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Sitcoms: The 101 Greatest TV Comedies of All Time | 
| Authors: Ken Bloom, Frank Vlastnik
Creator: John Lithgow
Publisher: Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers
Category: Book
List Price: $29.95
Buy New: $13.94
You Save: $16.01 (53%)
New (23) Used (15) from $6.98
Rating:  12 reviews
Sales Rank: 232893
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 336
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 3.2
Dimensions (in): 10.1 x 8.8 x 1.3
ISBN: 1579127525
Dewey Decimal Number: 791.45617
EAN: 9781579127527
ASIN: 1579127525
Publication Date: November 1, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
The most beloved, most groundbreaking, and most entertaining TV comedies of all time are celebrated in words and pictures—many of them rare—by the award-winning authors of Broadway Musicals.
In 101 lively chapters and lots of special features, the authors of Broadway Musicals explore our favorite form of popular entertainment—the TV situation comedy. Of the many hundreds of shows that have debuted over TV's 60-year history, the authors have carefully selected the most influential, popular, and enduring ones, from Gilligan's Island to Seinfeld, I Love Lucy to Will and Grace, creating a history of the medium that goes beyond stats and trivia to reveal all that goes into the creation of classic television, from the writing and all-important casting to the directing and, of course, the acting.
Each chapter of Sitcoms features numerous photos, many rare and behind-the-scenes, along with cast lists, artists' biographies, "off-set" tidbits, critical commentary, and all of the relevant statistics. Special features cover such topics as famous unseen characters, sitcom pets, spin-offs, sitcoms made from movies, and many more. It's a visual and informative feast for TV lovers, from nostalgia buffs to the TV Land generation.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 7 more reviews...
 Coffeetable Book That's Only For Those Who Know Little About Sitcoms August 2, 2008
Mediaman (USA)
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
This is basic, "Sitcom 101" information that offers no new perspective and only rehashes whatever stories found in other books. The amount of info is minimal and this is not a book for the serious student of television. It's only for those who haven't studied situation comedies and just want a coffeetable book filled with pretty pictures.
The book has really odd choices for the "101 Greatest Of All Time." Alice? Bob Cummings Show? December Bride? Topper? Wings? The Nanny? SERIOUSLY?
There are also numerous errors. Then they include totally unrelated information in the already-short chapters on each show (about 3 to 4 pages per show). For example, why mention Eleanor Parker in The Sound of Music in the middle of the Brady Bunch chapter?
Then how can they include Perfect Strangers but leave out Family Matters (the much more successful show it spun off). Or not include FULL HOUSE??--which will be one of the longest-running comedies that will be rerun for the next five decades (like Leave It to Beaver is today).
They also limit their definition of sitcoms so it doesn't include all cable comedies like Lizzie McGuire. It was nice, though, that they included Saved by the Bell (which often gets overlooked in other sitcom books).
Then there are a few pages devoted to "Flops," "Military Sitcoms," etc. But they do nothing but show a few pictures and give little information about the show. There is no perspective here and they treat every show on their list equally, where Hazel gets the same amount of space as Friends.
The authors really have no background qualifications to write this book--simply because they wrote a book on Broadway hits they came up with this book as a follow-up? It's obvious that they don't know much about the sujbect and merely rely upon a few TV guidebooks that they have read. There is not much new here.
People who know nothing about TV comedy may enjoy the pictures and the trip down memory lane. But there are other much better books out there about comedies that include analysis and more historical information such as ratings.
 Perfect Companion for All Coach Potatoes! March 14, 2008
Michael OConnor (Wausau, WI USA)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
The latest book from authors Ken Bloom and Frank Vlastnik, who authored a marvelous "Greatest Broadway Musicals" book in 2004, is this equally splendid tribute to the 101 greatest half-hour TV comedies of all time. Chock full of interesting facts, pithy critical comments and a wealth of color photographs, SITCOMS will be savored by aging baby boomers and coach potatoes of all ages alike.
Paging through SITCOMS is like revisiting your past. Us baby boomers grew up with television. Who of us can't remember sitting on the living room floor, looking up at and laughing at Lucy's crazy antics? Or chuckling at Barney Fife's latest idiocy? Not all the shows covered in this book were laugh-out-loud funny. Some were quietly humorous ("Leave It to Beaver") or sweet ("Family Affair") or wonderfully witty ("Frasier") or droll ("Newhart"). Others were caustically funny ("Maude") or mindless ("Three's Company") or wacky ("Green Acres"). Whenever you started watching television, you'll find lots to laugh about in this book.
Elevating a TV show to classic status obviously opens the authors up to criticism. After perusing SITCOMS, I think the authors did a fine job. Were a couple of my favorites not selected? Yup but so what? It's their call.
The shows in SITCOMS are covered alphabetically. I think it would have been a great idea had they been listed chronologically. Television comedy changed over the past 50 years and it would have been interesting to see the progression from "Mr. Peepers" to "Gilligan's Island" to "All In The Family" to "Friends."
Considering all the wonderful memories the book rekindles, the wealth of color photographs provided and the low price ($29.95), SITCOMS is a real winner. Read and enjoy!
Glaring Ommissions February 23, 2008
Elric428
Great book, but not all of the shows mentioned are classics and how could they omit the following great shows?
The Abbott & Costello Show
Buffalo Bill
Mork and Mindy
Anything But Love
Mad About You
The King of Queens
Welcome Back Kotter
F Troop
The Drew Carey Show
Night Court
Chico and the Man
Dear John
Home Improvement
 Great read with several errors January 3, 2008
Karen Cox (Eureka, IL)
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
First off, I'm not Karen Cox. That's my mom (who ordered the book for me for Christmas). My name is Jeremy and here is my review.
I loved this book because it included information about shows I loved and used to love, information that in some cases I hadn't known. However and that's a big however, I found several errors within this otherwise great compilation. Names were misspelled ("John" instead of Jon Lovitz) and so were other words ("embued" should have been imbued). Facts were incorrect in some spots (Donna Douglas played Elly May and not Donna Dixon as is reported in one paragraph in The Beverly Hillbillies section). Lucy and Desi had been married eight years in 1948 when they supposedly had just become a couple (according to the authors).
I also didn't like the cynical, obnoxious tone the authors took towards certain shows it referenced when discussing one particular show. Each show in that book is great in its own way. In my opinion, the book should have included an additional 99 sitcoms (if it was possible) so the number would tally 200 and popular sitcoms like Family Matters, Full House, Boy Meets World, Alf, Mr. Belvedere and Step By Step would be included (I realize that not all of these shows are "great" by any stretch of the imagination, but they all have their loyal fanbases--believe me). After all, Perfect Strangers and Fresh Prince of Bel-Air were there and The Goldbergs (a show I'd never even heard of--probably the only show I'd never heard of in the entire book). Great photos, though. I loved every single one of them, black and white, color, they were all perfect.
Good Idea, But Needed More Information January 2, 2008
K. Boles (Beverly Hills, CA)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
This book contains many errors in the various episodes produced for a series. "The Beverly Hillbillies" produced 274 not 216 episodes. "All in the Family" was 204 episodes, not 212.
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