Rueben’s Ramblings

The 2010-2011 TV season ended last week with most of the major networks standing in an even worse place than where they were last season. While CBS is the rightful “king” of the TV landscape ABC is hanging onto its second place title by a thread while both NBC and FOX are battling it out for third place with The …

Here is the final part of a three-part series of articles, covering the vast collection of books, dedicated to some of the most popular TV shows past and present, from Smart Pop Books. To review, Smart Pop Books have been published by Benbella Books since 2003, covering topics ranging from Star Wars to Gilmore Girls to the work of Joss …

Here is the second of a three-part series, covering the vast collection of books, dedicated to some of the most popular TV shows past and present, from Smart Pop Books. To review, Smart Pop Books have been published by Benbella Books since 2003, covering topics ranging from Star Wars to Gilmore Girls to the work of Joss Whedon. The writers …

Some of my earlier columns this year have been about TV tie-in books or books that were made into TV shows. This time around I will be dedicating a number of columns to an interesting collection of books from Benbella Books known as “Smart Pop Books”. These books are (according to their official website) “a line of smart, fresh, funny …

Starting next Monday the annual network upfront presentations will be made to the advertisers in New York by the major networks: ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC and The CW. This is the time when each network presents plans for their fall programming, announcing which existing shows will return for another season and which new shows have been picked up. Much has …

After 15 years of television history, the Stargate franchise will come to an end next Monday (May 9) when the final incarnation – Stargate: Universe – airs its series finale on Syfy at 9 PM. Once that last episode is aired there will be no more shows based on the Stargate legacy nor will there be any movies either. This …

This coming weekend (April 29 to May 1) the annual Wizard World convention will be held at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim (California). What is Wizard World, you ask? Well, it is much like Comic Con – the huge sci-fi convention held every year in San Diego – but on a slightly smaller scale. But unlike Comic Con, which …

Over the last couple of weeks, I have focused on “tie-in novels” for the following TV shows: Smallville, Everwood, Alias, Glee, Greek, Charmed, Supernatural and Lost. This week’s final column in this article series will discuss the “tie-in novels” for Burn Notice, Psych, Castle and the reimagined series Battlestar Galactica. First up is the popular USA Network series Burn Notice, which …

Last week, I discussed four shows that have had “tie-in novels” published; furthering the stories of the characters within each show through countless books, including the TV shows Smallville, Everwood, Alias and Glee. This week’s focus will be on the ABC Family Channel series Greek, the WB/CW shows Charmed and Supernatural and the ABC juggernaut series Lost. The recently ended …

Over the last three weeks my columns have highlighted some of the books that have been made into TV shows over the last decade (or thereabouts), including – but not limited to – The Vampire Diaries, Gossip Girl and Pretty Little Liars. Now, my next three columns will focus on what is called TV “tie-in novels” that are based on …