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The Complete Directory to
Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946-Present, Ninth Edition. By Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh. New
York: Ballantine Books, 2007. 1,832 + xxi pages. ISBN: 978-0-345-49773-4. §
An encyclopedia of every
regular series to air on the U.S. commercial television networks in the evening
hours since 1944, plus more than a thousand national cable series from the
1970s to date, all in one volume. §
More than 6,500 series,
from ABC Barn Dance (1949) to Zorro and Son (1983). §
Each entry includes
first and last telecasts, network(s), time slots, full cast (actors, roles and
dates they played those roles) and an engaging “viewers-eye” description of the
plot and notable events during the series’ run. For some series, such as serial
dramas and sci-fi series, the descriptions can be quite comprehensive. §
Additional features
include a history of network programming trends, prime time schedules from
1946-2007, Emmy Award winners, the Nielsen top-30 rated programs by season,
longest-running series, top 100 series of all time, reunion telecasts,
spin-offs, series based on movies, series that also aired on network radio, hit
theme songs, network web sites and a 200-question “Ph.D. Trivia Quiz.” §
Programming history of
each of the major cable networks. §
A goldmine of trivia
information, bet-settling and nostalgia, as well as substantive information on
the important programs that influenced our society. §
Exhaustively researched
from inside the industry. Considered the “industry bible.” §
More than a half million
copies in print. Awards: American
Book Award, 1980 Broadcast
Preceptor Award, San Francisco State University, 1981 History: The origins of the
longest-running and most comprehensive encyclopedia of American network
television series lay in a rather prosaic need. Two junior researchers in the
NBC Research Department in 1975 were assigned to gather information about
earlier shows, in order to help predict the performance of future programs that
were similar. There was no easy way to do this, so one day Earle and Tim
started talking about the possibility of putting together a book about everything
that had been telecast up to that date. The idea seemed daunting: three
networks (plus another, Dumont, that had gone out of business), probably
hundreds of shows over nearly 30 years. But they thought viewers might be
interested in such a compilation, and they gradually expanded the idea into
something more than just a listing, adding time periods, cast credits and show
descriptions. With all the boldness that comes from naïvete, they put together
some samples and began writing to publishers. The reaction was swift and definitive: FORGET IT! One
publisher after another (if they responded at all) firmly declared that there
was no need for such a book, nothing like it had ever been published so
obviously there was no demand, no one cared about “old TV,” etc. This,
remember, was before the days of cable rerun channels, TV reunion specials,
clip shows or any of the TV nostalgia that we know so well today. Daunted but persistent, they continued writing to publishers. Tim later framed the response from one of them, Neil McCaffrey, president of Arlington House Publishers, who confidently told them they should drop the idea because there was another such book in the works and there was no need for two; by the way, he added, would you like to join our book club? (He even enclosed brochures.) Eventually they approached 20 publishers, among them Adrian, Bobbs-Merrill, Bonanza, Century House, Citadel, Crowell, Crown, Darien, Dodd-Mead, Fleet, Grosset & Dunlap, David McKay, McMillan, Prentice-Hall, Putnam, Simon & Shuster, Stein & Day and Viking, all of whom either turned the idea down cold or simply ignored it. Hearing
about this wall of rejection a vice president at NBC, Al Ordover, suggested the
two send the proposal to his wife Sondra, an editor at Jove. She suggested a
friend at Ballantine Books, which she’d heard was looking for media titles.
That editor passed the letter along to a young new vice president at Ballantine
named Paul Anbinder, who immediately responded with interest. (Anbinder, who
was to become something of a legend in the business, later went on to publish
books on the fine arts under his own imprint, Hudson Hills Press, which he
operated for more than 20 years.) Anbinder’s enthusiasm was infectious and
encouraging; obviously he saw in this something that nobody else did. By
late 1975 the two young researchers were working furiously. They began by
compiling schedule sheets identifying what programming was carried on each
network, on each night of the week, in each time slot, during every individual week
from 1948 to that time. No one had ever attempted to put together such a
comprehensive “grid” of everything ever telecast, but it was essential in order
to insure that nothing would be left out. Nielsen ratings reports (which are
published after programs are telecast) were particularly useful, along with
multi-network schedule grids printed by NBC and, for the earliest years,
listings in the press and in TV Guide and its predecessors. Earle
compiled most of these sheets, with Tim focusing on the difficult early years.
