As Seen on TV: An Inside Look at the Television Industry--How It Works and Who Does What--......

In eight informative, engaging chapters, Denison, a columnist for the Boston Globe Magazine , offers bird's-eye glimpses of the photographers, lighting engineers, propmasters and others behind television programs. Denison travels with a TV magazine show photographer who discusses his strategy for shooting a story; follows the producers of the PBS series This Old House --a visually fluid show filmed with the belief that the camera should behave like the human eye; and dissects the many tasks (from pre-interviews to preparing cue cards) of a busy talk show segment producer for Live with Regis & Kathie Lee. Denison goes to both the East Coast and West Coast production sites of the cop drama Against the Law and explains how scenes are shot by theme rather than in sequence and how a group of actors provides ``walla''--the industry term for background noise. He also examines a more obscure MTV show that tries to combine actors and animation. Denison's light touch, including mini-profiles of people he meets, should satisfy TV junkies, but the book is a series of snapshots, not a comprehensive view of television production. Photos not seen by PW. (Sept.)