Here are 67 books that Sitcoms fans have personally recommended if you like
Sitcoms.
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A theatre, film, and television historian, I've spent the last fifteen years researching and writing about all three areas of entertainment. I'm also a travel and tourism writer for a variety of e-commerce platforms. Television history is an area that I have researched extensively over the last twenty years, resulting in my booksThe Encyclopedia of Television Theme Songs and Sitcommentary: Television ComediesThat Change America.
The Golden Girls is one of televisionās most enduring situation comedies. The story of four women in their golden years sharing a home in Miami, Florida continues to find a new audience with each generation. Jim Colucciās book Golden Girls Forever: An Unauthorized Look Behind the Lanai is an intimate and in-depth look at the making of the show and the legacy it has enjoyed.
The complete, first-everĀ Golden GirlsĀ retrospective, packed with hundreds of exclusive interviews, behind-the-scenes and never-before-revealed stories, more than two hundred color and black-and-white photos, commentary, and more.
They were four women of a certain age, living together under one roof in Miamiāsmart and strong Dorothy, airhead Rose, man-hungry belle Blanche, and smart-mouthed matriarch Sophia. They were the Golden Girls, and for seven seasons, this hilarious quartet enchanted millions of viewers with their witty banter, verve, sass, and love, and reaffirmed the power of friendship and family.
Over thirty years after it first aired,Ā The Golden Girlsā¦
It is April 1st, 2038. Day 60 of China's blockade of the rebel island of Taiwan.
The US government has agreed to provide Taiwan with a weapons system so advanced that it can disrupt the balance of power in the region. But what pilot would be crazy enough to runā¦
A theatre, film, and television historian, I've spent the last fifteen years researching and writing about all three areas of entertainment. I'm also a travel and tourism writer for a variety of e-commerce platforms. Television history is an area that I have researched extensively over the last twenty years, resulting in my booksThe Encyclopedia of Television Theme Songs and Sitcommentary: Television ComediesThat Change America.
Anyone who knows anything about television comedy will tell you that producer/developer Norman Lear was the force behind some of the greatest sitcoms of all time including All in the Family, Maude, The Jeffersons, Good Times, Sanford and Son, and One Day at a Time. The Sitcoms of Norman Lear by Sean Campbell takes a closer look at this titan of television and the game-changing sitcoms he produced.
Archie Bunker, George Jefferson, Maude - the television sitcom world of the 1970s was peopled by the creations of Norman Lear. Beginning in 1971, with the premier of ""All in the Family"", Lear's work gave sitcoms a new face and a new style. No longer were families perfect and lives in order. Mostly blue-collar workers and their families, Lear's characters argued, struggled, uttered sometimes shocking opinions and had no problem contributing to - or at least, acknowledging - the turmoil so shunned by 1960s television. Significantly, not only did Lear address difficult issues, but he did so through successful programming.ā¦
A theatre, film, and television historian, I've spent the last fifteen years researching and writing about all three areas of entertainment. I'm also a travel and tourism writer for a variety of e-commerce platforms. Television history is an area that I have researched extensively over the last twenty years, resulting in my booksThe Encyclopedia of Television Theme Songs and Sitcommentary: Television ComediesThat Change America.
For many, I Love Lucy, starring comic genius Lucille Ball, epitomizes what the great American classic television comedy is. Ben Nussbaumās I Love Lucy: Discovering Americaās Best-Loved Sitcom takes a closer look at this side-splitting comedy and gives us a glimpse into why 70-years later, people still love the antics of the title character.
Running from 1951 to 1957 and in syndication for more than fifty years, I Love Lucy has a permanent place in the hearts of American television-watchers and has reached multiple generations of viewers. Based on the humorous antics of a New York City housewife, her Cuban bandleader husband, and their landlord best friends, I Love Lucy was not only wildly popular but also groundbreaking for its filming techniques, for its use of a live audience, and for being the first television show to air reruns. INSIDE I LOVE LUCY: *The beginnings of the show as well as what made itā¦
A Duke with rigid opinions, a Lady whose beliefs conflict with his, a long disputed parcel of land, a conniving neighbour, a desperate collaboration, a failure of trust, a love found despite it all.
Alexander Cavendish, Duke of Ravensworth, returned from war to find that his father and brother hadā¦
A theatre, film, and television historian, I've spent the last fifteen years researching and writing about all three areas of entertainment. I'm also a travel and tourism writer for a variety of e-commerce platforms. Television history is an area that I have researched extensively over the last twenty years, resulting in my booksThe Encyclopedia of Television Theme Songs and Sitcommentary: Television ComediesThat Change America.
