Alvin H. Marill

Westerns have featured prominently in films almost since motion pictures were first produced at the end of the nineteenth century and when televisions invaded American homes in the late 1940s and early '50s, Western programs filled the small screen landscape. Throughout the 1950s and well into the 1960s, these shows dominated television with such long-running successes as Bonanza, Wagon Train, and Maverick. And though the genre has fallen on hard times over the years, it has never died, as Hollywood continues to produce films, mini-series, and shows that keep the west alive. In Television Westerns: Six Decades of Sagebrush Sheriffs, Scalawags, and Sidewinders, Alvin H. Marill looks at the genre as it was represented from the beginning of television—from the twenty-year run of Gunsmoke to the brutal revisionist take of Deadwood. This volume encompasses all manifestations of the Western, including such series as Rawhide, The Virginian, and The Wild, Wild West, as well as movies-of the-week, mini-series, failed pilots, animated programs, documentaries, and even Western-themed episodes of non-Western series that provided their own spin on the genre.

In 2005, Scarecrow published Movies Made for Television, 1964-2004, a five-volume reference set commemorating 40 years of every made for TV film since See How They Run debuted in 1964. These books provided a comprehensive listing of every television film and mini-series, detailing each film's original network, airdate, and length of broadcast. In this latest volume, Marill adds another five years of television films, providing information for an additional 400 works produced between 2005 and 2009. Along with a brief summary, entries also include extensive production credits (director, writer, producer, composer, director of photography, and editor) and a complete cast and character listing. With a chronology of the films, an appendix of movies adapted from other sources, and separate indexes for actors and directors, Movies Made for Television, 2005-2009 is a welcome addition to a resource highly regarded by scholars and historians of television and popular culture.

Television has always augmented its dramatic and variety programming with sports. After covering wrestling and boxing matches for several years, ABC added the hugely popular Roller Derby between 1949 and 1951, and later, college and pro football. Today, there is a multitude of pay and cable networks devoted exclusively to baseball, football, golf, hockey, tennis, ice-skating, and auto racing. Rather than focusing on live sports broadcasts, however, this book chronicles the history of sports-themed comedies and dramas, to see how our national fictions have affected our authentic sports experiences, and vice versa.Sports dominate the television landscape today, and still the demand for more is so great that pay and cable networks continue to find funding and success, even when devoted exclusively to a single sport. But this is really nothing new: television has always augmented its dramatic and variety programming with sports. Live sports have had a tremendous impact on what we see on television, and on how we see it. Rather than focusing on live sports broadcasts, however, this book takes a critical look at sports-themed comedies and dramas, to see how our authentic sports affect our national fictions as well. From the character studies that supplement Olympic coverage, to nightly highlight reels, to reality programming on ESPN, sports both echo and help shape the myths that pervade our culture. Sports on Television covers the changing relationship between live sports broadcasts and television dramas, as well as the important technological developments and cultural shifts that have changed the way we view the reality of sports.In 1949, after covering wrestling and boxing matches for several years, ABC added the hugely popular Roller Derby, and later moved on to college and pro football, where humble beginnings have since developed into a national obsession. In the early sixties Jimmy Stewart played a disgraced baseball player in Flashing Spikes-which was also one of the rare ventures into television for veteran director John Ford. On HBO the Yankees have been the subject of both 61* - about Roger Maris's quest to top Babe Ruth's home run record - and The Bronx Is Burning, about the 1977 Yankees team. And there have been sports-themed TV sitcoms as well, such as Sports Night, Aaron Sorkin's critically lauded but commercially unsuccessful project, which preceded his work on The West Wing. Meanwhile American Gladiators—a strange blend of canned programming and authentic athletic endeavor that in effect puts television audiences in an arena with what amounts to professional athletes—is quickly becoming one of the most popular shows on primetime. Here, Marill gives due time to all of these unique projects.

In the years immediately following World War II, NBC's legendary David Sarnoff and his cross-town equal, CBS's William S. Paley, decided that American television would be identified with quality live drama surrounded by news, light entertainment (in the form of variety and quiz shows), and family-oriented series generally spun off from radio. That initial vision eroded over the years and decades, but the dramatic part of this equation endured well into the 1960s, when, with NBC's Project 120 (which commissioned movies expressly for television in 120-minute doses), the genres known as Movies Made for Television and the miniseries emerged. Today, as Angels in America, Band of Brothers, Into the West, and Lackawanna Blues continue to draw huge cable audiences, the television movie and anthology drama is now in a unique position to represent, in a simple and direct way, the various states of the television industry itself over the past 60 years. This volume covers all of the important landmarks in the genre, from Kraft Television Theater to Roots to Rome, and provides a parallel history of the relevant events in television and American culture that helped to ensure the popularity and viability of this genre over time.Until the early 1980s-when Cable began fragmenting the television audience-the three major networks had the airwaves mainly to themselves; but with Cable now on the scene, dramatic productions began falling victim to the bottom line. But just when it seemed that Cable was finally going to succeed in killing off such programming forever, it has itself come to play the savior to the genre; and now pay cable channels like HBO and Showtime (not subject to the same FCC restrictions as the original networks) thrive on such dramas as Angels in America, Band of Brothers, Into the West, and Lackawanna Blues. After making its several transitions across channels and decades and formats, the television movie is now in a unique position to represent, in a simple and direct way, the various states of the television industry itself over the past 60 years.

Diminutive Mickey Rooney has been in show business for more than 80 years as actor, producer, writer, composer, and director. His still-active career spans vaudeville, radio, television, the stage, and movies such as It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World, The Black Stallion, and The Bridges at Toko-Ri. He won two Golden Globes and an Emmy and has received or been nominated for many other awards. From leading a 17-piece band to writing a novel, Rooney has been dispensing earthy wisdom and good humor in the public eye for many decades. Part biography and part reference tool, this richly illustrated work covers Rooney's life from his birth in 1920 and first stage appearance 16 months later to his television and film appearances in 2004. It discusses both his professional and personal life and includes information drawn from interviews with his peers, including Spring Byington, Jackie Cooper, and Ann Rutherford. Five appendices conclude the work: a detailed filmography of his more than 170 features and 65 shorts, each listing credits and a brief commentary, plus assorted reviews; listings of all his radio, television, and stage work; and a discography of his recorded work.

Supplementing the late William Leonard's original two-volume work, published in 1981, this book lists nearly 150 plays staged in America (on and off Broadway and in significant regional productions), Great Britain, and elsewhere, that were made into films and dramatized for television. As in the base volumes, there is a detailed synopsis of each work (novel, story, play), along with critical comment from England and America, plus career backgrounds of the playwrights and authors. Following that is the historical progression of each production through 1992, ranging from Alladin, first staged in the Covent Garden in London in 1813, and Around the World in 80 Days, which premiered in Paris in 1874 and ran for well over a year, to The Wizard of Oz and Ziegfeld from more recent times. Most of the entries here were not documented in the initial volumes, since they had not yet been produced in all three media, which is the criterion for this work. Cast listings and production credits for all stagings—theatre, films, and television—accompany each individual title. A separate section includes additions and corrections for material chronicled in the earlier volumes.