Tuesday Night Book Club
Y
June 12, 2006
10-11 p.m.
Tuesday, June 13
CBS
Somewhere in Scottsdale, Ariz., you should be able to get a good deal on used books that are practically new. That is because the seven female members of the "Tuesday Night Book Club" have about as much interest in books as "American Idol" has in mimes.
Still, the pretext of getting together for literary purposes has its uses. Chief among them is that it makes for a convenient way to open each week's episode.
"Book Club" is one of those "wink, wink, nudge, nudge" series. You know, the kind that promote themselves as giving unvarnished looks into real-life issues facing women in a variety of situations but that mostly exist to exploit them. Forget about probing hearts and minds, as they do with honesty and sensitivity in such programs as PBS Frontline's "The Farmer's Wife" or "Country Boys." Forget about getting under the skin of subjects, as in the "American High" series or the documentary "Hoop Dreams." In "Book Club," skin isn't for getting under; it's for showing off.
Like other unscripted shows about "real" people, "Book Club" wants us to believe that the women (and family members who allow themselves to be seen) are largely unaffected by the camera crews in close proximity. That is asking a lot, considering that credits include a makeup artist, a set designer and a director. You sort of suspect that some of these "friends" might have gotten quick promotions from "acquaintances" at the behest of the producers.
So what kinds of problems beset these beautifully coiffed and universally attractive book readers? Pretty much the usual. Lynn and her husband are newlyweds but they bicker like seasoned veterans. Jamie has been cheating on her husband throughout her six-year marriage and thinks maybe it is time to just dump him. Cris has been loyal to her husband, a recovering alcoholic, and he, in turn, puts up with a menagerie of pets big enough for two petting zoos.
Kirin, the doctor's wife, doesn't have a good crisis other than, according to the "Desperate Housewives"-sounding narrator, "having a husband who's not in tune with her emotions." Start a club for that sort of thing and you'll need Cardinals Stadium for meetings. Sara, who is single, and Jenn, the trophy wife, don't have big problems but they have sex lives. That's good enough for "Book Club."
The music is a little too self-important but the editing is superb, and director Tony Sacco effortlessly captures the women emoting at the right places and times. We used to ask why people submit to such flagrant violations of their privacy. We now accept that the chance to get one's face on TV, be it on "The Jerry Springer Show" or "Wife Swap" or "Book Club," is worth any price. Ours is not to reason why. Ours is to join the line at Television City for the bookmark licensing rights.
TUESDAY NIGHT BOOK CLUB
CBS
The Jay and Tony Show for Magic Molehill Productions Inc.
Credits:
Executive producers: Jay Blumenfield, Tony Marsh
Co-executive producer: Brianna Bruderlin
Supervising producer: Corie Henson
Producer: Jeff Anderson
Line producer: Jonah McMichael
Producers: Patrick Backmann, Susie Belava, Dean Ollins, Melanie C. Switzer
Director: Tony Sacco
Director of photography: Mark "Ninja" Lynch
Editors: Pierre Dwywer, J.L. Emerson, David Harris, Nena Hsu, Ricky Kreitman, Joe Lewis, e.t., Ten Woerner
Music: Christopher Brady
Set designer: Claude Venezia
Casting: Lynne Spillman
Cast: Cris, Sara, Jenn, Jamie, Kirin, Lynn, Tina: all as themselves
Tuesday, June 13
CBS
Somewhere in Scottsdale, Ariz., you should be able to get a good deal on used books that are practically new. That is because the seven female members of the "Tuesday Night Book Club" have about as much interest in books as "American Idol" has in mimes.
Still, the pretext of getting together for literary purposes has its uses. Chief among them is that it makes for a convenient way to open each week's episode.
"Book Club" is one of those "wink, wink, nudge, nudge" series. You know, the kind that promote themselves as giving unvarnished looks into real-life issues facing women in a variety of situations but that mostly exist to exploit them. Forget about probing hearts and minds, as they do with honesty and sensitivity in such programs as PBS Frontline's "The Farmer's Wife" or "Country Boys." Forget about getting under the skin of subjects, as in the "American High" series or the documentary "Hoop Dreams." In "Book Club," skin isn't for getting under; it's for showing off.
Like other unscripted shows about "real" people, "Book Club" wants us to believe that the women (and family members who allow themselves to be seen) are largely unaffected by the camera crews in close proximity. That is asking a lot, considering that credits include a makeup artist, a set designer and a director. You sort of suspect that some of these "friends" might have gotten quick promotions from "acquaintances" at the behest of the producers.
So what kinds of problems beset these beautifully coiffed and universally attractive book readers? Pretty much the usual. Lynn and her husband are newlyweds but they bicker like seasoned veterans. Jamie has been cheating on her husband throughout her six-year marriage and thinks maybe it is time to just dump him. Cris has been loyal to her husband, a recovering alcoholic, and he, in turn, puts up with a menagerie of pets big enough for two petting zoos.
Kirin, the doctor's wife, doesn't have a good crisis other than, according to the "Desperate Housewives"-sounding narrator, "having a husband who's not in tune with her emotions." Start a club for that sort of thing and you'll need Cardinals Stadium for meetings. Sara, who is single, and Jenn, the trophy wife, don't have big problems but they have sex lives. That's good enough for "Book Club."
The music is a little too self-important but the editing is superb, and director Tony Sacco effortlessly captures the women emoting at the right places and times. We used to ask why people submit to such flagrant violations of their privacy. We now accept that the chance to get one's face on TV, be it on "The Jerry Springer Show" or "Wife Swap" or "Book Club," is worth any price. Ours is not to reason why. Ours is to join the line at Television City for the bookmark licensing rights.
TUESDAY NIGHT BOOK CLUB
CBS
The Jay and Tony Show for Magic Molehill Productions Inc.
Credits:
Executive producers: Jay Blumenfield, Tony Marsh
Co-executive producer: Brianna Bruderlin
Supervising producer: Corie Henson
Producer: Jeff Anderson
Line producer: Jonah McMichael
Producers: Patrick Backmann, Susie Belava, Dean Ollins, Melanie C. Switzer
Director: Tony Sacco
Director of photography: Mark "Ninja" Lynch
Editors: Pierre Dwywer, J.L. Emerson, David Harris, Nena Hsu, Ricky Kreitman, Joe Lewis, e.t., Ten Woerner
Music: Christopher Brady
Set designer: Claude Venezia
Casting: Lynne Spillman
Cast: Cris, Sara, Jenn, Jamie, Kirin, Lynn, Tina: all as themselves
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