I just watched Ken Bruen on the Craig Ferguson show. I find it utterly appalling that following two comedians, Ken Bruen was still expected to provide humor. He was charming, of course. But why wasn't he allowed to talk about his book or what it is to be a writer? Why did half the sequence center on a unzipped fly? Clearly Ken had been prompted to stick to humorous anecdotes.British Television has shows that discuss books. Other than the Cspan show that deals mostly with political fare, we have nothing. Why does every American talk show have to be interchangeable in terms of guests and format? When cable came along, the promise was there would be outlets for serious talk about cultural fare? Bah!
Far superior was Ken's appearance on Sunday Morning last year. Maybe people watching TV early Sunday morning instead of very late on Monday night have more patience.
8 comments:
I didn't mind the interview. Ken clearly has a lot of stories, too many to fit into one segment of a talk show. I'm glad Ferguson is a crime fiction fan. Authors seem to get less play than actors on talk shows.
I'm telling you, there should be a cable channel devoted to books. I'd watch that. Hell, I even watch a lot of C-SPAN2 on the weekends.
Move to Canada Steve. We have a 24-7 channel called Book Television.
I thought it was pretty good. Ken had warned me they told him they were cutting out part of his segment, so I was worried he'd been pared down to nothing. (I expect they always tape a bit more and trim so they've got stuff to work with, but what do I know?) Except for the 'scatterbrained' aspect of CF (by this I mean the willingness to shift topics mid-story) in a way it wasn't so different from some convention panels I've been to, where people are expected to be funny in a minute and not talk for more than two in total at any time.
At least CF reads the books. My cousin was interviewed on a daytime talk show once, and with a musician it isn't hard to take an hour and actually listen to a person's CD, but it was clear from something that came up the interviewer hadn't. That was bad.
But why can't we ever just talk about books? Why do guests have to have canned humorous stories to tell when they have serious accomplishments they could discuss. In the (g)olden days, it wasn't like this. Even Johnny Carson allowed some serious discussions. And then was Dick Cavett.
I would pay another five dollars a month for Book Television. Do they do crime fiction? The BBC used to have a show Friday nights when the group woule review a movie, a book, a play, some music. Oh, that was good fun, even with Germaine Greer holding forth.
"At least CF reads the books. My cousin was interviewed on a daytime talk show once, and with a musician it isn't hard to take an hour and actually listen to a person's CD, but it was clear from something that came up the interviewer hadn't. That was bad."
Right now, all the interviews I do are on spec. So I have the "luxury" of reading all or some of the subject's work ahead of time.
I think what happens is they throw a subject at some interviewers (Obviously, CF is in control of his own guest list, so it's not an issue.) and expect them to conduct an interview off someone else's notes.
I've finished more than one interview with the subject telling me it drives them insane when the interviewer doesn't even prep.
I think if they put Ken on THE DAILY SHOW, he'd get to talk more about his work or, at least, weave that into the interview. At least it wouldn't be the trainwreck Dennis Miller's appearance was. Has Dennis jumped the shark or what?
"I would pay another five dollars a month for Book Television. Do they do crime fiction?"
Mystery Mondays. What they do is an assortment of programming, which includes syndicated shows that were based on books (Homicide, for example) and some movies as well, interspersed with fresh content and specials. The fresh content includes focus shows (there are a couple Mystery book shows), shows where they interview authors, shows where they do panels and have people talk about topics (such as reviewing) or authors talk about... whatever (a historical era, a true case, whatever is relevant to the subject for the day).
Which reminds me that Kevin taped something with Peter Robinson recently and I haven't watched it yet.
You might be able to subscribe- I don't know. They used to let you order programs off the website, but it's summer schedule right now, so some of the regular programs aren't on. Needless to say, I've seen specials with Ian Rankin, Val McDermid, James Ellroy and they did a feature on Edinburgh when it because Unesco's city of literature and actually went to Alexander McCall Smith's house for the show, and the Oxford Bar. They have some great programs.
And yes, it would be nice to talk books...
Carson wasn't that good at serious discussion, and I fear Ferguson is less secure in his program than Carson was in his...nonetheless, I thought Lawrence Block's interview, the last I've seen with CF with a cf writer, was rather good by commercial television standards.
Lewis Lapham's rather good BOOKMARK program, which also had Block among others on for at least one episode, was allowed to collapse by public stations which didn't choose to renew its syndication contract...and, aside from the proudly nonfictional Book TV weekend block on C-SPAN2, we haven't had a dedicated national series since, albeit there are any number of local ones, some better than others, and particularly more on radio than on television. The web radio helps...and C-SPAN's stuff is sometimes webbed, as well.
Unfortunately, Book Television will occasionally dip as far as to run IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT, the weak tv series, given its very loose association with John Ball's Tibbs.
I was glad to see your plea for shows that discuss books more seriously. You and I agree right down the line on Bruen's appearance.
Sandra, I am Canadian. Book Television is apparently part of what I missed when I moved to the U.S. I wonder how much of the the Bruen-Ferguson segment was cut. There did appear to have been a jerky transition or two.
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