Sellevision
by: Augusten Burroughs
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Amazon.com Review:
Light and funny, with a bitter aftertaste, the action of Sellevision takes place behind the scenes (and on the set) of a successful television shopping network, where a feminine role model, Peggy Jean Smythe, the married, Christian mother of three, begins receiving suspicious e-mail from a viewer who insists that Peggy's hairy earlobe is obscuring her presentation of jewelry during the broadcast. When Peggy fails to respond to the e-mail, but silently waxes her lobe, the cruel notes escalate, until Peggy believes herself to be suffering from a hormonal crisis that has given her a mustache, a gruff voice, and the manner of a lumberjack. Meanwhile, one of her cohosts, Max Andrews, has been fired for accidentally exposing himself during a children's special, and learns just how undesirable a commodity a penis-baring ex-Sellevision host can be on the job market. The book is an unusually smooth read for a first novel, with six or seven truly inspired lines. --Regina Marler
Product Description:
Darkly funny and gleefully mean-spirited, Sellevision explores greed, obsession and third tier celebrity, in the world of a fictional home shopping network. Welcome to the troubled world of Sellevision, America-s premier retail broadcasting network. When Max Andrews, the much-loved and handsome (lonely and gay) host of -Slumber Sunday Sundown- accidentally exposes himself in front of twenty million kids and their parents during a -Toys for Tots- segment, Sellevision faces its first big scandal. As Max fails to find a job in television, another host, the popular and perky Peggy Jean Smythe is receiving sinister emails about her appearance from a stalker. Popping pills and drinking heavily, she fails to notice that her husband is spending a lot of time with the very young babysitter who lives next door. Then there-s Leigh, whose affair with Sellevision boss Howard Toast is going nowhere, until she exposes him on air; and Bebe, Sellevision-s star host, who finds Mr. Right through the Internet--if she can just stop her shopping addiction from taking over. Darkly funny and gleefully mean-spirited, Sellevision explores greed, obsession and third tier celebrity, in the world of a fictional home shopping network. Welcome to the troubled world of Sellevision, America-s premier retail broadcasting network. When Max Andrews, the much-loved and handsome (lonely and gay) host of -Slumber Sunday Sundown- accidentally exposes himself in front of twenty million kids and their parents during a -Toys for Tots- segment, Sellevision faces its first big scandal. As Max fails to find a job in television, another host, the popular and perky Peggy Jean Smythe is receiving sinister emails about her appearance from a stalker. Popping pills and drinking heavily, she fails to notice that her husband is spending a lot of time with the very young babysitter who lives next door. Then there-s Leigh, whose affair with Sellevision boss Howard Toast is going nowhere, until she exposes him on air; and Bebe, Sellevision-s star host, who finds Mr. Right through the Internet--if she can just stop her shopping addiction from taking over.
Light and funny, with a bitter aftertaste, the action of Sellevision takes place behind the scenes (and on the set) of a successful television shopping network, where a feminine role model, Peggy Jean Smythe, the married, Christian mother of three, begins receiving suspicious e-mail from a viewer who insists that Peggy's hairy earlobe is obscuring her presentation of jewelry during the broadcast. When Peggy fails to respond to the e-mail, but silently waxes her lobe, the cruel notes escalate, until Peggy believes herself to be suffering from a hormonal crisis that has given her a mustache, a gruff voice, and the manner of a lumberjack. Meanwhile, one of her cohosts, Max Andrews, has been fired for accidentally exposing himself during a children's special, and learns just how undesirable a commodity a penis-baring ex-Sellevision host can be on the job market. The book is an unusually smooth read for a first novel, with six or seven truly inspired lines. --Regina Marler
Product Description:
Darkly funny and gleefully mean-spirited, Sellevision explores greed, obsession and third tier celebrity, in the world of a fictional home shopping network. Welcome to the troubled world of Sellevision, America-s premier retail broadcasting network. When Max Andrews, the much-loved and handsome (lonely and gay) host of -Slumber Sunday Sundown- accidentally exposes himself in front of twenty million kids and their parents during a -Toys for Tots- segment, Sellevision faces its first big scandal. As Max fails to find a job in television, another host, the popular and perky Peggy Jean Smythe is receiving sinister emails about her appearance from a stalker. Popping pills and drinking heavily, she fails to notice that her husband is spending a lot of time with the very young babysitter who lives next door. Then there-s Leigh, whose affair with Sellevision boss Howard Toast is going nowhere, until she exposes him on air; and Bebe, Sellevision-s star host, who finds Mr. Right through the Internet--if she can just stop her shopping addiction from taking over. Darkly funny and gleefully mean-spirited, Sellevision explores greed, obsession and third tier celebrity, in the world of a fictional home shopping network. Welcome to the troubled world of Sellevision, America-s premier retail broadcasting network. When Max Andrews, the much-loved and handsome (lonely and gay) host of -Slumber Sunday Sundown- accidentally exposes himself in front of twenty million kids and their parents during a -Toys for Tots- segment, Sellevision faces its first big scandal. As Max fails to find a job in television, another host, the popular and perky Peggy Jean Smythe is receiving sinister emails about her appearance from a stalker. Popping pills and drinking heavily, she fails to notice that her husband is spending a lot of time with the very young babysitter who lives next door. Then there-s Leigh, whose affair with Sellevision boss Howard Toast is going nowhere, until she exposes him on air; and Bebe, Sellevision-s star host, who finds Mr. Right through the Internet--if she can just stop her shopping addiction from taking over.
