Johnny Staccato, first published in 1960, features a Greenwich Village jazz pianist who supplements his income by working as a private detective. Based on a cult-favorite noir TV-series of the same name, Johnny Staccato was “... a smooth man on the ivories, hot on the trigger, and cool in a jam—he’s the toughest private eye to hit America in a decade.” Author Frank Boyd (pseudonym of Frank Kane, 1912-1968) published over 30 novels, most featuring private eye Johnny Liddell. From the great new television series starring John Cassavetes comes this novel of love in Greenwich Village, murder in midtown, beats on the Bowery, Sex on Sutton Place, and blackmail, racketeering, and violence in the world’s most savage city.

This three-volume set is a valuable resource for researching the history of American television. An encyclopedic range of information documents how television forever changed the face of media and continues to be a powerful influence on society. What are the reasons behind enduring popularity of television genres such as police crime dramas, soap operas, sitcoms, and "reality TV"? What impact has television had on the culture and morality of American life? Does television largely emulate and reflect real life and society, or vice versa? How does television's influence differ from that of other media such as newspapers and magazines, radio, movies, and the Internet? These are just a few of the questions explored in the three-volume encyclopedia TV in the USA: A History of Icons, Idols, and Ideas. This expansive set covers television from 1950 to the present day, addressing shows of all genres, well-known programs and short-lived series alike, broadcast on the traditional and cable networks. All three volumes lead off with a keynote essay regarding the technical and historical features of the decade(s) covered. Each entry on a specific show investigates the narrative, themes, and history of the program; provides comprehensive information about when the show started and ended, and why; and identifies the star players, directors, producers, and other key members of the crew of each television production. The set also features essays that explore how a particular program or type of show has influenced or reflected American society, and it includes numerous sidebars packed with interesting data, related information, and additional insights into the subject matter.

Crime dramas have been a staple of the television landscape since the advent of the medium. Along with comedies and soap operas, the police procedural made an easy transition from radio to TV, and starting with Dragnet in 1952, quickly became one of the most popular genres. Crime television has proven to be a fascinating reflection of changes and developments in the culture at large. In the '50s and early '60s, the square-jawed, just-the-facts detectives of The Untouchables and The FBI put police work in the best light possible. As the '60s gave way to the '70s, however, the depictions gained more subtle shading, and The Streets of San Francisco, The Rockford Files, and Baretta offered conflicted heroes in more complex worlds. This trend has of course continued in more recent decades, with Steven Bochco's dramas seeking a new realism through frank depictions of language and sexuality on television. In chronicling these developments and illustrating how the genre has reflected our ideas of crime and crime solving through the decades, author Douglas Snauffer provides essential reading for any fan. This work provides a comprehensive history of detective and police shows on television, with, among other elements, production histories of seminal programs, and interviews with some of the most important writers and producers of crime television. Besides the shows listed above, this volume will also discuss such programs as: Peter Gunn, The Mod Squad, Hawaii Five-O, Columbo, Starsky and Hutch, Charlie's Angels, Magnum P.I., Miami Vice, T.J. Hooker, Remington Steele, Cagney and Lacey, Murder, She Wrote, The Commish, Homicide: Life on the Street, Monk, and many more.

Private Eyes is the complete map to what Raymond Bhandler called "the mean streets," the exciting world of the fictional private eye. It is intended to entertain current PI fans and to make new ones.

Jazz stories have been entwined with cinema since the inception of jazz film genre in the 1920s, giving us origin tales and biopics, spectacles and low-budget quickies, comedies, musicals, and dramas, and stories of improvisers and composers at work. And the jazz film has seen a resurgence in recent years--from biopics like Miles Ahead and HBO's Bessie, to dramas Whiplash and La La Land. In Play the Way You Feel, author and jazz critic Kevin Whitehead offers a comprehensive guide to these films and other media from the perspective of the music itself. Spanning 93 years of film history, the book looks closely at movies, cartoons, and a few TV shows that tell jazz stories, from early talkies to modern times, with an eye to narrative conventions and common story points. Examining the ways historical films have painted a clear picture of the past or overtly distorted history, Play the Way You Feel serves up capsule discussions of sundry topics including Duke Ellington's social life at the Cotton Club, avant-garde musical practices in 1930s vaudeville, and Martin Scorsese's improvisatory method on the set of New York, New York. Throughout the book, Whitehead brings the same analytical bent and concise, witty language listeners know from his jazz segments on NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross. He investigates well-known songs, traces the development of the stock jazz film ending, and offers fresh, often revisionist takes on works by such directors as Howard Hawks, John Cassavetes, Shirley Clarke, Francis Ford Coppola, Clint Eastwood, Spike Lee, Robert Altman, Woody Allen and Damien Chazelle. In all, Play the Way You Feel is a feast for film-genre fanatics and movie-watching jazz enthusiasts.