Much effort was spent determining which early shows were local and which were
carried nationwide. It turned out that regular networking had begun earlier
than anyone had believed. The two earliest listings found were for Voice of
Firestone Televues and NBC’s first network newscast, The War as it
Happens, both of which debuted on a two-city NBC “network” on April 10,
1944, during World War II. Much
work was also done reconstructing casts and storylines, primarily from
programming department and press department files at the three surviving
networks (everyone let Brooks and Marsh in—things were more open then). They
consulted reviews and sometimes interviewed people involved with the shows.
This was especially necessary to reconstruct programming that had aired in the
1940s and on the Dumont Network, which had folded in 1956 and from which
virtually nothing survived. It is fortunate that Tim and Earle did this
detective work when they did, because many of the files they consulted have
since been destroyed. While
progress on the research went well, the prospects for getting it published did
not. Anbinder left Ballantine in 1978 and his successors showed no interest in
the project. They abruptly canceled it, saying its sales potential was small and
it would be “too big.” Tim went to the Ballantine offices with a sheaf full of
data showing the huge number of viewers who were tuning in to the “TV
retrospectives” that were beginning to be seen on the networks, as well as the
hundreds of thousands of students enrolled in media classes around the country
who might buy such a book. Ballantine relented and reinstated the book. Then, a
few months later, they canceled it again, this time for good. Then
a miracle happened. A new editorial team took over and found that their
predecessors had not left enough books in the pipeline to fill the Spring 1979
list. Panic! No one was very enthusiastic about the large, unfinished
manuscript about television sitting on the shelf, but it was almost done and
they needed something. “The boys” got a call saying “update the manuscript
fast, we’re going to press!” The
Complete Directory to Prime Time Network TV Shows came out in May 1979 in both hardcover and softcover,
but the press run was small and little promotion was planned. That led to the
next miracle: an enthusiastic young Ballantine publicist named Dermot McEvoy
saw the book, fell in love with it and convinced his superiors to authorize a
three-city interview tour of New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. Despite his cheerleading
the tour did not start auspiciously. Tim’s older brother John, a professor at
the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, had helpfully arranged for a book signing
at the campus bookstore in May, just as the book was being released. Copies
were rushed in and a table set up. The timing couldn’t have been worse. It was
finals week and the only students in the bookstore had come to sell their
textbooks back to the store! As in a sitcom, the author sat and smiled behind a
stack of books that was just as tall when he left as when he arrived. The
interviews set up by the energetic McEvoy continued though, on radio stations,
on local television and with newspaper reporters. Tim and Earle made it easy
for producers by bringing still pictures, tapes of theme songs and (later)
video clips. Word began to spread, and suddenly, while still on the road, they
got a call from New York saying “we’re going back to press, the book is taking
off.” Still, the national media pretty much ignored the book until TV Guide,
in its March 15, 1980 issue, gave it a glowing review. Then it won an
American Book Award and the Directory was off and running. There
was competition, as McCaffrey had predicted. In late 1976 A.S. Barnes published
The Complete Encyclopedia of Television Programs by Vincent Terrace, who
would go on to become a prolific writer of specialist books about television.
