Mr. Media Interviews By Bob Andelman

From 2008: "Army Wives" is sort of like “Desperate Housewives” on an Army base. The series is based on "Under the Sabers: The Unwritten Code of Army Wives," a book by Tanya Blank. It’s full of sex, lies, booze, and bitches. And I mean that in a purely professional sense. All of which is a brief introduction to my guest, Katherine Fugate, the creator of “Army Wives,” and who is also the niece of TV legend Barbara Eden, star of “I Dream of Jeannie” and a few million grown-up men’s fantasies.

From 2008: Run for your lives! Hide the women and children! There’s a Ten-Cent Plague loose upon this fine land! My guest today, David Hajdu, is the author of a new book that – at the very least – probably has the best title of the year, "The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How It Changed America." Hajdu looks back at a hysterical period in American history – one of many, to be sure – when comic books were considered such a threat to our way of life that the industry nearly vanishe

From 2008: Katy Chevigny makes award-winning documentary films such as Election Day, Arctic Son, Innocent Until Proven Guilty, Nuyorican Dream, Brother Born Again, and Outside Looking In: Transracial Adoption in America. Her credits also include the acclaimed film Deadline, an investigation into Illinois Gov. George Ryan’s commuting of death sentences. The film was broadcast on NBC. She’s the kind of woman whose work and thoughts you’ll find quite interesting.

From 2008: Brian Frazer’s life reads far more colorfully than mine would, I’m afraid. On the other hand, I managed to avoid that whole compulsive gambling-bodybuilding-speed-eating-colon-cleansing-Kabbalah thing that afflicted his youth. In his first book, Hyper-Chondriac, Frazer comes clean… Did I just say that? …about a life lived at super-speed. It is one he spent most of his years in search of medical solutions to a litany of physical ailments when it turned out most of the trouble was in his he

From 2008: Stephan Pastis is a big fan of Ricky Gervais, creator of "The Office" and "Extras," and Larry David, co-creator of "Seinfeld" and creator of "Curb Your Enthusiasm." He also loves him some Cheryl Hines. As a matter of fact, I think the only reason I landed him on the show today is because I interviewed the "Curb Your Enthusiasm" co-star, and that gets him one degree closer to her. Pastis’ “Pearls Before Swine” comic strip has twice been named Best Newspaper Comic Strip of the Year by the NCS

From 2008: Pete Von Sholly’s day job would be enough excitement for most of us. He creates storyboards for big budget Hollywood movies, and if you’ve seen The Shawshank Redemption or Mars Attacks!, for example, the finished product was based on his early drawings. But being a respected, behind-the-scenes craftsman isn’t satisfying Von Sholly’s fertile mind. For several years, he’s been meshing a unique form of comics and cartoons that combine hand-drawn images with real life.

From 2008: Here’s something you probably don’t know about Mr. Media. The second of my nine books was actually about football -- Why Men Watch Football, in fact. So when the opportunity to interview Bob Horowitz came about, how could I resist? Bob is the creator and producer of the annual special, “Super Bowl’s Greatest Commercials.” You may also know one of Bob’s other creations, “The Singing Bee,” hosted by Joey Fatone, which was a summer hit for NBC in 2007 and will return soon.

If you’ve ever thought about writing novels, you might want to think about envying YA novelist Sara Zarr’s career. Her first, best-selling, young adult title, Story of a Girl, was a finalist for the 2007 National Book Awards. Book two, just released this month, is Sweethearts. It has earned glowing reviews and -- even better -- excellent sales. I interviewed Sara a couple months ago, the morning after the 2007 National Book Awards. She was a delightful guest, even in the face of disappointment.

Writer Sara Zarr had an experience last night that any author would kill for – sitting in the audience at the Marriott Marquis Times Square in Manhattan, her first novel, "Story of a Girl," a finalist for the 2007 National Book Award for young people’s literature. For a first-time fiction author, such a nomination is remarkable, and it would be fun for both of us to tell you that she won, but it wasn’t meant to be, not this time around.

