What I'm Reading Now

There is something to be said for putting down the TV remote control and picking up a book to read...about television. What that something is, though, I really couldn't tell you, however I did vastly enjoy Live From New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live as told by its Stars, Writers and Guests, edited by Tom Shales and James Andrew Miller. For those of us whose seminal years were formed by watching Saturday Night Live and whose attention span has been worn down to a nub by watching MTV, this oral biography is a gem, giving tidbits of gossip and intelligent observations in bite-sized nuggets which you can digest at length, or, as I did, in bite sizes over the course of the better part of a year. Almost everyone still living, having anything of significance to do with the show, short of Eddie Murphy, weighs in with an opinion of what it was like to work in its chaotic atmosphere, with particular attention given to the show's creator, Lorne Michaels, variously described as father figure, best friend, egomaniac, namedropper, demagogue, and/or demigod. What is made clear is that he is the principal figure responsible for the considerable success of the show, as well as its various players.