Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)First, let me say that there's a lot to like about this book. It's very obvious that an exhausting amount of effort was involved in researching it, and for that the authors are to be warmly commended. One would guess that every scintilla of data related to "TV Hitchcock" has been unearthed and accounted for. This project was very obviously a labor of love.
Unfortunately, this book has an amateurish flavor that's very distracting. For one thing--as has been mentioned by other reviewers--the illustrations are evidently photocopies of photographs; they're really nasty. However, that's not the worst of it.
These guys can't write. PERIOD.
Not only is this work rife with typos, but the prose itself is awful. Grammatical errors abound, punctuation is tossed about with abandon (particularly commas), and vocabulary is misused. An editor brandishing a blue pencil in one hand and a whip in the other is DESPERATELY needed to pull this book into shape.
It hurts me to trash this book, as so much work went into it. But the fact of the matter is that literature (even popular) needs to be held to standards, and this book just doesn't meet them. I see a lot of this deterioration in contemporary writing--it's scarier than anything Hitchcock ever committed to celluloid, that's for sure. Please, bring back good editors. If one had been available to the authors of this work, it would probably have merited a 5-star rating.
Addendum--I'm editing my previous review by way of self-defense: "James Barton creditable as Hobbs (or rather Hobbs' body - since he's actually playing Fortnum for much of the show), and convinces you that he's actually suffering. Most of the acting from him was showing emotion and facial features, since the most of the dialogue was from thoughts, more so a recording of his voice."
Oh, my.
The above passage was chosen by opening the book to a random page; I believe this is from page 75 (many of the pages aren't numbered--go figure). I seem to recall encountering even more obtuse examples, e.g., the synopsis of [the original] Specialty of the House, but I thought my case was stronger for having used the method described. I took the time to revise my review in response to somewhat puzzling assertions from other reviewers (which, astonishingly, bear a remarkable stylistic similarity to each other) that this book represents a pinnacle of grammatical perfection and "proper" usage of our fair tongue. I'm willing to entertain the possibility that my own copy is unique, but common sense dictates that the odds don't favor it. Turn to any page--the whole book (my copy, anyway) is like this. And if despite all this I still haven't convinced you, check out Amazon's own editorial "From the Publisher." Clearly, given the laughable prose, "publisher" and "authors" are one (two?) and the same. BELIEVE them when they write that they "spent no expense on a project that is highly agreed by all to be long over-due."
Sigh.
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For more than a decade, Alfred Hitchcock hosted a macabre television series that bore his name and became a staple in the fabric of our living rooms. From the opening them to Hitchcock's signature "Good evening..." viewers tuned in each week to watch the master at work chilling television audiences, both young and old alike.Hitchcock's involvement with the show was minimal. He hosted over 360 episodes but he did not even direct 20. Under the arrangement of Universal Studios, you now hold in your hands a complete guide to the television series. This book offers a "behind-the-scenes" look at the making of the episodes, and a complete production history. Various chapters cover the 1980s remake series, the paperback anthologies, collectibles and over 100 photos. Hitchcock spoofs, comic books and other television programs directed by Alfred Hitchcock.Exclusive interviews with Norman Lloyd, Ray Bradbury, Fess Parker, Henry Slesar, Gordon Hessler, Hazel Court, Vincent Price, Elliott Reid, Marc Richman, Warren Stevens, Hilton A. Green, Arthur Ross, Joseph Pevney, Ann Robinson, Sydney Pollack, Marian Seldes, Ann Robinson, Julie Adams and many more!
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