care is the disturbing new wrinkle. Perhaps what we are seeing is an evolution…the beginning of lies as the new truth. Who needs truth anyway?
There’s a great interview with novelist Max Allan Collins, co-founder with yours truly of the IAMTW, over at Bookgasm.
The winter press tour, when the nations TV critics descend on L.A. for press conferences and parties, has started and Matt Zoller-Seitz and Lisa De Moraes are writing about the madness. De Moraes writes:
Winter TV Press Tour 2006 had not begun auspiciously.
More
than 100 of the Reporters Who Cover Television, from around the country
and even Canada, descended on Loopyville West this week to spend two
weeks discussing Ideals and the Future of Television at the gorgeous
old Ritz-Carlton, Huntington Hotel.It was a homecoming of
sorts for the group, which for a decade had held its semiannual confab
at the Huntington, chatting up suits and celebs in freezing ballrooms
by day, dining on the networks in the Horseshoe Garden at night —
followed, weather permitting, by a little late-night viewing from room
balconies of TV celebs swimming and engaging in other activities in the
pool.But, as with so many other beautiful relationships —
Brad and Jen, Jessica and Nick, Renee and Kenny — this one began to
crumble and about three years ago reporters decided to take their
business to a hotel across the street from a Hooters in Hollywood.
Monday night, at the National Geographic Channel Check-In Party, they
celebrated their return to the site of so many happy, happy times.The
next morning the tour officially got underway when Billy Ray Cyrus and
his 13-year-old daughter, Miley, got up onstage to hawk their new
Disney Channel series, "Hannah Montana." It’s about a girl who, unknown
to her fellow students, lives a double life as pop singer Hannah
Montana, entertaining legions of prepubescent fans with songs written
by her manager-dad.It’s hard to focus on Ideals and the Future
of Television after you’ve just watched a clip of Billy Ray Cyrus —
who will now try to do for the Neo-Prince Valiant with Tips and Streaks
what he did in the ’90s for the mullet — singing:I like to sing,
I like to dance,
But I can’t do it with poopy in my pants.
Billy Ray said he swore after doing Pax’s "Doc" he’d never do another
series but decided to audition for the "Montana" role after reading the
script because "it all begins with what’s on the page."
Uh-huh.
(Thanks to Alan Sepinwall for the heads-up)
GalleyCat reports that there seems to be a flurry of books being adapted into TV series. In addition to the midseason shows LOVE MONKEY (based on the book by Kyle Smith) and EMILY’S REASONS WHY NOT (based on the book by Carrie Gerlach), there’s more on tap. DARKLY DREAMING DEXTER (based on the book by Jeff Linsay) is being developed by HBO and YOUNGER (based on the book by Pamela Satran) is being developed for Lifetime by my friend Debra Martin Chase, who sold the same network MISSING (based on the books by Meg Cabot) and produced the book-based features SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELING PANTS and PRINCESS DIARIES.
