Books & Poetry
Shooting Stars of the Small Screen
by DAVID HOFSTEDE
Fans of television westerns will enjoy paging through Shooting Stars of the Small Screen, an encyclopedic listing of every prominent TV western actor from the 1940s through the present day. Douglas Brode - the author of more than 30 books about film and mass media, and a screenwriter himself - is not afraid to offer an opinion about an actor or series, and the result is a livelier and more interesting read than a dry recitation of credits. He describes Lee J. Cobb, costar of the TV series The Virginian, as "Burly, blustery, and undeniably powerful, if somewhat overrated," and says of Robert Vaughn, "This cynical-looking actor always appeared as if he had just bitten into a notably sour lemon."
Some of the selections are dubious: Suzanne Somers makes the cut because she starred in the much-maligned syndicated series She's the Sheriff. Not exactly a classic western, but Brode does well to err on the side of too much information rather than not enough. He is competing with the wealth of free (but not always accurate) film and TV websites available on the Internet that make pop culture reference books a tougher sell with publishers. But hopefully there will always be a market for books like Shooting Stars of the Small Screen, because it's not as much fun to settle back in an easy chair and relive memories of classic western stars with a computer on your lap.
Issue: December 2009
