Blog Posts by Subject: Broadcasting, Radio and Television

STAR TREK. The Musical! OK, not really, but even Mr. Spock would find fascinating what we dug up in the Library's Billy Rose Theatre Division about the original Star Trek actors before they went stellar. Who knew that Nichelle Nichols sizzled in the local cabaret scene before taking up her earpiece on the starship Enterprise? Or that George Takei was an activist (OK, not surprising), or that William Shatner, of Shatner's World; We Just Live in It..., first trod the Broadway boards over 50 years ago? Dust off your Klingon dictionary and stay tuned as we bring you the stage origins of Kirk, Spock, Sulu, and crew, and boldly go where 

Updated February 2012! Do the names Lord Grantham, Mr. Carson, and Lady Violet mean anything to you? Can you discuss at length the love story of Mary and Matthew? Does the word week-end, bring to mind Maggie Smith’s impeccably-timed line delivery? If so, then you are a Downton-ite... or is it Downton-head? Whatever the case may be, it means that you are a fan of the ITV/Masterpiece Theater drama Downton Abbey. First airing on PBS in January 2011, this British series depicts life (upstairs and downstairs) in an English manor house belonging to Lord Grantham and his family, from 1912 to 1920. It was a surprise hit in the U.K. and in 

You might remember my original list, which will always be available here. 
 

This revised list will be easier to follow and, like my previous list, it will be updated as books appear in new episodes. Details on literary references will continue in the comments field. As mentioned in my original blog post, some of the books on the list are featured more prominently in the series than others, but all are a great way to gain insight into the episodes and the social and cultural times in which the series is set.

I'm a really big fan of NYPL lists, so I made one about TV shows from my recently watched queue. Here it is! :]

I am a librarian. I like things to be in order. I like things to be complete, but I have been troubled for the past year. You see, Sally Draper was shown reading a book in Mad Men season four, episode five ("The Chrysanthemum and the Sword"), and I could not for the life of me figure out what that book was. The Mad Men Reading List was incomplete and, as a librarian, that troubled me to my core. I made screen captures to get an image of the illustration. I checked the promotional still from AMC's website to get an image of the cover. I pushed pixels to make the images clearer. I searched Google for hours with no luck.

This series is designed to showcase the often little-known stage background of popular TV and movie stars. In this installment, we'll explore the Broadway origins of the cast of I Love Lucy, including the secret life of Ethel Mertz!

A podcast is an audio program anyone can make, post to a website, and make available for download onto a computer or portable device, such as an iPod (hence the term “podcast”). Listeners can subscribe to a podcast and get future episodes downloaded automatically as they become available. You probably already subscribe to podcasts of various kinds, but have you ever considered making your own?

My name is Jennifer Jane and I am a Gleek. Most people do not know what a Gleek is... that's because they don't watch the TV show, but you should watch an episode and just Give Glee a Chance! Did you ever feel that black void in your heart or soul.. that something's missing? It's Glee.

One of the Glee-less is Bobby Pins. In an attempt to open his mind and learn what Glee is all about, we will swap roles. Bobby Pin will be interviewing me, while I get my Gleeon! Let's do this!

Remember Gleeks... Click each link!

The season finale of AMC's Breaking Bad is soon approaching, and the problems for Walter White and company are mounting like Everest. It got me to thinking that if some of the characters on Breaking Bad had a NYPL library card, some of their problems could have been avoided.

If you have not yet seen Breaking Bad, I would suggest you stop reading this blog post. Like your fridge during a blackout... this will contain spoilers. You are better off reserving a copy of Breaking Bad, watching it, then reading this and nodding your head in agreement.

The summer is almost over! It's sad but true. As we look ahead to the leaves changing colors in Central Park and kids going back to school, let's spend the last fleeting moments of the season talking about the oldest show on our list, Quantum Leap.

Happy belated 100th birthday to Lucille Ball!

While the Music Division of The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts may seem peripheral to Lucille Ball and her legacy, we do have an important connection to the theme music of her first television show.

To begin with, the Music Division has what is believed to be the first edition of the show’s theme song in sheet music format.

"September 23rd. Journal entry one. I'm Liz Parker, and five days ago, I died. After that, things got really weird..." 

Here's a typical boy-meets-girl story. The girl is Liz Parker, a high school waitress from Roswell, New Mexico. The boy is the mysterious Max Evans, a high school loner who redefines "tall, dark, and handsome." Liz works at her parents' diner, the Crashdown Café, which plays up the town's touristy alien kitsch mentality. One afternoon while Max is eating and Liz is working, two guys get into an argument. One pulls out a gun. There's a struggle. The gun goes off... and Liz is shot. Without thinking, Max rushes to her side. 

Oh Japan, where would modern sci-fi be without you? With your vivid and thought-provoking visions of what the world could be, robots and all, you've given us countless rich and spectacular new arenas for our imaginations to run around in. From the philosophical man-and-machine melds of Ghost in the Shell to the adventurous natural majesty of Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, science fiction is a genre well-covered by our friends in the Land of the Rising Sun. Just like anime as a whole, their sci-fi selection has a little something for everyone. Whether your love futures or alternate worlds peppered with robots, romance, grit, speculation, or just plain fun, 

"What if you found a portal to a parallel universe? What if you could slide into a thousand different worlds? Where it's the same year and you're the same person... but everything else is different. And what if you can't find your way home?"

The phrase "lost episode" can evoke a number of different emotions in TV viewers. To some, it can evoke the excitement of lost treasure; to others, the sadness of an adventure they may never see. In the early 1970s, tapes for storing old television programs were very expensive in the United Kingdom, and the advent of home video was still a few years off. Figuring that most of the old black-and-white Doctor Who serials from the 60s (along with numerous other shows) had officially been milked for all their commercial value, the old tapes were wiped to make room for new shows.

Teleportation. Precognition. Suspended Animation. Dark Matter. Fringe.

Since 1963, the BBC's sci-fi epic Doctor Who has followed the adventurous and enigmatic alien time traveler known only as the Doctor as he races through space and time and our TV screens solving problems, saving worlds, and making new friends who join him on his travels. Unfortunately, the current season is on break and won't be back until this fall (with an episode curiously titled "Let's Kill Hitler.") Let's say you're a newer fan — someone who's only recently gotten into the show through the 2005 revival, be it with Matt Smith, David Tennant, or Christopher Eccleston's Doctor. You've worn out all your DVDs, commentaries and all, and the tie-in novels just 

The truth is (probably) out there.

When I was a kid and it was Friday night, I can tell you... I got very excited. Why? The X-Files was on. I was in elementary school at the time, so it was probably wildly inappropriate that I was even watching this show. Those who have seen it know what I'm talking about. If it wasn't one of the overly confusing episodes about the government hiding some sort of sophisticated alien conspiracy, then it was an hour of pure, abject horror.

We are about to boldly go where many people have gone before.

I mean, let's face it. If you've never heard of Star Trek before, you've basically been living under a rock. The Original Series starred William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy, cementing their status as pop culture icons to this day.