Friday, Nov. 11, I return to NPR’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross as a guest host. But today, the day before, I’m scheduled to show up as a guest guest – with Terry interviewing me about my new Platinum Age of Television book…
How cool is that?
For me, very cool indeed. I’ve served as TV critic for Fresh Air since it went national in 1987, and have been a guest host for more than a decade now. I’m honored to be associated with the show at all, much less to add my voice to the mix. But nothing is more fun for me, or more memorable, than those times when Terry and I sit in the same studio, across the table from each other, and just talk.
We’ve talked, in depth, about the history of late-night TV talk shows, about political coverage, about end-of-year best-and-worst wrap-ups, and other things. Back in 2009, we talked about my book on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, a critical biography called Dangerously Funny. And this week, we’re discussing another book of mine, my combination Darwinian exercise and interview-profile collection, The Platinum Age of Television: From ‘I Love Lucy’ to ‘The Walking Dead,’ How TV Became Terrific, which is published Nov. 15 (my birthday!) by Doubleday.
I don’t take these conversations for granted – Terry is too proud and protective of her air time to squander it, even on long-time colleagues – but I do treasure them. And yes, every time we talk, she hits me with some questions that make me think about TV, my own chosen specialty, in a different way. And, many times, she makes me think about myself and my own life, too, and I usually avoid that particular exercise like the plague.
So all I’ll say about today’s conversation, other than thanks to Terry and everyone else at Fresh Air who made it a reality, is that Terry does it to me again. She not only guides me to make connections about television that I hadn’t made before she asked the question – but also about my own childhood TV preferences and enthusiasms.
Tomorrow, I’ll be the guest host again, returning to that chair after several months off for health reasons. But before that I’m in the guest chair, for an interview you can hear today (Thursday, Nov. 10) on Fresh Air, or catch afterward by listening to the Fresh Air website.
And I couldn’t be happier.