Scott Lamb

He’s not the only one; most media figures’ books rarely rate a serious review, since they frequently aren’t handled too seriously in the first place. As Fox’s Sean Hannity told Fox’s Greta Van Susteren earlier this year while plugging his bestselling “Deliver Us From Evil”: “The entire book came to me in about a one-hour period, including the title, chapter titles, the ideas.” So instead of critical raves from those egghead reviewers, the talking-head class relies upon each other to help them move units, and — as Russert’s impressive, cross-channel promotion proves — network rivalries tend to fade when it comes to helping one’s own. Because as the guide below shows, when it comes to promoting a book, nothing helps more than a little backscratching between friends.

And if that fails, you can always plug it on your own show!

Tim Russert talks about “Big Russ and Me” on his CNBC show, “Tim Russert,” guest-hosted by Tom Brokaw on May 29, 2004:

BROKAW: We’re back talking with Tim Russert, who is normally the host of this program, but it’s my privilege to be here to share with you the great news about his book, “Big Russ & Me.” Every generation should be reading this one, and especially fathers and sons and members of the family to each other, because it is a great lesson in what we can learn from each other.

[later]

BROKAW: Tim, we’ve been pals and we’ve been colleagues, but I say this in the most unalloyed fashion. I’m really proud of you, and I’m especially proud of the book that you’ve done because it’s a gift not just to your family, but it’s really a gift to our time. And so congratulations.

RUSSERT: Thank you, pal.

Tom Brokaw appears on “Tim Russert” (CNBC) to plug his “The Greatest Generation” on Dec. 5, 1998:

RUSSERT: Good evening and welcome again. The World War II generation. They stopped Hitler, built America into an economic powerhouse. Our guest says they were “The Greatest Generation.” With us, anchorman and now critically acclaimed author, Tom Brokaw.

Russert on “Hardball with Chris Matthews,” (MSNBC) on May 20, 2004:

RUSSERT: And my most memorable moment was when Senator Moynihan asked my dad, Big Russ, to escort him down the aisle at the American Legion convention to the podium. His official escort, Big Russ. I saw my real dad, my intellectual dad. And to this moment, I wish I could capture that forever.

MATTHEWS: And you did in the book.

RUSSERT: I tried.

MATTHEWS: It’s a great book. Anybody who reads this book is going to have a lot of déjà vu all over again, as Yogi Berra, another one he hears — what he said.

Anyway, Tim Russert. You’ve done it! The book is called — it’s everywhere. It’s only $22, by the way. It’s a nice price for this book. The paperback will be about $8. Anyway, “Big Russ and Me,” a great, great, great read.

Matthews on “Tim Russert” (CNBC) on Nov. 16, 2002:

RUSSERT: Good evening and welcome again. You can watch him every night on “Hardball” on MSNBC, and on weekends “The Chris Matthews Show.” He now has another new book. It is called “American: Beyond Our Grandest Notions.”

MATTHEWS: That’s right.

RUSSERT: With us, Chris Matthews.

[Matthews also appeared on "Tim Russert" Nov. 24, 2001 to plug "Now, Let Me Tell You What I Really Think."]

Russert appearing on “Imus in the Morning,” (Syndicated on MSNBC) May 10, 2004:

IMUS: It doesn’t get any better than this book.

Don Imus, with wife Deirdre and son Wyatt, 5, on “Tim Russert” (CNBC) on May 22, 2004:

RUSSERT: “The Imus Ranch: Cooking for Kids and Cowboys,” Deirdre Imus, a great cause. What a great hour.

DEIRDRE IMUS: Thank you, Tim.

RUSSERT: Madame author, thank you. Grumpy, thank you.

DON IMUS: Oh, that was fun.

RUSSERT: Wyatt, my man, you are it. Thank you, all. The Imus family bids good night.

Russert on “The O’Reilly Factor,” (Fox) hosted by Bill O’Reilly on May 20, 2004:

O’REILLY: And Tim Russert is everywhere selling his new book, but it’s all different when he enters the no-spin zone. [Later]

O’REILLY: Good gift for Father’s Day, “Big Russ & Me.” And we like Russert. He’s a solid guy.

O’Reilly on “Tim Russert” (Oct. 4, 2003):

RUSSERT: Good evening and welcome again. Tonight we speak to one of the most visible and opinionated journalists in America. You can hear him all day long on the radio and every night on Fox News Channel with “The O’Reilly Factor.” He’s also a bestselling author. His new book: “Who’s Looking Out for You?” And our guest is the one and only Bill O’Reilly.

O’Reilly on “On the Record with Greta van Susteren” (Fox) on Oct. 6, 2003:

VAN SUSTEREN: Is it fun for you? I mean you’ve done this before. You’ve had a number one bestseller before. I mean is it still a thrill, or does it lose some …

O’REILLY: Ah, listen, I’m very flattered, particularly because, you know, we had two. We had “The O’Reilly Factor” and “The No Spin Zone.” Both hit No. 1. And this will be the third.

