Wed 8 Jun 2016
Book Noted: KAREN A. ROMANKO – Television’s Female Spies and Crimefighters.
Posted by Steve under Books Noted , Reference works / Biographies , TV Espionage & Spies , TV mysteries[14] Comments
KAREN A. ROMANKO – Television’s Female Spies and Crimefighters: 600 Characters and Shows, 1950s to the Present. McFarland, softcover, February 2016.
The full title of this book is self-explanatory, I’m sure. I’ve only browsed through it myself, so this is not a review, but in my opinion this is a book that every reader of this blog ought be know about, if you don’t already.
To open the book, author Karen Romanko provides a long and knowledgeable introduction to the overall history of female crimefighters on television, followed in the main portion of the book by a comprehensive alphabetical listing of all relevant TV series and their significant characters, cross-referenced between the two. For example, the TV series Elementary and the character Joan Watson each have their own entries, each mentioning the other in bold face.
The first entry is Acapulco H.E.A.T., followed by Lydia Adams (Southland); the last two are Roberta Young (Snoops) and The Zoo Gang, a British production that aired in this country on NBC in 1975.
This is a book that’s easy to get caught up in, following one familiar show to its star and then to others not so familiar, and vice versa for (in my estimation) hours on end.
June 8th, 2016 at 1:57 pm
My first stop would have to be Barbara Britton and Pamela North, probably then Anne Francis and Honey West, Phyllis Thaxter and Nora Charles, and Stephanie Powers and April Dancer.
Is this American television alone or do we get a note on Steve Temple and other British series that didn’t air here?
June 8th, 2016 at 2:27 pm
All of the above are included, save for Paul Temple’s wife Steve. I should have pointed that purely British shows are not included. Quoting from the preface: “The focus is on live-action shows which aired in the United States on network TV, cable, or in syndication, wherever produced, from television’s inception, through August 2014.”
I thought I caught one error that puzzled me, but then I discovered that NCIS is included before Nancy Drew.
And just one correction, it was Phyllis Kirk who played Nora Charles on TV, not Phyllis Thaxter.
June 8th, 2016 at 2:30 pm
All the ladies you mentioned are in the book. One criterion for inclusion was that the series must have appeared on American television, so British series are covered to that extent. Examples: The Baron, The Avengers, The Champions, The Bletchley Circle, Vera, New Tricks, Rosemary & Thyme, etc.
June 8th, 2016 at 3:02 pm
No Ros Drinkwater? Then it’s not worth reading, IMO.
June 8th, 2016 at 4:44 pm
The book may not include PAUL TEMPLE, but I’ve come across many obscure TV series that have certainly piqued my interest:
GLYNIS, DANGEROUS CURVES, CRIME WITH FATHER, MYSTERY GIRLS, CODENAME: FOXFIRE, SIRENS, FOREIGN INTRIGUE and THE GALLERY OF MADAME LIU-TSONG (DuMont, 1951, 10 episodes, none known to exist). Quoting from the entry of the latter: “A lost treasure of early television.”
June 8th, 2016 at 5:18 pm
Kirk, yes, sorry.
The book sounds great, I just wanted to know what the specs were. I’m sure there are hundreds I am unfamiliar with and would want to catch up with.
GLYNIS oddly enough I recall fondly. It starred Glynis Johns and Keith Andes as her husband who tries to repress her tendency to end up neck deep in mystery.
FOREIGN INTRIGUE, was Sheldon Reynolds and had several leads and names over the years including James Daly.
SIRENS and FOXFIRE I recall but only vaguely.
Is this series only or does it cover pilots like Angela Lansbury as Mrs. Pollifax, Ann Terkel as Modesty Blaise, or the one Dol Bonner outing with Crystal Barnard?
June 8th, 2016 at 5:49 pm
Good question. I had to look. Quoting from the preface again:
“For series which aired fewer than 25 episodes in the US, the coverage is selective, emphasizing shows withe distinctive female lead characters.”
In my browsing, I have come across quite a few shows with fewer than 25 episodes, GLYNIS being one of them (13 episodes in 1963). I checked on MODESTY BLAISE, and if that show (not a series) isn’t here, then I doubt any other pilots or one-shot TV films are either
June 8th, 2016 at 5:57 pm
No pilots or one-shot movies. It basically broke down to about 250 series and 350 characters.
June 8th, 2016 at 5:57 pm
Amazon has an extensive preview look at the book here:
http://www.amazon.com/Televisions-Female-Spies-Crimefighters-Characters/dp/0786496371?ie=UTF8&qid=1465426512&ref_=sr_1_1&s=books&sr=1-1#reader_0786496371
June 8th, 2016 at 7:05 pm
Sounds like a great companion book to Jack French’s PRIVATE EYELASHES: RADIO’S LADY DETECTIVES.
June 8th, 2016 at 10:30 pm
I just bought the e-book edition and believe it will be a useful addition to my reference library.
Now no more nice stuff. 🙂 I wish the network had been included in the series title rather than country, especially since you focused on US TV.
There were a few I did not find. With books like this it is impossible to include everyone so that doesn’t bother me as long as the facts are correct. I have not found a mistake without really nitpicking.
Shows I couldn’t find with the search engine: ARCHER (FX), BLUE LIGHT (ABC), C-16: FBI (ABC), FEDS (CBS), RUBICON (AMC) and ZERO HOUR (ABC). Syndicated series are harder to know if they belong as while THE PINKERTONS has shown in the US, I am not as sure about CBC’s F/X: the series.
Here is a C-16: FBI (Angie Harmon) from You-Tube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQBvDRVZfGE
June 8th, 2016 at 10:47 pm
Second reference work I’ve bought in two weeks off of here. Steve, you are costing me money.
June 9th, 2016 at 1:27 am
Thanks for the purchases!
Michael, the network/syndication info is included in the factual listing below the title after “Originally Aired.” For example:
McMillan and Wife (1971-1977, 40 episodes, USA)
Created by: Leonard Stern
Production Co.: Talent Associates, Norton Simon Inc., Universal Television
Originally Aired: NBC
Main Cast: Rock Hudson, Susan Saint James, John Schuck, Nancy Walker
I won’t go through your entire list, but all of your titles were considered for inclusion, but eliminated based on the coverage rules I mentioned in the preface. Zero Hour, for example, was 13 episodes (under 25) and didn’t have a female lead. Researching and writing something like this takes a long time, so I wanted to focus on the most important characters in the covered genres.
I’m now writing a kind of follow-up, the same format, but for television’s women of science fiction and fantasy. McFarland has already agreed to publish it.
Thanks for all the comments and interest! And thanks to Steve for writing the mini-review.
June 9th, 2016 at 1:31 am
Congratulations, Karen. I look forward to your next book.