However it was somewhat error-prone and available only as a two-volume hard
cover set, which made it expensive and difficult for stores to stock. (Subsequent
editions came out in 1980 and 1985). More directly competitive was a soft-cover
trade paperback called Total Television by a young lawyer named Alex
McNeil (Penguin Books), first published in 1980. This was well-researched but
took a different approach from The Complete Directory. It covered
daytime as well as nighttime programs (not all as the title implied, but most
of them) but in less detail and with a compressed, harder to read layout, in
order to squeeze more programs into roughly the same number of pages. Though
not as successful as The Complete Directory it did well enough to
continue with three subsequent editions, in 1984, 1991 and 1996 (apparently the
last). Many fans bought both The Complete Directory and Total
Television. With
the success of The Complete Directory Ballantine was eager for a second,
updated edition, and this was published just two-and-a-half years later, in
November 1981. The page count grew from the original 848 pages to 1,005. New
appendixes were added, and for the first time syndicated programs that aired mainly
in the evening hours were included. It had become apparent that most readers
didn’t know the difference between network shows and those sold by syndicators
directly to local stations across the country, like Sea Hunt and Highway
Patrol. Now they could all be found in one place. Further
editions followed: a third (1985, 1,123 pages), fourth (1988, 1,063 pages—the
type size was reduced!), fifth (1992, 1,207 pages), sixth (1995, 1,385 pages),
seventh (1999, 1,363 pages) and eighth (2003, 1,592 pages). Cable series were
added in 1995, greatly increasing the coverage and resulting in a title change
to The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows. Tim,
who was by then working for a cable network, covered the dozens of cable
networks (along with NBC and ABC), while Earle handled CBS, Fox, syndication
and the “mini-networks” (WB, UPN, etc.) and kept track of broadcast time slots.
Tim wrote the front matter while Earle compiled most of the appendixes in the
back. They
both did multitudes of interviews, keeping The Complete Directory in the
public eye, although oddly, the broadcast networks whose shows were so
extensively covered in the book, and which used the book themselves behind the
scenes, showed little interest in acknowledging it on their morning or late
night talk shows (the only such appearance was by Tim on Good Morning,
America in 1985, where he was interviewed by a somewhat annoyed David
Hartman). However local radio and TV stations across the country, and
newspapers such as USA Today (which also used it) gave it many mentions,
and the authors obliged with interviews ranging from a serious discussion on
radio’s Larry King Show to Earle answering trivia questions in Detroit
and being dunked in a huge, carnival-style tank of water when he (allegedly)
missed one! Today
the Complete Directory is nearly 2,000 pages, and is constantly being
refined and updated. It is not a “factory” production. The two authors watch, take notes on and
research everything themselves. In addition scores of loyal readers, many of
whom buy every edition, have written in over the years with suggestions and
occasional corrections, which are incorporated where appropriate, with credit.
In that sense it’s a collaborative work, by the viewer and for the viewer, as
well as for everyone interested in getting the straight facts, in an
entertaining manner, on American television.
Click here for a list
of those who have been acknowledged over the years as contributors to The Complete Directory.
Lost Sounds: Blacks and
the Birth of the Recording Industry, 1890-1919. By Tim Brooks. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois
Press, 2004. 634 + x pages. ISBN: 0-252-02850-3 (hardcover), 0-252-07307-x
(paperback, 2005). Lost Sounds: Blacks and
the Birth of the Recording Industry, 1891-1922 (double CD), Archeophone ARCH 1005. Released 2005. Awards (book): ASCAP Deems Taylor Award, 2005 Association for Recorded Sound Collections Award for
Excellence, 2005 Society for American Music Irving Lowens Award for
Distinguished Scholarship in American Music, 2006 Award (CD): National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences Grammy
Award for Best Historical Album, 2006. Also nominated in the category of Best
Album Notes. History: Lost Sounds grew out of Tim Brooks’ curiosity about an obscure
performer named George W. Johnson, who was reputed to be the very first black
