Non-Fiction Books

"A remarkable encyclopedia." -- TV Guide "A must-browse for media freaks." -- USA Today "Irresistible and enthralling." -- Hartford Courant "Full of fool's gold and genuine TV treasures." -- The New York Post The three hundred best and worst TV series ideas' known in the industry as pilots that never made it to primetime. From the adventures of a Samurai D.A. to the antics of an invisible alien baby, Lee Goldberg details the greatest shows you never saw.

Did Gilligan and his fellow castaways ever get rescued? Is Dr. Marcus Welby still making house calls? Is Marcia Brady single? What kind of father did Beaver Cleaver grow up to be? Those questions and many, many more about your favorite TV characters are answered in this unique and entertaining book, which examines every TV series remake and sequel produced from 1955-1992."A useful and entertaining volume" -Booklist

Aliens, Bladerunner, Dune, Mad Max, Return of the Jedi , the Star Trek series, Blue Thunder, Cocoon, Enemy Mine, Robocop, 2010, War Games -movies that defined science fiction films in the 1980s. But what was it like making these movies? Interviews (previously published in slightly different form in Starlog ) take you behind the scenes with the people who made these movies happen, including David Lynch, Kyle MacLachlin, Raffaella De Laurentiis, Mel Gibson, Harve Bennett, William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Roy Scheider, Keir Dullea, Richard Marquand, John Badham, Ridley Scott, and Gale Ann Hurd.

The box office smash Back to the Future was almost a bomb, saved only by the talents of Michael J. Fox, who was brought in to star six weeks after production had started. Ivan Reitman wasn't really interested in directing Ghostbusters . Producer Gloria Katz described Howard the Duck as "a comedy about a person with certain particular characteristics," foremost of which was that he was a duck. These insights and many more are revealed in these interviews with some of the leading creative talents in Hollywood fantasy films during the 1980s. Fox, Reitman, Katz, Joe Dante, Robert Zemeckis, Robert Donner, Jamie Gertz, Ray Bradbury, Michael Ritchie, Timothy Dalton and others discuss Big Trouble in Little China, James Bond, Conan, Dead Zone, Gremlins, Ladyhawke, Lost Boys, and other fantasy films of the decade. Each of the interviews (previously published in a different form in Starlog ) is preceded by a brief introduction setting it in context.

Do you dream of a job as a successful television writer on a hit show? Lee Goldberg and William Rabkin give you practical but essential advice to help make your dreams a reality. They teach you how to discover the "Franchise" or structure of a television show in order to write a successful and eye catching spec script. The four-act structure is covered, along with the elements that go into telling a good story. After you've blown them away with your spec script, learn how to pitch confidently and concisely. You'll also find invaluable information on how to work with producers, how to handle your first writing assignment, and tackle revisions. Also included are Writer's Guidelines, and beat sheets, from several television shows to help you familiarize yourself with the way writer's work.

UPDATED AND REVISED 2015 EDITION Did Gilligan and his fellow castaways ever get rescued? Is Dr. Marcus Welby still making house calls? Is Marcia Brady single? What kind of father did Beaver Cleaver grow up to be? Did Steve Austin and Jaime Sommers finally tie the bionic knot?Those burning questions… and many, many more… about your favorite TV characters are finaly answered in the new, 2015 edition of this unique and entertaining book, which examines every TV series revival, sequel or remake that was made from the 1950s through the early 1990s. This NEW edition now includes updates of the original entries PLUS a a complete list of television series revivals and remakes that have been made from 1992 to 2015.This is a must-have for every television reference book library. (This book was previously published under the title "Television Series Revivals") EDITORIAL REVIEWS "Have you ever wondered what happened to the castaways on 'Gilligan's Island'? Many people have, and that is why producers, directors, and actors come together to revive canceled shows for reunion specials, feature films, or whole new series. Television Fast Forward is a compilation of information on the various mutations original series have undergone since cancellation. [...] As long as television viewers express nostalgia for the shows they once watched, producers will continue to revive them. Public library customers and librarians will find Television Fast Forward a useful and entertaining volume." -- Booklist

THE BEST TV SHOWS THAT NEVER WERE “The Best Bathroom Reading EVER," - San Francisco Chronicle "A must-browse for media freaks.” — USA Today “Irresistible and enthralling.” — Hartford Courant “Full of fool’s gold and genuine TV treasures.” — The New York Post This lively and entertaining book looks at the three hundred best and worst TV series ideas—known in the industry as "pilots"—that never made it to primetime from 1955-1990. From the adventures of a Samurai D.A. to the antics of an invisible alien baby, Lee Goldberg reveals the most astonishing, funny, and bizarre shows that never were. “You’ll slap your head in disbelief—try not to hurt yourself—at the idea of John Denver as a singing FBI agent. You’ll wonder whether Joe Penny as a samurai district attorney would have been funnier—unintentionally—that John Belushi’s ‘Saturday Night Live.’ For tube-historians, this is a must see.” — People Magazine This book was previously published as "Unsold TV Pilots: The Greatest Shows You Never Saw" and "Unsold TV Pilots: The Almost Complete Guide To Everything You Never Saw on TV"

THE TV REFERENCE BOOK THAT BECAME A NATIONAL MEDIA SENSATION “Full of fool’s gold and genuine TV treasures,” New York Post “A must-browse for media freaks,” USA Today “A remarkable encyclopedia,” TV Guide This is the ground-breaking, exhaustively-researched book that revealed, for the first time ever, all of the details behind the thousands of TV series ideas that were developed and rejected by the networks since the dawn of television. The book was an instant, national sensation when it was first published in 1990, winning enthusiastic critical acclaim and enormous media attention, including on-air praise from TV legend Johnny Carson on "The Tonight Show," and was adapted into two hour-long specials, "The Greatest Shows You Never Saw" on CBS and "The Best TV Shows That Never Were" on ABC. This is a landmark work of television history and research … a must-read for anyone who loves TV… and who wants to know how shows get on-the-air…and how they don’t. “The best bathroom reading ever!” San Francisco Chronicle “One of the best books ever written about television,” TVParty.com “A fascinating book,” Johnny Carson “Packed with amusing failures,” Chicago Sun-Times “Irresistible, enthralling, a page-turner. Goldberg puts just enough historical background in the book to make the bizarre psychology of the networks make sense,” Hartford Courant