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 enlarge | Author: Gary David Goldberg
Publisher: Harmony
Category: Book
List Price: $23.95
Buy Used: $3.40
You Save: $20.55 (86%)
New (36) Used (27) Collectible (2) from $3.40
Avg. Customer Rating:  17 reviews
Sales Rank: 283849
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 272
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 9.4 x 6.1 x 1
ISBN: 0307394182
Dewey Decimal Number: 791.45023092
EAN: 9780307394187
ASIN: 0307394182
Publication Date: February 5, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: EX-LIBRARY; used item may have library binding and show stamps, stickers or other marks. Items not meeting quality expectations may be returned for refund. Buy with confidence - your satisfaction is guaranteed at B-Logistics!
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| Customer Reviews:
 Goldberg's writing made me want to meet a man of such character March 8, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Gary David Goldberg ended his active TV life with a bunch of industry awards-and from the public forever thanks because he selected Michael J. Fox to BE Alex Keaton in the "Family Ties" sitcom. Every show ended with a picture of his black lab Ubu and the words, "Sit, Ubu, Sit!
Today Goldberg and his wife Diana live quietly in Vermont with five dogs-and long way from his Jewish upbringing in the Jewish/Italian section of Brooklyn. Their two daughters are now grown.
Gary and Diana lived on food stamps for years until he took a college class in writing (he attended numerous college, but never got a degree), and the professor told him he was a natural writer.
We follow Gary as he writes script after script and meets with people to get that first break. We learn just how hard they work, the non-stop nights of writing to have scripts written or rewritten for the next day's shoot. Anything to keep the stars, the producers and the money people happy!
Mind you, this is a memoir, but Gary sounds like a real nice guy who worked the TV system to take really care of his writers and his stars. There is not one negative word or thought expressed about anyone--and his honesty was most refreshing.
Of course Gary is a great writer of comedy scripts (Family Ties, Spin City, Brooklyn Bridge and many more), but he also tells his own story very well-his humanness, love of family and friends, his protectiveness of his stars, and his Jewish culture and extended family.
This is not only Gary's story but that of Michael J. Fox's as well. Gary and Michael had the most wonderful relationship for a long time, followed by some rough spots created by misunderstandings, and then an endearing friendship. Gary was one of the few who knew of Fox's Parkinson's illness that they kept from everyone, even rest of Spin City cast, for quite some time.
If you enjoy good writing, wonderful stories and a behind-the-scenes look at a TV sitcom, you'll love this book. I DID! It lacks any mean spiritedness prevalent in the entertainment business today, so it was a refreshing breath of air.
Armchair Interviews says: A nice-guy-finished first story about a successful Hollywood writer and TV producer-the kid from Brooklyn.
Sit Ubu Sit!! March 8, 2008
This is a warm, funny, book that starts when he was out on his own, with his wife, and dog, UBU, and needed to give blood for money and his wife held up a $10.00 bill that he got (in Europe) reviving him after he passed out and woke up in an alley. There were many funny comments, and Gary's wife seems sweet, and it just basically tells about his life and how he got going in show business.
It is an entertaining book. You have to read it and see. It's definitely worth reading! There's so much more to talk about, but I do want to say that certain parts make you laugh out loud!! He's great!!
Shoulda kept the dog February 29, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
The book is far, far, more interesting than the teevee fodder he churned out over the years. Strange how a man of obvious great wit and talent should make shows that were not.
I went to High School with him!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! February 22, 2008
0 out of 4 found this review helpful
i just got this book today and I am so excited to read it. I went to school with Gary! He was in my English class and I remember him sitting there, just staring. I guess he wanted to get out of there and get on with his dreams! I will write a review when I am done reading it. Yea, Gary!
 "Sit, Ubu, Sit" by Gary David Goldberg February 19, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I was never a big fan of Gary Goldberg's TV shows -- "Family Ties," "Spin City" -- only because I haven't been too big of a TV fan in general. I am, however, a huge fan of funny, compelling, compassionate writing, and I couldn't read Goldberg's book fast enough. This is a clever, laugh-out-loud book that also can double as a primer on the insider's world of writing for network TV. I loved the way Goldberg played with chronology, switching back and forth in time, creating separate storylines that are each fascinating in its own way. My one fear was that, in the early chapters, Goldberg seems to live a charmed existence. Everything he touches turns to gold. Of course, outside of Donald Trump's wigmaker, no one escapes bad news for long, and the second half of the book finds Goldberg, his family, and his best TV friend, Michael J. Fox, all being severly tested. Throughout, Goldberg maintains his sense of humor as if that charmed existence of his had never been shaken to its core. Of course, the problem with racing through such a delightfully humane memoir is that I'm left without the pleasure of its company all too soon. Sigh!
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