AMERICA’S #1 BESTSELLING TELEVISION BOOK WITH MORE THAN HALF A MILLION COPIES IN PRINT– NOW REVISED AND UPDATED! PROGRAMS FROM ALL SEVEN COMMERCIAL BROADCAST NETWORKS, MORE THAN ONE HUNDRED CABLE NETWORKS, PLUS ALL MAJOR SYNDICATED SHOWS! This is the must-have book for TV viewers in the new millennium–the entire history of primetime programs in one convenient volume. It’s a guide you’ll turn to again and again for information on every series ever telecast. There are entries for all the great shows, from evergreens like The Honeymooners, All in the Family, and Happy Days to modern classics like 24, The Office, and Desperate Housewives; all the gripping sci-fi series, from Captain Video and the new Battle Star Galactica to all versions of Star Trek; the popular serials, from Peyton Place and Dallas to Dawson’s Creek and Ugly Betty; the reality show phenomena American Idol, Survivor, and The Amazing Race; and the hits on cable, including The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Top Chef, The Sopranos, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Project Runway, and SpongeBob SquarePants. This comprehensive guide lists every program alphabetically and includes a complete broadcast history, cast, and engaging plot summary–along with exciting behind-the-scenes stories about the shows and the stars. MORE THAN 500 ALL-NEW LISTINGS from Heroes and Grey’s Anatomy to 30 Rock and Nip/Tuck UPDATES ON CONTINUING SHOWS such as CSI, Gilmore Girls, The Simpsons, and The Real World EXTENSIVE CABLE COVERAGE with more than 1,000 entries, including a description of the programming on each major cable network AND DON’T MISS the exclusive and updated “Ph.D. Trivia Quiz” of 200 questions that will challenge even the most ardent TV fan, plus a streamlined guide to TV-related websites for those who want to be constantly up-to-date SPECIAL FEATURES! • Annual program schedules at a glance for the past 61 years • Top-rated shows of each season • Emmy Award winners • Longest-running series • Spin-off series • Theme songs • A fascinating history of TV “This is the Guinness Book of World Records . . . the Encyclopedia Britannica of television!” –TV Guide

This book provides an historical analysis of the TV crime series as a genre, paying close attention not only to the nature of TV dramas themselves, but also to the context of production and reception.

The information herein was accumulated of fifty some odd years. The collection process started when TV first came out and continued until today. The books are in alphabetical order and cover shows from the 1940s to 2010. The author has added a brief explanation of each show and then listed all the characters, who played the roles and for the most part, the year or years the actor or actress played that role. Also included are most of the people who created the shows, the producers, directors, and the writers of the shows. These books are a great source of trivia information and for most of the older folk will bring back some very fond memories. I know a lot of times we think back and say, "Who was the guy that played such and such a role?" Enjoy!

This fully updated and expanded edition covers over 10,200 programs, making it the most comprehensive documentation of television programs ever published. In addition to covering the standard network and cable entertainment genres, the book also covers programs generally not covered elsewhere in print (or even online), including Internet series, aired and unaired pilot films, erotic series, gay and lesbian series, risque cartoons and experimental programs from 1925 through 1945.

A “smoldering indictment” of the corrupt influences that rescued Ronald Reagan's career, made him millions, and shaped his presidency (Library Journal). Founded in 1924, the Music Corporation of America got its start booking acts into speakeasies run by such notorious Chicago mobsters as Al Capone. How then, in only a few decades, did MCA become the driving force behind music publishing, radio, recording artists, Hollywood, and the burgeoning television industry? Enter Ronald Reagan. By the late 1950s, Reagan was a passé movie actor. As president of the Screen Actors Guild, he was also MCA’s key client. With Reagan’s help, MCA would become the most powerful entertainment conglomerate in the world. And with MCA’s help, Reagan would secure a fortune (resulting in a federal grand jury hearing), be marketed to the public as a viable politician, and ascend to the presidency of the United States. But according to reporter Dan E. Moldea, there had always been another catalyst behind MCA: Ties to organized crime that reached back to the company’s inception—and through Reagan’s Teamster-backed candidacy—had never been severed. From the author of The Hoffa Wars, this is an epic and serpentine investigation into the insidious links among Hollywood, the Mob, and politics. Based on research of six thousand pages of previously classified documents, including the entirety of Reagan’s grand jury testimony, Moldea “has, through sheer tenacity, amassed an avalanche of ominous and unnerving facts. [Dark Victory is] a book about power, ego and the American way. Moldea has shown us what we don’t want to see” (Los Angeles Times).