A Few Marbles Left

by John Corcoran and Mervin Block

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1566251672
• ISBN13: 9781566251679
• Release Date: July 1997
• Publisher: Taylor Trade Publishing
• Length: 283 Pages
• Weight: 1.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.3" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Hilarious and true

'MARBLES' is wry, dry, ridiculous, and dead-on. It takes a miracle to make me laugh out loud, but Corcoran succeeded several times. A couple of times, he actually gave me cramps. If you want to know about how much fun television used to be in the 'good old days', read this book.

Truth with Humor

I've been in TV a long time myself and after reading "A Few Marbles Left," I wish I'd written it myself. One Anonymous (read cowardly) critic posted here saying "Corcoran is all over the place." Yo, dude, they're ESSAYS. The same could be said of Dave Barry, and Corcoran's humor reminds me of Barry at times. But he also has serious points to make, and makes them seriously. What comes through the most is his passion and his sense of loss at what TV news has become. Anyone who's actually cared about TV news during the course of his or her career, would not attempt to dismiss Corcoran's heartfelt and superbly entertaining effort. Seems to me like someone has an agenda of his own--perhaps no one would publish his book?The tragedy is that television news has let down the country with its blind obediance to the bottom line. Corcoran understands that and mourns its loss not with a boring book filled grim reminders and dull statistics, but more like an Irish wake, with humor, terrific writing, and an occasional thought or turn of phrase that will bring a tear to your eye. Corcoran says he's out of TV news now, which is a shame. The same can't be said for our anonymous Sacamento carper. I think TV is better off without his narrowmindedness. I just wish everyone in the industry would read "A Few Marbles left." Maybe then, TV news could come to the realization of what an ongoing tragic farce it has become

A FEW LAUGHS LEFT

I'm an old timer journalist with lots of sense of humour just like John Corcoran but with one big difference: my name is Antonio Brasil and I am from Brazil. Enough for puns!Enjoyed most of the book. Had great laughs with my colleagues in the business and am writing an article recommending this book in one of Brazil's most important media watch sites...very soon. It is really incredible to see how there are things in common between the brazilian news tv business and its american counterpart. Mr. Corcoran's refined sense of humour is only a sweetener to the hard truths of today's news business. It is serious talk among some good jokes. Of course, foreign readers might miss some of the details about local news shows and talents but it is well worthwhile.Great Stuff! It is also a great incentive to write my own.