Greta van Susteren on “The O’Reilly Factor,” (Fox) on Aug. 26, 2003:

O’REILLY: In the “Personal Story” Segment tonight, Greta Van Susteren has a new book out called “My Turn at the Bully Pulpit: Straight Talk About the Things That Drive Me” — here — “Nuts.” And here she is. All right. Now, on the back of this book, all right, I believe — where’s my name?

VAN SUSTEREN: Up at the top. You don’t think I’d …

O’REILLY: What do I say?

VAN SUSTEREN: Right up there at the top.

O’REILLY: Do I say it’s good?

VAN SUSTEREN: You say it’s good. You say the plastic surgery chapter alone …

O’REILLY: Alone is worth the price …

VAN SUSTEREN: … is worth the money.

O’REILLY: … of this book. All right. Well, I like the book, obviously. Gave you a nice blurb for it, and I …

VAN SUSTEREN: And I appreciate it.

Sean Hannity on “On the Record with Greta van Susteren,” (Fox) on Feb. 19, 2004:

VAN SUSTEREN: Tonight, my colleague Sean Hannity is climbing to the top of the bestsellers list with his new brand-new book “Deliver Us From Evil: Defeating Terrorism, Liberalism, and Despotism.” Earlier, I asked Sean how he wrote the book.

HANNITY: You know, I did it a little unconventionally. I didn’t want to write another book after the last one. You and I have discussed this. It is hard work. The entire book came to me in about a one-hour period, including the title, chapter titles, the ideas. [Later]

VAN SUSTEREN: Don’t forget to pick up your own copy of Sean’s new book, “Deliver Us From Evil: Defeating Terrorism, Liberalism and Despotism.”

Van Susteren on “Hannity & Colmes,” (Fox) Aug. 25, 2003:

HANNITY: By the way, Greta, congratulations. Greta’s book is out tomorrow.

COLMES: That’s right. And she’s here this week in New York to promote it. And you’ll be on our show either tomorrow or the next night, right?

VAN SUSTEREN: You guys are great. I’ll come on any time. Thank you both very much.

HANNITY: All right. We look forward to it. Congratulations.

[Greta also appeared on Alan Colmes' Fox radio show on Aug. 29.]

Alan Colmes on “The O’Reilly Factor,” (Fox) Oct. 22, 2003:

O’REILLY: Now one of the reasons that your book is interesting is because there are so many smear and defamatory books …

COLMES: That’s right.

O’REILLY: … from the left that are out right now. Yours isn’t. Yours is just dopey. No, it’s not.

[Later]

O’REILLY: All right. All right. Alan Colmes, “Red, White and Liberal.” There’s no defamation, no character assassinations.

COLMES: I know you have a team of lawyers, and I didn’t want to go there.

O’REILLY: Yes. You don’t certainly want to get me riled up.

COLMES: Right. Never.

O’REILLY: You’d never get on this program.

COLMES: Never. Never. And, you know, everything is geared to me getting on “The Factor,” so …

O’REILLY: That’s right. Nobody watches your show.

COLMES: Hey, hey, hey!

O’REILLY: There you go! Alan Colmes, everybody! Buy his book.

Bill O’Reilly on “Hannity & Colmes,” (Fox) Sept. 28, 2000:

HANNITY: We’re joined in studio by our good friend Bill O’Reilly. His new book, “The O’Reilly Factor: The Good, the Bad, and the Completely Ridiculous in American Life.”

I don’t know if this will help your book or hurt it, but I read it cover to cover, I thoroughly enjoyed it. It’s a quick read, it’s a good read, it’s a lot of fun, (UNINTELLIGIBLE). I could have done without the chapter “O’Reilly on Sex.”

Hannity interviewed by Alan Colmes on “Hannity & Colmes,” (Fox) on Feb. 16, 2004:

COLMES: His first book, “Let Freedom Ring,” was a New York Times bestseller. His new book is sure to be a success, already doing well on Amazon.com. Joining us for a HANNITY & COLMES exclusive — how did we get him — the author of “Deliver Us from Evil: Defeating Terrorism, Despotism and Liberalism,” my co-host and friend, Sean Hannity.

[Later]

COLMES: We disagree about who’s doing the politicizing here, but we will continue the debate on the other side.

And by the way, we’ll tell you where you can see Sean if you’re around the country, going on a multi-city tour.

Colmes interviewed by Sean Hannity on “Hannity & Colmes” (Fox) on Oct. 21, 2003:

HANNITY: Look. One of the things I like about your book, I mean this sincerely, is that, unlike other liberal books that are out there that are nothing but vicious attacks.

COLMES: Yes.

HANNITY: You know what? Yours is about your ideas.

[Later]

HANNITY: By the way, go buy the book. It’s in bookstores everywhere.

Blame those plus-size episodes. The season’s several hour-long installments were too much of a good thing. They felt watered down, the same number of jokes spread over double the time. We saw less of the side characters: Oscar (Oscar Nunez) was gone for a while; Meredith (Kate Flannery) disappeared for a time after Michael (Steve Carell), in one of those big, loud moments, hit her with his car. Yet the larger character arcs, the season-long narratives, never really picked up speed. The long mid-season break brought on by the strike didn’t help: By the time the dinner party episode — in which Jan and Michael publicly played out their issues — aired, right after the strike, Jan’s (Melora Hardin) suit against Dunder Mifflin and Ryan’s Web 2.0 visions for the company were hard to recall. And the show’s timing never really recovered. It became a guessing game for critics and fans — when would “The Office” start being “The Office” again?

