Barely four years after winning an Oscar, Charlie has sunken into the ranks of Hollywood bottom-feeders. But one day at his weekly Debtors Anonymous meeting, he meets a mysterious ex-CIA agent who proposes to resuscitate Charlie’s foundering career in the beyond-surreal world of reality TV. Charlie puts his tap shoes on to sell a show about a ruthless Uzbek warlord and his family—“The Osbournes meets The Sopranos”—to a rogue division of ABC known as ABCD, whose mandate is to develop, under top-secret cover, extreme reality TV shows to bolster the network's ratings. When Warlord becomes a breakout hit, it not only sends one of America’s largest entertainment conglomerates into full damage-control mode but also shifts the balance of power in Central Asia, proving that in show business, it’s not over till the mouse sings.
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"ragingly, scathingly funny. an afternoon of bliss with a cup of tea and a TV guide to remember you while it's satirical, this portrait of LA and TV is far from fictional..." — Sharon (5 out of 5 stars)
"ragingly, scathingly funny. an afternoon of bliss with a cup of tea and a TV guide to remember you while it's satirical, this portrait of LA and TV is far from fictional..."
“Peter Lefcourt does for Hollywood what Christopher Buckley does for Washington: stick pins in all the right places. Each of them writes comic novels that mix uproarious mischief with an inspired sense of the absurd. In the case of Mr. Lefcourt’s latest, the idiocy of reality television provides the dartboard. The genre was not cracked up solely to suit Mr. Lefcourt’s purposes; he just makes it seem that way.”
“The heady, winning blend of sly satire and fast-paced storytelling makes for serious fun as Lefcourt deftly skewers one character after another. He also scores points with his comments on the excesses of Western and Eastern culture, but fortunately none of the serious stuff gets in the way of a great read.”
“In this rollicking sequel to The Deal, Lefcourt brings his hapless film producer, Charlie Berns, back from industry oblivion in another riotous romp…In this boisterous, laugh-out-loud spoof, Lefcourt manages to skewer every aspect of both Hollywood inanity and foreign-policy insanity.”
“No such thing as bad publicity? Maybe in LA, but not Uzbekistan. Outrageously funny, deftly narrated.”
" This was a fun read. It was a nice send-up of the television industry and reality TV. "
" A fun little read and just what I needed after the heavy non-fiction I had just finished. No National Book awards here, but a crazy story and a few laugh out loud moments. "
" This is a very funny, rapidly paced, well written satire much like a Carl Hiasson novel but with more likable characters. "
" this could have been easily 100 pages shorter if everything was not repeated 50 times. the writing could almost be ok, but it wasn't. "
" Funny then - and way funnier now that I live in this part of the world. "
" Not nearly as good as the Dreyfus Affair by this author. DAffair is about baseball, pr and sex! "
Peter Lefcourt is a screenwriter, Emmy Award-winning television writer, and the nationally bestselling author of seven novels.
Tom Weiner, a dialogue director and voice artist best known for his roles in video games and television shows such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Transformers, is the winner of eight Earphones Awards and is an Audie Award finalist. He is a former member of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.
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