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Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: 
- Entertaining!!!
This is his first book, but not the first one I read... I was expecting more "memoir-style" vs. novel -- however -- JUST AS WONDERFUL!!Charming, witty, very, very good character building!!I felt like I know those people.
Rating: - This has to be a work of non fiction...
Having worked at a 'Sellevision'-esq place, although I won't get into specifics, I was rolling on the floor- laughing while reading this. It was so much like the real thing, it amazed me. I'm a HUGE Burroughs fan and wasn't too sure if a novel would be a good read by him, but I was wrong. Being able to relate to the subject made this book a million times more enjoyable, and I can see how many readers weren't big fans. Being able to connect made it easier to visualize the situations and characters. ... Read More
Rating: - Another Great Showing From Burroughs
Sellevision was recommended to me by a friend, who suggested the book because I love the writing of Max Barry (of Company and Syrup fame). It turned out to be a great match.
Sellevision is a hilarious book -- simultaneously dark humored and lighthearted. It follows the lives of four hosts on the Sellevision network, a home shopping network. It might sound a little boring, but in the course of a year there is incest, genitals on live television, a nervous breakdown, a dead rat, and copious ... Read More
Rating: - Good first try
I didn't know that Augusten Burroughs had written a novel, so when he mentioned in his memoir Possible Side Effects that his first novel Sellevision is about a host of a home shopping channel whose penis slipped out while on the air, I knew that I'd be reading it.
Burroughs is the author of four best selling memoirs, the most famous being Running With Scissors, which has also been made into a movie. According to Burroughs's official website, Sellevision is in production to be made into a ... Read More
Rating: 
- Terrible
This is the first book I've read by Augusten Burroughs and honestly, I can't believe I read it through the end.The plot is formulaic and implausible and the characters are one-dimensional.Now, I understand that this book is "comedy" and because of that, doesn't have the same conventions of a regular novel.But unfortunately, the humor smacks of lazy writing and lack of imagination.In short, it's just plain bad, bad, bad.
The only people I imagine finding this funny are people who ... Read More
- Entertaining!!!This is his first book, but not the first one I read... I was expecting more "memoir-style" vs. novel -- however -- JUST AS WONDERFUL!!Charming, witty, very, very good character building!!I felt like I know those people.
- This has to be a work of non fiction...Having worked at a 'Sellevision'-esq place, although I won't get into specifics, I was rolling on the floor- laughing while reading this. It was so much like the real thing, it amazed me. I'm a HUGE Burroughs fan and wasn't too sure if a novel would be a good read by him, but I was wrong. Being able to relate to the subject made this book a million times more enjoyable, and I can see how many readers weren't big fans. Being able to connect made it easier to visualize the situations and characters. ... Read More
- Another Great Showing From BurroughsSellevision was recommended to me by a friend, who suggested the book because I love the writing of Max Barry (of Company and Syrup fame). It turned out to be a great match.
Sellevision is a hilarious book -- simultaneously dark humored and lighthearted. It follows the lives of four hosts on the Sellevision network, a home shopping network. It might sound a little boring, but in the course of a year there is incest, genitals on live television, a nervous breakdown, a dead rat, and copious ... Read More
- Good first tryI didn't know that Augusten Burroughs had written a novel, so when he mentioned in his memoir Possible Side Effects that his first novel Sellevision is about a host of a home shopping channel whose penis slipped out while on the air, I knew that I'd be reading it.
Burroughs is the author of four best selling memoirs, the most famous being Running With Scissors, which has also been made into a movie. According to Burroughs's official website, Sellevision is in production to be made into a ... Read More
- TerribleThis is the first book I've read by Augusten Burroughs and honestly, I can't believe I read it through the end.The plot is formulaic and implausible and the characters are one-dimensional.Now, I understand that this book is "comedy" and because of that, doesn't have the same conventions of a regular novel.But unfortunately, the humor smacks of lazy writing and lack of imagination.In short, it's just plain bad, bad, bad.
The only people I imagine finding this funny are people who ... Read More
