Biography Television

In 20 years of show business, Lucille Ball had only modest and sporadic success. Her TV program, I Love Lucy, was her last chance to fulfill the ambition that had sustained her through the frustrations of her professional life and the anguish of a failing marriage. The role of Lucy Ricardo revealed her true gifts, but it changed her life immeasurably. This definitive portrait of Lucille Ball is based on the recollections of fellow performers, her closest friends and family, and Lucille herself.

A fascinating look at Hollywood’s most turbulent decade and the demise of the studio system—set against the boom of the post–World War II years, the Cold War, and the atomic age—and the movies that reflected the seismic shifts “The definitive book on 1950s Hollywood.” —Booklist...

Before the heyday of the Food Network, there was Chef Tell - TV persona of Friedemann Paul Erhardt, America's first TV showman chef. Big on personality and flavor, Chef Tell was once called by Philadelphia magazine the "affably roguish Bad Boy of the Philadelphia restaurant world." Chef Tell explores how a young German American chef became America's biggest TV celebrity chef of his time. Most of Chef Tell's forty million baby boomer viewers - a number comparable to Julia Child's - never knew his fascinating, hardscrabble life story. Until now.

When first published to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Saturday Night Live, Live from New York was immediately proclaimed the best book ever produced on the landmark and legendary late-night show. In their own words, unfiltered and uncensored, a dazzling galaxy of trail-blazing talents recalled three turbulent decades of on-camera antics and off-camera escapades.

From Jim Lampley, HBO’s ringside face and voice of boxing, comes a first-person, blow-by-blow account of the evolution of sports television chock full of famous names, history-making events, and never-before-told stories from the world of sports.

Fred Stoller has played the annoying schnook in just about every sitcom you’ve seen on TV - Friends, Everybody Loves Raymond, Scrubs, Hannah Montana, My Name Is Earl - and was even a staff writer for Seinfeld, but he’s never found a solid gig. When it comes to Hollywood, it’s a case of always the bridesmaid and never the bride, except in his case he’s always the snarky waiter, the mopey cousin, or Man Number Two.

In many ways, Kamal Haasan is unique. One of the greatest actors India has ever produced, he has usually gone further than just enacting a role to completely immersing himself in it. Kamal Haasan: A Cinematic Journey explores some 50 films out of the 245 Haasan has been associated with and analyses his cinematic journey from his beginnings as a child star all the way to his latest blockbusters.

“Leaps at the throat of television history and takes down the patriarchy with its fervent, inspired prose. When Women Invented Television offers proof that what we watch is a reflection of who we are as a people.” —Nathalia Holt, New York Times bestselling author of Rise of the Rocket...

In a sharp, witty memoir, iconic trailblazer and legendary journalist Connie Chung pulls no punches in detailing her storied career as the first Asian woman to break into an overwhelmingly white, male-dominated television news industry—"an absorbing look at a pioneering news figure" (TIME)...

You better believe she’s going to read it! Straight from the iconic lips themselves, the audio edition of YOU BETTER BELIEVE I’M GONNA TALK ABOUT IT is read by the legend herself, and she’s spilling all the tea. From Housewives to Hollywood, marriage and more the audio version adds a whole...

After eight years on the air, Desi Arnaz did not love Lucy any more. On screen, they were dynamite, a comedy pairing more successful than any Hollywood had ever produced. But when the cameras stopped rolling, they fought, screamed and threatened each other more each season. Finally, an argument in Desi's production office turned violent. Lucy hurled a cocktail glass past his head, and Desi demanded a divorce. He moved out that night. After nearly 20 years, America's favorite couple was finished.

En los años 70 y 80, mientras ABC, NBC y CBS se disputaban cada pantalla, una familia mexicana, junto a un astuto operador estadounidense, construía en silencio las bases de un imperio. Frente a magnates televisivos como Ted Turner y Rupert Murdoch lograron lo impensable: abrirse paso en el cerrado mundo de la televisión estadounidense. Más tarde, tras ser expulsados del mercado por intereses políticos y corporativos, regresaron gracias a una alianza tan improbable como estratégica con el exrepresentante artístico de Ronald Reagan, Elizabeth Taylor y Marlon Brando.

He was written off. Impeached twice. Indicted multiple times. Defeated in 2020. Yet, on November 5, 2024, Donald J. Trump achieved the unthinkable – a political comeback of historic proportions, reclaiming the White House against staggering odds. Donald Trump the comeback of the 47th President is the definitive account of one of the most extraordinary journeys in American political history. Following his tumultuous exit from office and facing an unprecedented barrage of legal challenges and establishment opposition, Trump refused to fade away. This book chronicles the meticulous, often ...

Was What's My Line TV star, media icon, and crack investigative reporter and journalist Dorothy Kilgallen murdered for writing a tell-all book about the JFK assassination? If so, is the main suspect in her death still at large? These questions and more are answered in former CNN, ESPN, and USA Today legal analyst Mark Shaw's 25th book, The Reporter Who Knew Too Much.

Karen Grassle, the beloved actress who played Ma on Little House on the Prairie, grew up at the edge of the Pacific Ocean in a family where love was plentiful but alcohol wreaked havoc.

Michael Landon was an actor, writer, director, and producer. For over three decades, Michael Landon's creative gifts touched millions of viewers around the world on Bonanza, Little House on the Prairie, Highway to Heaven, and in several other productions. This is the first detailed examination of his work both in front of and behind the camera, including information about every Landon script.

A lively and revealing biography of Andy Griffith and Don Knotts, this “humorous, informative, and poignant book” celebrates the powerful real-life friendship behind one of America’s most iconic television programs and “shows how the magic was created” (Library Journal). Andy Griffith...

Bill Bixby: Before “The Incredible Hulk”? Already a Star! You Wouldn't Like Him When He's Angry... But You'll Love the Real Man Behind the Monster. Long before he became the tragic, wandering Dr. David Banner—hunted, haunted, and forever alone—Bill Bixby was already one of television's most versatile and resilient stars. In this definitive, deeply moving biography, bestselling author J.P. Ames uncovers the extraordinary life of a fifth-generation Californian who arrived in Hollywood with $300, a single suitcase, and a five-year ultimatum from his parents: make it as an actor or come...

Bruce Vilanch is known as a go-to comedy writer for award shows, sitcoms, and top-heavy variety specials, but he has also been responsible for quite a few of the worst shows ever put on television—legendarily bad productions. It Seemed Like a Bad Idea at the Time is a lifetime reflection of what Vilanch has experienced, learned, forgotten, dismissed, and embraced in decades of working in show business

In this highly entertaining and insightful memoir, one of television’s most respected broadcasters interweaves the story of his life and career with lively firsthand tales of some of the most thrilling events and fascinating figures in modern sports. No sportscaster has covered more major...