recording artist. For years colorful stories had circulated in the collectors’
world about Johnson, that he was illiterate, that he was discovered panhandling
on the streets of Washington, D.C., that he had been hanged for killing his
wife. Some of these stories had been debunked, but they continued to appear in
print in the 1980s. Moreover very basic information about Johnson, such as when
and where he was born, how he came to record, and when he died, was simply
unknown. No one had written a serious article about him for years. Around 1989
Tim decided to research and write an article—just an article—about this elusive
but interesting character. This was the seed that grew into Lost Sounds. The
research for the article turned out to be quite an adventure. It led to census
records, slave registers, dusty legal archives, early newspapers and record catalogs,
as well as trips to Virginia’s Loudoun County (where Johnson was born), New
York’s Hell’s Kitchen (whose streets he walked) and a New York area cemetery
(where he came to rest). It involved considerable correspondence with record
collectors and archives around the world, searching for copies of Johnson’s
long-out-of-print recordings on cylinders and 78s. (This was before the
internet facilitated such research). No one knew when the rumored murder trial
had taken place, and one of the first major breakthroughs was the discovery of
the transcript of the 1899 trial in the archives of John Jay College of
Criminal Justice, where it had somehow survived even though most transcripts from
that period had been destroyed. It turned out that the flimsy case, apparently
cooked up by racist New York cops, had been dismissed. The transcript led not
only to valuable insights about Johnson but also to the identity of the
Virginia slave owner on whose farm he had grown up, providing much new
information about his early years and influences. Other discoveries about the
extent of his career followed and the “short article” mushroomed into a
substantial manuscript—though not quite a full book. In the course of researching Johnson Tim kept running
into the names of other black artists who had recorded during the industry’s
early years, few of whom had been written about. Many histories, in fact,
maintained that there was no recording to speak of by African-Americans prior
to the Jazz Age of the 1920s. This was nonsense. It was becoming clear that
these artists had paved the way for, and in many cases inspired or even
mentored the great performers of the 1920s and beyond, such as Duke Ellington,
Louis Armstrong and Marian Anderson. There was a fascinating story here of
racial barriers (the “color line”) overcome, of the persistence of art and creativity
in the face of blatant discrimination, and the way in which recordings of black
music largely unfamiliar to white America found their way into proper Victorian
parlors and began to change attitudes toward the race itself. To fill out a book Tim decided in the early 1990s to add
short biographies of these other early black artists. That led to nearly ten
more years of research, because most of them were as undocumented as Johnson
had been. Even for those who were well known, such as boxer Jack Johnson and
black leader Booker T. Washington, virtually nothing was known about their
recordings. In some cases, like those of Jack Johnson and the eminent baritone
and arranger of spirituals Harry T. Burleigh, no one even knew they had
recorded. In
the course of the research Tim assembled an impressive collection of recordings
by these black pioneers. Scouring auction lists, dickering with collectors,
obtaining tapes when the owners wouldn’t part with the originals, this too was
a 15-year journey. The vast majority of antique recordings are in private
hands, and while some collectors are secretive most were more than willing to
share their treasures. Some wondered why Tim was so interested in “this stuff.”
The collector from whom he obtained the only known copy of a 1910 recording of
black boxer Jack Johnson describing the famous “Great White Hope” fight, in
which Johnson won the heavyweight championship, declared that the speaker wasn’t
actually Johnson. The speaker was calm, intelligent and well-spoken, not the
crude braggart biographers made Johnson out to be, so it must be a white
imitator. “A black man wouldn’t sound like that.” (The collector later
apologized for this demeaning remark when it was proven the speaker was in fact
Johnson.) The Jack Johnson recording is an example of the new light
recordings can shed on historical figures who may be misrepresented by silent words
and pictures. Not everyone wants their preconceptions challenged, however.
