Top of the Rock: Inside the Rise and Fall of Must See TV by Warren Littlefield ISBN / ASIN: 0385533748 1 Where Everybody Knows Your Name Warren: I arrived at NBC in December 1979, hired by Brandon Tartikoff to work in the comedy department. I was manager of comedy development, the junior member of the department. Brandon was a newly minted vice president of development at the network, which was mired in last place. I was twenty-seven years old, and though I had watched a lot of it, I knew next to nothing about network television. Brandon, my boss, was all of thirty. In what was just a three-way race for audience (there’d be no Fox Broadcasting until 1987), NBC was jokingly derided as number four. CBS had ten comedies on its schedule, including M*A*S*... Continue Reading

Today's Emerging Author Nice Start: Questions Only You Can Answer to Create the Life Only You Can Live by Mark Chussil ISBN / ASIN: 1592994741 Introduction You Know You know that you have to buy a ticket if you want to win the lottery. You know that there’s not some vast secret of life that can only be told now. You know that if the universe maintains an advice depart­ment, it’s more likely to encourage you to take action than to recommend you sit at home and hope really hard. You know that few of the people you admire attribute their joy and success to inertia. You find it hard to imagine Cap­tain Picard solving a galactic emergency on the starship Enter­prise by com­manding his crew, “Wish it so!” You don’t need someone to tell you you can do it and to fill you with heroic imagery of gold medals, triumphant parades, and soaring eagles. You al­ready know, grass­hop­per. You’ve learned by experience that it works to work at something and that there’s not enough time to work at every­thing. You have learned much. You realize the difference between positive and ne­ga­­tive thinking. You know the value of honesty, especially with yourself. You respect responsibility, in ... Continue Reading