One thing “The Office” has always been good for, though, is big endings. The last two seasons delivered a satisfying show that wrapped up some of the season’s plotlines while making us curse that it would be months until we got to see the next one. Going into Thursday’s season finale, expectations were high. This episode would finally bring it all together! Jim’s (John Krasinski) proposal to Pam (Jenna Fischer) was probably going to be the centerpiece, but other plotlines waited in the wings: the renewed frisson between Angela (Angela Martin) and Dwight (Rainn Wilson), Michael’s unresolved relationship with Jan, Toby’s (episode co-writer Paul Lieberstein) move to Costa Rica, the battle of passive aggressiveness between Ryan and Jim. Despite the season’s disappointments, last week’s lead-in hinted that a lot would go down, and to quote from the voice-over promo cliché handbook, “The Office” “would never be the same again.”

The show’s theme was Toby’s last day — he’s moving to Costa Rica. Versatile Oscar nominee Amy Ryan, also familiar to fans of “The Wire,” arrives as Holly Flax, the new face of H.R. A mixture of gullible, cute and theatrical, she’s less an obvious comic character than the rest of the cast. When Michael explains that she’s filling the void as his logical opposite — he calls human resources a “breeding ground for monsters” — she parries with a joke about how boring Toby’s tour of the office files was. Of course, Michael instantly falls in love with her.

Other shenanigans play out on the side: Ryan is arrested for his fraudulent practice of having employees enter all sales twice, once on the old system, once on the Web. Dwight begins hazing Holly, as though being hired to work in Scranton were like rushing a state school frat. “Hazing is a fun way to show a new employee she is not welcome or liked,” he tells us. His tricks fall mostly by the wayside, except for the way he convinces Holly that Kevin (Brian Baumgartner) is the office’s “special” employee.

Meanwhile, the party planning committee is arranging Toby’s last hurrah. They end up with a miniature fair in the parking lot, complete with bouncy air castle and Ferris wheel. Jim offers to pay for fireworks. The stage is set! When will Jim pop the question? We know he will, because he tells the camera “I’m going to propose tonight” — goofy grin — “holy crap.”

When the big moment comes, just as Jim begins fumbling in his pocket for the ring, Andy (Ed Helms) grabs the microphone and asks for everyone’s attention. “I was waiting for the right time to do this, and I can’t think of a better time than right now,” he says. It’s like he planned the whole thing — he even has his parents there! — and of course he awkwardly asks for Angela’s tiny hand in marriage (her reply: “I said OK“). Cut to Dwight, looking pained. Pam’s mouth drops open; Jim tucks the ring back into his pocket.

We were meant to feel sad about this, but the moment fizzled. The lack of emotional payoff here gets at why this season of “The Office” felt like it was missing something. For all its sitcom high jinks, the show has always had a sweet undercurrent of drama. We wanted Pam to dump her lame fiancé and be with Jim. We cheered silently for Michael getting together with hot, crazy Jan. Dwight and Angela’s secret affair wasn’t just played off for laughs.

But Michael provides the episode’s only moving moments. After discovering Jan has decided to get pregnant without him — she went to a sperm bank — his pain is visible and real, and when he returns to the parking lot party he blows off Holly, who somehow has also clearly become smitten with him. By the end, we see him in his office on the phone, making the inevitable mistake of assuring Jan’s voice mail he’ll be at her Lamaze class, even though he has no idea what that is.

As a grace note, we’re given a shocking final scene: Phyllis goes into the office after the party and catches Dwight and Angela all sweaty and naked. It’s the scene that will likely be most discussed around the water cooler today, but it seemed too calculated. Sure, we never thought things would ultimately work out for Andy, but do we really care? He’s always been a poor stand-in for Dwight.

I miss the sweetness of the Jim and Pam’s romance — it always stood apart from the rest of the office’s gray shallowness, but this season, in part because of Jim’s need to propose, it’s been infected by it. For the show’s first three seasons, we identified with Jim, the ironic presence who often literally winked at the camera. It seemed (or did we hope) that he might, at any moment, grab Pam and find a way out of the Dunder Mifflin cul de sac. Instead, Pam has become the character with a future that might not revolve entirely around paper — will her three months at the Pratt Institute studying art be the basis for the rumored spin-off show? As the season progressed, Jim’s mugging for the camera began to seem rote, his punking Dwight perfunctory, and we slowly began to realize that, as much as he might talk down Dunder Mifflin, he wasn’t going anywhere soon. (Michael at one point says, “I look at somebody like Jim Halpert, and I think that guy could do anything that he wants to do. He could do anything. And he chooses to work here, selling paper. Just like me.”) In some ways this finale was perhaps the closest the show has come yet to its British original: No one is getting out of here alive. * * * *

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