Shortly before Lost Sounds was published, Tim was contacted by Geoffrey
C. Ward, who was writing the script for Ken Burns’ upcoming PBS documentary on
Johnson (Unforgiveable Blackness), and also an accompanying book on the
fighter. Ward had heard that were possible Johnson recordings and was
fascinated to hear them. He subsequently discussed them in his book. But his
boss, Ken Burns, made no mention of them in the film, preferring to perpetuate
the old written-word caricatures of Johnson. Some people listen, some don’t. By the time Lost Sounds was published by the
University of Illinois press in 2004 it had grown to 634 pages. Its reception
within the academic community was gratifying, with excellent reviews and, over
the next two years, three major awards for excellence. Shortly after the book was published Tim was contacted by
Richard Martin, the owner (with his wife Meagan) of Archeophone, a small record
label specializing in immaculately produced reissues of acoustic-era (pre-1925)
recordings. Richard suggested a parallel CD reissue of some of the recordings
discussed in Lost Sounds. Tim had wanted to find a way to make these
historic recordings available, and had considered compiling a CD to include
with the book, but with the enormous amount of work involved in completing the
book he didn’t feel he could do the project justice. Archeophone, with its
reputation for excellent transfers and lavish accompanying annotation, was a
perfect solution. From the fall of 2004 through the summer of 2005 Richard
and Tim worked on the project, compiling track lists, locating and transferring
the best copies they could find, and preparing an accompanying booklet. The
list grew to 54 tracks occupying two CDs. The majority of the original
cylinders and discs were from Tim’s collection, or copies he had located in far-flung
collections, and transferred by him to digital files using specialized playback
equipment. This included a Diapason variable speed turntable (most “78s” were
recorded, and should be played back, at speeds other than 78 rpm), an
archive-quality Archeophone cylinder playback machine (made by a French company
which coincidentally had the same name as the record label) and a wide range of
custom styli. Richard then “cleaned up”
the digital files using computer sound editing software. Joining the project was David Giovannoni, a Maryland
collector and researcher who located and transferred several tracks including a
heretofore unknown 1895 cylinder by the Oriole Quartette. Other experts also
helped out, including California dentist Dr. Michael Khanchalian (“the cylinder
doctor”), a specialist in cylinder restoration, who pieced together a shattered
1891 wax cylinder for inclusion. Some treasures turned up at the last minute.
The only known copy of George W. Johnson’s unusual comedy song “Carving the Duck”
(1903) was obtained by Tim from Canada in an eBay auction just in time to be
included. The
notes, which grew to become a 58-page illustrated booklet, were written
primarily by Tim with invaluable contributions by Martin and Giovannoni, who
also suggested the track sequence. Martin’s wife Meagan Hennessey helped design
the elegant packaging, a hallmark of Archeophone. The set was released
simultaneously with the release of the paperback edition of Lost Sounds in
late 2005. The
double-CD immediately attracted even more attention than the book had,
including a review in the New York Times and several segments on
National Public Radio. In 2006 it was nominated for two Grammy Awards, for Best
Historical Album and Best Liner Notes. It won in the former category at the
February 11, 2007 ceremonies in Los Angeles, with the award shared by Martin
and Hennessey (as producers) and Brooks and Giovannoni (as mastering
engineers). For the Preface and
Introduction from Lost Sounds,
Click here. Survey of Reissues of U.S.
Recordings.
By Tim Brooks.
Washington, D.C.: Council on Library and Information Resources and the Library
of Congress, 2005. 30 + vi pages. ISBN 1-932326-21-9. ISBN 978-1-932326-21-5.
