The War for Late Night

So, if you can't tell from this latest rash of books - I've always enjoyed the "behind the scenes" of tv shows or movies. I'm one who always likes to watch the "Making of the Movie" features on DVD's (my wife always makes fun of me for that - or usually falls asleep in the middle of it). It's just always been a fascination.

A few years back, there was a big brew-ha-ha (did I even spell that right?!), about the shake-up in late-night television. For those in the know, it dealt with Jay Leno vs. Conan O'brien vs. David Letterman (sort of). All of a sudden (for those who didn't watch the shows religiously), Conan was taking over The Tonight Show, and Jay Leno moved to a 9 o'clock (MST) slot. "Interesting..." was my first reaction. I'd always enjoyed watching the late night shows (when I could stay awake long enough). I'd already noticed that Jay's opening monologue was much better than David Letterman's - but that Letterman had lots more funny skits on his show (mostly outside his theater - I loved when he would drop stuff off the roof of his building!). I had watched Conan a few times, and got his humor as well. So, I was interested to see how this new experiment with Jay at 9 was going to work. Yeah - it didn't. Colossal failure. Then, all of a sudden, Jay was back with The Tonight Show, and Conan was out of the picture (only to reappear later on TBS). I remember some news coverage at the time, with Conan being indignant that he was forced out, and never really given a chance.

So - this book gives you the background behind the whole deal - why Conan took over for Jay, why it didn't work, how the other late-show hosts (Letterman, Kimmel, Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, Craig Ferguson, and Jimmy Fallon) all dealt with the whole thing, and how they played small roles in the whole process as well. There's a lot in here about the negotiations that went on between Jay and NBC, Conan and NBC, and a little about Dave and CBS. As a lawyer, I found the negotiations interesting.

Overall, the entire book was good. There wasn't any part where I felt like it was "plodding", or including information solely for the sake of expanding the length (as sometimes I feel). It was a good "behind the scenes" look at the various players. If anything, it could have used a little bit more - maybe in the form of an update on how the new time slots have really worked out for everyone. But, a good read, nonetheless.

No Rest for the Dead

This one was hyped pretty highly. Even the book itself has a whole bunch of awesome reviews. Basically, the premise is they got 26 different famous mystery or thriller writers to come together and write a book together. The story takes place in San Francisco, and revolves around the death of a museum curator and his wife's later execution after being found guilty of the murder.

The introduction of the book makes it seem like there was going to be a big surprise ending at the end of the book, that you wouldn't be able to figure out until the end. The introducer even comments on the fact that a good mystery keeps you guessing until the end - without letting you figure out the plot resolution before you get there. However, they failed to do it here. Without letting you know too much, I still had at least 100 pages to go when I'd figured out what happened (or, at least, had a pretty good idea, that later proved to be right). While a few of the writers who were involved are good writers, that I've read alot (John Lescroart and Jeffrey Deaver particularly - almost anything from those two is very good!), there were many others that I'd heard of, but not really read much from. While the book itself didn't necessarily impress me - there were individual chapters from these individual authors that I did find very well-done. I may look up other books by those authors to see how their entire writing is.

Anyway - the story here is a good one, and the book was an interesting concept. I just figured out the conclusion to early to make it a 5-star for me. Probably more like 3.5.

Those Guys Have All the Fun

For those sports nuts out there (there has to be at least one somewhere who reads this blog!), this is the book for you, sort of. If you spend any time watching ESPN, and have for awhile, you'll find portions of this book interesting. Along the same lines of the "Live from New York" book detailed below, this book is almost entirely a mish-mash of interview quotes from folks who've been intimately involved with ESPN from the beginning of the network.

There's some really funny moments in the interviews - you can tell the folks really knew each other. At times, the author was good at juxtaposing the different views together - for instance you'd get a quote from someone saying "So and So would almost always do this whenever they were working with me." And then, immediately afterwards, the other guy saying something like "I would never have dreamed of doing that when I was working with him." Shows how people can have different views of their history - even if it's shared together.

Reading the book, sometimes you get bogged down in the negotiations over certain "big events" - i.e., NFL contracts, NASCAR contracts, affiliate cable station contracts, etc. As an attorney, I found those parts interesting. However, the average sports nut probably wouldn't care for those parts of the book. There are some other interesting parts about very specific stories that happened during the development of the channel. Overall, it was a good interesting read - helps put some of what they all do in perspective, and makes me want to watch it more now - just to see if I recognize more names.

Live from New York

OK, before I write about this latest book, a little disclaimer. I realize it's been a few weeks since I posted anything on here. There's two reasons for that. First off, for those who don't know, I teach two courses at Boise State University - American Government (101 level) and International Law (400 level). Since the semester started, I've been a little busy getting back into the teaching groove, and spending time making sure my lessons are ready to go. Secondly, some of the books I've been reading are the "back stories" from new authors I've discovered. Specifically, Michael Koryta. I've read about 3 of his last books in the past weeks. I haven't posted comments on all of them - the genre is the same for most (detective novels - some of my favorite, especially when they have the same recurring characters, so you get to know them a little better). Anyway, if anyone wants regular reviews of the detective novels, I'll put some on here. Otherwise, I'm sticking with just reviewing the incredibly original and well-written ones.