Not all television shows are hit and somehow the decade of the 1980s had the greatest number of sitcom flops. Itās Your Move, The Best of the West, Square Pegs, The Duck Factory, and Life with Lucy are just a handful of the sitcoms that didnāt run for longer than a season. Single Season Sitcoms of the 1980s by Bob Leszczak is a delicious smorgasbord of information about these one-season wonders (and many others) that we barely remember, but refuse to forget.
Single Season Sitcoms of the 1980s is the logical sequel to an earlier work also by Bob Leszczak titled Single Season Sitcoms 1948-1979, A Complete Guide. The decade of the 80s is presently being viewed with much reverence, and television programs, especially the situation comedies from that era, are enjoying renewed interest. Because of the increase in the number of available channels as a result of the exploding cable television industry at that time in history, the number of failed programs was also on the rise.
For every successful sitcom from this period, such as The Golden Girls, Family Tiesā¦
Pop culture is my life, and I like my characters to be well-versed in it. There's no reason to pretend otherwise, as what we consume informs who we are as people. Plus, thereās something beautiful in something everybody collectively knows. Iāve worked hard to make pop culture not just an interest but a career path. I currently program films for the Seattle International Film Festival, work as a playwright and performer, cover film, theatre, and burlesque for The Ticket at the Seattle Times, am a frequent guest on podcasts such asFilm at Fifty,and assist at various arts organizations all over the greater Seattle area.
To quoteNew York Timescritic Sam Anderson,āthe sitcom is arguably the defining commercial art form of the American 20th century,ā and this book gives that hypothesis weight. Over 24 chapters (starting in 1951 withI Love Lucy, the Rosetta Stone of the genre, and ending in 2014 with Dan Harmonās cult hit Community),Austerlitz uses the television comedy format to discuss joke structure, technological advancements in the arts, and the evolution of American social and political consciousness over the previous half-century. Sitcoms are by their nature the tension between two opposing forces, centering on characters who strive to change their lot in life only to have everything reset by episodeās end, just in time to do it all again next week. Thereās something both beautiful and menacing about that.
The form is so elemental, so basic, that we have difficulty imagining a time before it existed: a single set, fixed cameras, canned laughter, zany sidekicks, quirky family antics. Obsessively watched and critically ignored, sitcoms were a distraction, a gentle lullaby of a kinder, gentler Americaāuntil suddenly the artificial boundary between the world and television entertainment collapsed.
Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā In this book we can watch the growth of the sitcom, following the path that leads from Lucy to The Phil Silvers Show; from The Dick Van Dyke Show to The Mary Tyler Moore Show; from M*A*S*H to Taxi; from Cheers to Roseanne;ā¦
I am an award-winning writer based in Southern California who creates internationally published horror, fantasy, science fiction, and weird West stories. Dozens of my short stories have appeared in podcasts, magazines, games, and Stoker-nominated anthologies, and Iāve authored several books. I am the co-chair and founder of the Horror Writers Association San Diego chapter, a short story instructor, co-creator of the Monster Gunslingers game, and member of writing organizations, including the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association. I find speculative horror a fascinating lens by which to view challenges faced by underrepresented groups and women. I hope you enjoy these tales.
This was a true page-turnerāI could not put it down. From the first few pages, I was immediately pulled into the mystery and charactersā plights. I loved how the author kept a fast pace, keeping the action and tension high throughout.
Technically, this book is not comprised of short stories; it features segments of shorter narratives that gradually weave together to reveal a larger picture. The author skillfully played with tropes in the mystery and horror genres, presenting a thoughtful commentary on issues women face.
Imaginative and deftly told, this clever and satisfying book had me nodding along in grim recognition.
A sharp-edged, supremely twisty thriller about three women who find themselves trapped inside stories they know arenāt their own, from the author of Alice and Near the Bone.
Celia wakes up in a house thatās supposed to be hers. Thereās a little girl who claims to be her daughter and a man who claims to be her husband, but Celia knows this familyāand this lifeāis not hersā¦
Allie is supposed to be on a fun weekend tripābut then her friendās boyfriend unexpectedly invites the group to a remote cabin in the woods. No one else believes Allie, but she isā¦
The Duke's Christmas Redemption
by
Arietta Richmond,
A Duke who has rejected love, a Lady who dreams of a love match, an arranged marriage, a house full of secrets, a most unneighborly neighbor, a plot to destroy reputations, an unexpected love that redeems it all.
