Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Two New Must-Reads

On today's Frank DeCaro Show on OutQ (Sirius 109, XM 98), author Randee Dawn discussed her new book, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit: The Unofficial Companion. And I can tell you, for any fan of show -- and of the yummilicious pairing of Mariska Hargitay and Christopher Meloni -- the book is a must-read.

Dawn and her co-author Susan Green spent a week on the show's NYC set, and saw firsthand how an episode goes from script to screen. The book contains synopses of all 224 episodes in the show's first 10 seasons, covering right up through this past June. (As someone who has written 2 books about sitcoms, one six seasons' worth and one seven, I can tell you that covering 10 years of an hourlong show is a lot of work!) There are also bios, ratings and awards info, web links, and anything else you'd want to know about this most personal show in producer Dick Wolf's vast empire. (And the book, by the way, has Wolf's seal of approval -- he even wrote the foreword.)

And a few weeks back, Brady Bunch star Susan Olsen appeared on the show, promoting a new book she has co-authored with Ted Nichelson and the amazing "Bradyologist" Lisa Sutton, about a chapter of Brady life not everyone out there might know about: the ill-conceived but campy and hilarious-for-all-the-wrong-reasons follow-up series, The Brady Bunch Variety Hour.

The book, Love to Love You Bradys: The Bizarre Story of the Brady Bunch Variety Hour, is chock full of fun, behind-the-scenes photos and factoids about a show which you just will have to see to believe. Closeted Robert Reed, now playing not just America's favorite dad, but a singing and dancing architect to boot? All the Brady members (except with Geri Reischl as a new Jan) -- often including Alice -- tap-dancing around an indoor pool in spangled '70s getups? Who doesn't want to see that?!

(2 of the 8 produced episodes of this unsurprisingly unsuccessful 1976-77 series are available on DVD.)

And this just in from Lisa Sutton: this coming Sunday, October 4, meet the authors (and perhaps some special guest Bradys!) at the West Hollywood Book Fair. A panel discussion and book signing starts at 11:15 in the People, Places & Politics Pavilion.

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