CLIR Publication No. 133. Available at www.clir.org
as a printed document or as a free download. History: One of the more surprising
revelations of Lost Sounds was that many historical recordings are “lost”
not because there are no physical copies left, but because the extremely
onerous copyright laws passed in the U.S. over the last 30 years give exclusive
rights to practically everything ever recorded to large corporations, more or
less forever. Unlike books, plays, songs and other creative works, which
eventually pass into the public domain and belong to everyone, there is no
“public domain” for recordings (at least until 2067, when these rules are
currently set to expire—maybe). The companies get everything, the public gets
zero. No other country treats recordings this way; in most the copyright term
for recordings is 50 years. In
the case of pre-1920 recordings by African-Americans, most are still controlled
by modern corporations and only one-half of one percent of those have been
reissued by them in modern times. Black history is literally buried as a side
effect of copyright law. Talking about this situation in 2004 with Sam Brylawski,
who was then head of the Recorded Sound Section of the Library of Congress, Tim
suggested a study to quantify the extent of the problem. Hard data can
sometimes influence public policy in a way that anecdotes cannot. Brylawski
agreed and helped shape what became the first-ever rigorous study of his
subject, supported by a grant from the Washington-based Council on Library and
Information Resources, a non-profit think tank representing libraries across
the country. The study found that an average of 84% of historic recordings from
the various periods prior to 1965 are still someone’s exclusive property under
U.S. law (due to recent developments this number is now even higher); and only
14% of those, on average, have been made available by the rights holder through
reissues. Moreover the 14% is heavily skewed toward recent periods. For eras
prior to 1940 availability is generally 10% or less, and prior to 1920 it
approaches zero. This is not the percent of all recordings that are
available, but rather of those that scholars and collectors have identified as
historically important. Since its publication in 2005 the study has been cited in
many policy documents, and it even played a role in the decision by Britain not
to lengthen recording copyright terms in that country (a move that had been
advocated by the record companies). The Columbia Master Book
Discography, Volume I: U.S. Matrix Series 1 through 4999, 1901-1910, with a
History of the Columbia Phonograph Company to 1934. By Tim Brooks. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1999.
529 + xii pages. ISBN: 0-313-30821-7. The Columbia Master Book
Discography, Volume II: Principal U.S. Matrix Series, 1910-1924. By Brian Rust. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1999.
668 pages. ISBN: 0-313-30822-5. The Columbia Master Book
Discography, Volume III: Principal U.S. Matrix Series, 1924-1934. By Brian Rust. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1999.
826 pages. ISBN: 0-313-30823-3. The Columbia Master Book
Discography, Volume IV: U.S. Twelve-Inch Matrix Series, 1906-1931. By Brian Rust and Tim Brooks. Westport, CT: Greenwood
Press, 1999. 318 pages. ISBN: 0-313-30824-1. Award: Association for Recorded Sound Collections Award for
Excellence, 2000 History: This massive compilation was
nearly half a century in the making. Its origins lay in mimeographed matrix
lists compiled by Columbia Records librarian Helen Chmura beginning in the mid
1950s, which were added to by collectors over the following years. Around 1970
Tim Brooks and several other collectors decided to take the sprawling mass of
information, pull it together and publish it, starting with the pre-1910
period. This was the most difficult period to reconstruct, since Columbia’s
files from that ancient time had been destroyed and even Chmura had only
sketchy information about the recordings made then. Everything had to be
reconstructed from surviving records and catalogs. For a time there was a
“Columbia Quartet” of researchers working on the project, and later a “Columbia
Trio.” Between 1975 and 1980 Tim published several articles
about early Columbia, including an outline of its matrix (recording) series.
