“The Office”, double ration
Two Books, complementary and detailed, around a cult series: “The Office”. NBC's American adaptation of Ricky Gervais' English creation has never seemed so popular, even though the series, when it launched in 2005, seemed destined for oblivion and a premature end. But faced with the conviction of an NBC producer, an ambitious casting, crafted writing and an innovative style – the mocumentary – the American series will establish itself as a marvel, winning numerous awards, before to stop after nine seasons. In Capricci's book, it is the creators who tell their stories, interviewed on numerous pages by Brian Baumgartner – who plays Kevin Malone in the series – which gives rise to an intimate and thrilling dive.
In Marie Casabonne's work, there is a perspective, a form of analysis in great detail of the reasons which led this series to exist and establish itself as an exceptional creation. This immersion allows you to perfectly complete the first work and gives a broad, almost complete and encyclopedic vision of this cult series. We return to the genesis, the evolution of the characters, the analysis of the themes covered, the style of humor. In short, two fundamental books to love this XXL series even more.
– “The Office, the series told by its creators” by Brian Baugmartner and Ben Silverman from Capricci, 389 pages, 25 euros.
– “In the offices of The Office” by Marie Casabonne from Third Éditions, 278 pages, 24.90 euros.
“The Shield”
Capricci decided to spoil us since before “The Office”, the publishing house had published, in the spring, a very complete work around another cult series: “The Shield”. It's also a good house habit since we also owe Capricci works on “Mad Men”, “Breaking Bad”, “The Wire” and even the “Sopranos”. “The Shield” arrived in the early 2000s with an innovative way of filming – hand-held camera – and revolutionized the style of the cop series. Especially since the cops in question here are very often on the limit, starting with Vic Mackey, the main character played by Michael Chiklis. This book by Vincent Gautier allows you to discover how Shawn Ryan's series came to be and to what extent it revolutionized the genre. A visual book, with precise and colorful illustrations, which describes each character, the way in which the casting was carried out and opens the debate around the legacy born from this series.
– “The Shield” by Vincent Gautier from Capricci, 144 pages, 22 euros.
“Lost”
During his visit to the Monte-Carlo TV Festival in 2022, actor Matthew Fox, star of “LOST” was frank with his audience: “People still stop me in the street to ask me to explain the end of LOST and I always answer the same thing: I don't know (laughs)” Cult series launched in September 2004, the series will bring together crowds for six years before a final divisive episode. To celebrate the twenty years of the launch of the series, Thomas Suinot offers to rewind the history of the series, with the hindsight of our time, focusing on anecdotes from filming, the different theories around the many mysteries of the series while opening the debate around his legacy. Exciting.
– “Everything you need to know about LOST”, by Thomas Suinot at ïx'n Love éditions, 375 pages, 24.90 euros.
“Friends”
Best series of all time? In any case, this is the opinion of Cécile Pinaud, a young author living in Nice and who published her first book around her favorite program. A work that we can peck through, in which we will learn – or rediscover – numerous anecdotes around the cult series broadcast between 1994 and 2004, through the daily lives of six young adults who have since become stars of the small screen: Jennifer Anniston, Lisa Kudrow, Courteney Cox, Matt LeBlanc, David Schwimmer and the late Matthew Perry.
A complete book, filled with anecdotes and memories, which allows us to celebrate with dignity the thirtieth anniversary of the series created by Marta Kauffman and David Crane. The perfect book to shine in society and convince, if there are any, the skeptics who have never watched “Friends”.
– “Friends, little stories and big secrets” by Cécile Pinaud from Omake Books, 100 pages, 9.90 euros.
“30 cars from TV series”
A collector's car enthusiast and journalist for the specialized press (“Auto Heroes”, “Speedster”), Jean-François Rivière has already reconciled his automobile and cinema passions in his book “50 Cinema Cars” released last year. But as behind the lover of the 7th art there is also a fan of television series, Jean-François Rivière has launched, still at Sophia Éditions, a book devoted to small screen cars: “30 cars from TV series”. It must be said that the series have long highlighted particular, atypical and mythical vehicles: “K 2000”, “Starsky and Hutch”, “Magnum”, “Amically yours”, “Batman” or more recently “Breaking Bad” and “Californication.” A book that will delight fans of beautiful cars but will also delight series fans. Here, we have a real preference for the Ford Grand Torino from “Starsky and Hutch”.
– “30 cars from TV series” by Jean-François Rivière at Sophia Éditions, 171 pages, 42 euros.