From 2008: With $2.6 billion in assets, the Miami-based John S. and James L. Knight Foundation is the 22nd largest foundation in the United States. Its mission is the betterment of the 26 communities in which it works and the promotion of journalism as a career and industry nationwide. That puts Alberto Ibargüen, CEO of the Knight Foundation and a former publisher of the Miami Herald, at the same crossroads that silent movies encountered with talkies, talkies with radio, and so on.

Sci-fi movies? I like the aliens, the exotic scenery and the spaceships, from "Metropolis" and "The Day the Earth Stood Still" on through "Planet of the Apes" and "The Martian." Which is why, when Sloan de Forest’s new book, "Must-See Sci-Fi: 50 Movies That Are Out of This World," landed on my desk, I knew I wanted to talk to her about it.

From 2007: Robert Wuhl cracks me up. Always has, always will. His HBO series, “Arli$$," about an over-ambitious Hollywood sports agent, was must-see TV in my house for years, and I’ve seen his first movie, Hollywood Knights, hundreds of times. Really, hundreds. If you haven’t seen it, buy it. In terms of media experience, Wuhl played reporters in Batman and Cobb and a disc jockey in Good Morning, Vietnam.

From 2007: Pete Williams is a journalist and author whom I have known and been friendly with for several years. But I didn’t ask him to do a Mr. Media interview simply because we are buddies so much as I think that his recent book, "The Draft, A Year Inside the NFL’s Search for Talent," was an overlooked sports journalism classic from 2006 that more people should be exposed to. Pete, who is a long-time fitness enthusiast and journalist, is a regular contributor to Men’s Health.

From 2007: Lee Salem is a guy I’ve admired for many, many years. As the president and editor of Universal Press Syndicate, he is the man responsible for recognizing a slew of creative talent that impacted American pop culture and the funny pages over the last 30-plus years. The origins of Garry Trudeau and “Doonesbury,” Gary Larson and “The Far Side,” Bill Watterson and “Calvin and Hobbes,” Lynn Johnston and “For Better or Worse” and Cathy Guisewite and “Cathy,” all can be traced back

From 2007: I have enjoyed the illustrations of Drew Friedman for many, many years. He has going for him what many artists can only dream of – a distinctive style and, if you will, a voice that sets his work apart. Depending upon your age and interests, you’ve no doubt seen Friedman’s work somewhere, including the National Lampoon, Spy, and the New York Observer. When Drew draws a satirical picture, it always screams with attitude. There is no subtlety involved.

From 2007: Tamara Conniff, Billboard editor and associate publisher , oversees all aspects of the Billboard brand, from editorial to face-to-face events. She is the youngest person and first woman to hold this post. Prior to joining Billboard, Conniff served as the music editor for The Hollywood Reporter for five years and was senior editor in charge of music for Amusement Business. Born and raised in Hollywood, she is also the daughter of the late American music legend, Ray Conniff.

David Bankston has devoted much of his career to creating next-generation technologies specifically designed to solve real-world business problems. Organizations and media companies are turning to Neighborhood America in order to harness the power of the Web to effectively engage audiences. Prior to Neighborhood America, David’s technology career included fifteen years at Lexis/Nexis, where he was responsible for many innovations that are still in use today.

From 2007: Eric Deggans is easily one of the smartest journalists I know. Okay, okay, I know some of you connect “smart” and “journalist” and chuckle the way other people combine “military” and “intelligence.” But trust me, Eric is really bright. He has his own way of looking at any topic and bringing aspects of it to light. Currently the television and media critic for the St. Petersburg Times—and author of a media savvy blog called “The Feed"—Eric is filling a job the paper created s

From 2007: My guest today is Chris Napolitano, Playboy magazine’s editorial director. If you look at the masthead, the only name listed higher is the magazine’s founder, Hugh Hefner. Napolitano began his career with Playboy in 1988 as an editorial assistant in the fiction department and now, in his 20th year with the magazine, is responsible for the day-to-day editorial policy and operations of Playboy magazine. He reports to Hef and is based in the company’s New York publishing headquarters.

From 2007: I’ve been one of those crazed Mac guys since 1984, I guess, when I bought my first Apple, a IIc. Joining me today is Jason Snell, editorial director of Macworld, publishers of Macworld magazine, Macworld.com, Playlist, Mac OS X Hints, and MacUser.com. He has covered Apple and the Mac market since 1994.