Concurrently he and Maine collector Bill Bryant, who specialized in early
labels, became the chief architects of the project. Since there were no files
to consult, collections around the world were scoured for examples of
recordings made during this period, in order to collect titles, artists, master
numbers, takes and labels of issue (recordings made by Columbia were leased to
many other labels). In the early 1980s English discographer Brian Rust joined
the project, extending the listings to the early 1930s using microfilms he had
obtained of the Columbia files, which are more complete after 1910. Greenwood
Press agreed to publish the work, and a tentative publication date was set for
1984. Many delays ensued but work never stopped entirely. Bill,
an obsessive perfectionist, took possession of the pre-1910 files and things
slowed to a crawl for nearly a decade as he attempted to track down every tiny
detail. Up
to this point all of the information gathered was on paper, but it was becoming
obvious that a state-of-the-art discography would require computerization. So
in the early 1990s Tim began to organize the huge amount of accumulated data
and prepare it for entry into a database. Unfortunately Bill had barely begun
his portion of the entry work when he died suddenly of a heart attack in September
1995, at the age of 44. Tim then arranged for the entry work to be continued by
others, paid for in part by a grant from the Association for Recorded Sound
Collections. He edited the results and wrote software to error-check the
contents of the database, prepare indexes and print out the main listings in
discographic format. (Greenwood books are printed from fair copy.) He also
wrote a considerable amount of supplementary material about early Columbia,
which ultimately appeared in Volume I. Meanwhile, across the Atlantic, Brian
Rust, who refused to have anything to do with computers, was busy hand-typing
the thousand-plus pages covering 1910-1934, from his microfilms. After many starts and stops, people joining and leaving
the project, and even deaths, The Columbia Master Book Discography was
finally published in four volumes in 1999. It was dedicated to the late Helene
Chmura and Bill Bryant. It remains the most comprehensive overview ever
published of the first one-third century of Columbia disc recording. Little Wonder Records: A
History and Discography. Edited by
Tim Brooks. St. Johnsbury, VT: New Amberola Publishing Company, 1999. 95 pages. Award: Association for Recorded Sound Collections Certificate of
Merit, 2000 History: Like many collectors Tim
Brooks was long fascinated by the small (five and one-half inch), single-sided
records produced by Little Wonder in the late 1910s. They were frequently found
by collectors, and must have sold in great quantities, yet little was known
about them, and even less about the identities of the anonymous artists who
recorded for the label. Tim published an article about the label (“Ever Wonder
About Little Wonder?”) in the New Amberola Graphic in 1979, concluding
with an appeal for someone to undertake a discography. Soon noted collector
George A. Blacker began to do just that and throughout the 1980s, with the help
of many others, he assembled an enormous amount of data, including the presumed
identities of many of the anonymous singers and instrumentalists (based on
aural identification). After Blacker’s untimely death in 1990 researcher Bill
Bryant took over the project, with the involvement of Brooks, New Amberola
Graphic editor Martin Bryan and others. Bryant died in 1995 after which the
project was edited and prepared for publication by Brooks. He is listed as the
editor; so many others were involved in gathering the data that compilation
credit is given to “The Little Wonder Research Consortium.” The book is currently available from Nauck’s Vintage
Records at www.78rpm.com or http://www.78rpm.com/merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=NRC&Category_Code=205
(scroll down). It should be noted that in recent years New York
collector Merle Sprinzen has become a leading authority on Little Wonder. She
operates an informative website about the label at http://www.littlewonderrecords.com. The Complete Directory to
Prime Time TV Stars. By Tim Brooks.
New York: Ballantine Books, 1987. 1,086 + xiii pages. ISBN 0-345-32681-4. History: The Complete Directory to
Prime Time TV Stars was a companion piece to the TV Shows directory,
containing biographical information on virtually every performer listed in the
latter. It was the largest historical compendium on television talent published
up to that time. Although the first printing of over 20,000 copies sold out,
the publisher felt that it did not sell fast enough and let it go out of print.
There was no second edition. Copies can sometimes be found through used book
dealers. - TV's Greatest Hits: The 150 Most Popular TV Shows of All
Time. By Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh.
New York: Ballantine Books, 1985. 299 + xvi pages. ISBN: 0-345-31865-X. History: TV’s Greatest Hits introduced the idea of an all-time top series ranking,
based on the annual rankings in The Complete Directory. It also allowed
readers to have access to detailed information on the top shows in a
convenient, inexpensive format. The book sold about 13,000 copies, which was
considered unsuccessful, and was allowed to go out of print. Subsequently the
top series ranking (reduced to a top 100) was incorporated into the 1988
edition of The Complete Directory. TV in the '60s: Those Wonderful Shows You Grew Up With. By Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh. New York: Ballantine
Books, 1985. 271 + xv pages. ISBN: 0-345-31866-8. History: Like TV’s Greatest Hits, which
was published simultaneously, TV in the ‘60s presented a selection of
entries from the much larger Complete Directory built around a theme, in
an inexpensive, portable format. It sold about 10,000 copies and was allowed to
go out of print. | |
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