Lady Charlotte Wyndham, given in an arranged marriage to a man sheā¦
My real name is Susan Berger and I'm a certified bookaholic. I'm also an actor and I love my work. Being older has been very lucky for me. I wrote childrenās books as Susan J Berger. COVID closed my publisher and I'm not actively submitting at the moment. I write romance as Susan B James because I didnāt want my children to have to acknowledge that their mother knew anything about sex. Falling in love and living happily ever after is an ageless state. But in romance novels heroines are mostly under thirty. I happen to be chronologically gifted myself. And many of my favorite romances feature older heroines. I think we need more.
Jennifer Crusie writes some of the funniest heroines I ever met. I adore her voice and I wanted to add her to my list. When I went to Jenās blog ArghInk to ask her which of her heroines was over forty. She said Andie.
Andieās ex-husband North wants one last favor from her as closure. Help him settle the two delinquent orphans he inherited from a distant relative. He knows Andie can handle anything.
I was five when we moved to Australia, and soon after I discovered two things: I am the seventh child of a seventh child, with magic powers including the ability to see ghosts. My motherās brother Dennis drowned when he was six. Naturally I started talking to him. Mind you, Mum also told me if the wind changed my face would stay like that, so the ghost thing probably wasnāt true either. Technically she only brought two of us to term. Dennis and I still talk, but we donāt have much in common anymore. With that in mind, please enjoy my ghosty best friends book recommendations.
I found this one in a charity shop and read it in a day. It was a while after that I saw the tv series, and a while after that the movie. And itās another one I still have in my bookshelves.
Itās another story about finding your place in the world, but at the same time, itās about a timid widow, mother of two, finding herself through the mentorship of the ghost of a well travelled sailor. One whoās there waiting for her at the end of her life, not her bloody husband!Ā
The basis for Joseph L. Mankiewiczās cinematic romance starring Gene Tierney and Rex Harrison. Ā Burdened by debt after her husband's death, Lucy Muir insists on moving into the very cheap Gull Cottage in the quaint seaside village of Whitecliff, despite multiple warnings that the house is haunted. Upon discovering the rumors to be true, the young widow ends up forming a special companionship with the ghost of handsome former sea captain Daniel Gregg. Through the struggles of supporting her children, seeking out romance from the wrong places, and working to publish the captain's story as a book, Blood and Swash,ā¦
Like many novelists ā all the way back to F. Scott Fitzgerald -- writing for film and television has been my day job. The pay is obscenely good, and it leaves you time to write what you really love ā fiction. Most writers in Hollywood have a love/hate relationship with the movie business ā described by some wit as āa crapshoot masquerading as a business masquerading as an art form.ā And the books I am recommending express this mixture of scorn and reverence with humor and compassion. In my book The Deal I am clearly biting the hand that fed me over the years ā but why not? As that old humorist Albert Camus said, āThere is no fate that cannot be surmounted by scorn.ā
This poorly known novel by a television writer deserves more attention. It concerns a writer on a TV sitcom that is plagued by an impossible actress/star who makes everybodyās lives miserable by her egotistical behavior. The revenge that the writer, Jimmy Hoy, contrives for her is both funny and appropriate. There are laugh-out-loud moments in this book that will make you roar.
When the disarmingly charming and ruthlessly domineering Geneva Holloway lets her star temperament get out of hand, Jimmy Hoy, a writer for the "Geneva Holloway Show," joins with the show's other writers in plotting the perfect revenge
This book follows the journey of a writer in search of wisdom as he narrates encounters with 12 distinguished American men over 80, including Paul Volcker, the former head of the Federal Reserve, and Denton Cooley, the worldās most famous heart surgeon.
In these and other intimate conversations, the bookā¦
When writing about friendships, it was important for me to highlight the highs and the lows of friendships. This approach takes the reader on a journey with the main character as she remembers the good times while she navigates through the tough times. By sprinkling in humor, a story that could sway to the serious side and stay there is suddenly entertaining and balanced, giving the main characterās plight depth and the reader an engrossing experience.
Welcome to the Neighborhood explores the complexities of forming adult friendships after moving into a new neighborhood and encountering an already established circle of friends.
Iāve felt like a fish out of water in a similar situation, and this story is eerily relatable.
I laughed and teared up too. This book gave me all the feels.
Itās an amazing debut about standing up for yourself, finding your tribe, and living a life that feels right to you.
A heartwarming and life-affirming story of family dynamics, mother/daughter relationships, and second chances-perfect for fans of Maria Semple and Abbi Waxman. After years of struggling to make ends meet, Brooklyn single mom Ginny falls for sweet, divorced Jeff, and relishes the idea of moving with her quirky eleven-year-old daughter Harri to his home in an upscale New Jersey suburb. Though she's never been impressed by material things, she is thrilled that getting a second chance at love comes with the added bonus of finally giving Harri everything she never could before. And then she meets the neighbors. Ginny is quicklyā¦