That said, this book here was the latest one I read that wasn't a detective novel. Here's the story of how I stumbled upon this one. I actually was looking for the new book about ESPN so I could put it on my library list. (That one will be reviewed sometime after I get it from the library - still waiting for that to happen.) The ESPN book is largely a compilation of a bunch of interviews that the authors did with folks who've been involved with the development of that enterprise. In looking over the ESPN book, I found out one of the authors had done much the same thing with the Saturday Night Live concept - interviewing a bunch of the actors and stars and producers who've been involved with that show since it began, and telling the story of it's development.

I've always been interested in the Saturday Night Live concept. Do I watch it religiously each week? No. Do I think previous years actors were better than what I've seen currently? Yes. But, have I really watched enough of the current actors to really say that the previous ones were better? Not really. I just remember the Chris Farley and Will Farrell years, and think they were hilarious. (Who can forget the Cow Bell skit?! That is one of the greatest moments on television!) So, when I saw this one, which was basically a good behind-the-scenes look through the eyes of the various people involved, I thought it would be interesting.

Overall, the book was good. The format, just snippets from the various interviews was a little hard to follow at times. Also, there were some parts that were just plain boring, that I didn't care really about (honestly, I skipped those parts, so I don't know if I can even say I read the whole thing!). However, there were some really good stories, and tons of cool background facts and information about the folks who've been on the show. Reading the book made me want to start recording the shows (I can't stay up that late, I'll fall asleep!) again, and watching to see what the current actors do, and if I still think the older ones were better. For those interested in the show, this was a good read. I'd recommend getting it from the library though, so you don't feel bad when you skip around and only read the parts that interest you!

The Red Pyramid

Rick Riordan is an incredible author that does a wonderful job introducing a host of people to ancient Greek, Roman and Egyptian gods, goddesses and history. I first learned of him when I read the Percy Jackson (the Lightning Thief for those of you who only watch movies - although what are you even reading this for if you only watch movies?!). Percy Jackson and his friends were the main characters in an awesome series dealing with the old Greek gods, goddesses and heroes. It was interesting reading about them. (In fact, I went out and bought a reference book telling the old stories of those gods and goddesses after finishing the Percy Jackson series.)

A second Greek/Roman series was introduced through the Heroes of Olympus series (only the first book has been published so far - the second one comes out next month). That series has already proven to be just as interesting as the first Percy Jackson series.

Now, though, Riordan has also tackled the old Egyptian gods/goddesses/magicians. I'll admit, for a bit I wasn't interested in getting into this series as well. I had my Greeks and Romans, and was perfectly happy learning about them, and seeing the new adventures of their human heroes. The Egyptians were just too much. However, last weekend they had Book 1, the Red Pyramid, sitting on the shelf at the library, and I figured I'd try it. (It helped that my oldest daughter also really wanted to read it, so we were going to be getting it anyway.) I was pleasantly surprised. I figured it'd be alot of the same sort of Percy Jackson adventures. However, this one is different enough that it's a whole different series. While you can tell it's the same author (his humor comes out often, and is hilarious), the approach to this series seems different - and the "players" in these books have different personalities and powers. So far, I've liked them, so we'll continue with this series (although, I probably won't post about every book in the series...sorry...)

The Disappearing Spoon

This one was a very fun and interesting read. It's a non-fiction book written by a scientist about the periodic table of the elements. Basically, the author takes all of the elements, and tells the interesting stories about how they were discovered, what's made them famous, how they all fit together, etc. The only chemistry class I remember taking during my education years was a class in seventh grade taught by the biology teacher. I don't think I've had anything more than that. (Although, the periodic table is on the wall in almost every classroom I teach in at BSU!)

I'll have to admit, reading this book sometimes made my brain hurt. It'd be much easier to understand the stories if I had a litle more knowledge of the elements themselves, and how the table is organized, etc. But, the author "dumbs" it down enough for someone like me (educated, fairly smart, extremely humble) to understand. (Although, I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who's not at least a little interested in science.)

The stories were usually pretty funny. I actually came out of this one thinking that I needed to find a used chemistry textbook to learn a little more about the elements that make up our world. I guess that's a sign that the author did his job!

Ender's Game

I first read this book a long time ago, when I was in high school (and it first came out). It's an interesting Science Fiction novel about future wars with earth's enemies - the Buggers. Ender is a 6 y.o. boy who gets recruited (in fact, his parents were allowed to have him specifically for this purpose) to go to Battle School, and train to be a leader in the war with the Buggers. Along the way, he makes several friends.

At one point, way back when, I believe this book was on the US Marine Corps required reading list - I tried to look around and verify this, but it doesn't appear to be on the list now. In any case, there's plenty of "battle" scenes in the book - all through games that the kids play at the Battle School. This was the first in a series of books that come later, about the development of the Universe after the last battle. It was a good book. One of my favorite moments comes after Ender leaves battle school and all of his friends. You'll have to read it to know what I'm talking about...:)