catalogs and directories

I've owned every edition of this book and it just keeps getting better and better. Now they even include all the 'minor' networks (A&E, Nickelodeon, BET, ...) and some of those networks' first run shows. Every prime-time show through the 1998 season is covered with cast lists and air dates. The appendices have expanded the yearly ratings to include the Top 30 shows. About the only thing missing would be highest and lowest rated episode of each show, and that might be asking for too much.

I already have two earlier editions of this TV bible and had to have this new one. It's more than worth the money. I'll read this one cover to cover as soon as I can bestill my beating heart. I've checked out the write-ups for newer shows such as Buffy -- the authors have proven that they're still in top form. This edition even includes a trivia section, which I will attempt after reading the 1500 or so pages of television history. A must-have for anyone who watches TV.

This book sort of considers itself the "industry standard" at giving you the facts about television shows. And, in many ways, it does give you a sense of many of the programs listed here, more than six thousand, as the cover states. However, it frequently doesn't know whether it wants to give you the gossipy dish on a program or to clearheadedly state the facts of a show, and it frequently misses the historical records or the most important points about and surrounding the listings.

For example, in the case of television's most celebrated flop, "My Mother The Car," they flatly state the plot of the program, but nothing about how outrageous the concept was or any of the commentary about it. Meanwhile, just over the page, they talk of how many people found the critical darling, "My So-Called Life" whiny and melodramatic!

Either a tome like this should treat all shows with no editorial opinion included, or they should dish the dirt on all programs. It makes the authors seem like rank amateurs to try to be both critics and paladins of television facts.

One final note: They always state, with each ensuing version of this book (currently at the Eighth Edition), that the text is "completely revised and updated." This is a lie. The reviews and comments on every show reviewed in a previous edition is exactly the same as it was when it first appeared. Some of these are embarrassingly outdated, like the comments they made about the landmark miniseries, "Roots."

This book is helpful to people who are aware of the programs firsthand and won't be swayed by the author's biases. However, with internet resources available, this book and many others like it may soon be as dead as many of the shows it purportedly reviews.