Conversations with My Agent Book

In 1993, Cheers played its last episode on TV. Of its millions of fans, none mourned its passing more deeply than Rob Long. It was not only that Rob was a writer-producer of the show. It was also that being a writer-producer of a sensationally successful sitcom was the only job in the TV industry he had ever held. Now, with its departure, Rob left the Hollywood heavens to take up residence in the LA limbo-land reserved for writers without a vehicle - a situation akin to being stranded on a freeway without a car. Conversations with My Agent is Rob Long's inside-the-belly-of-the-beast account of the struggle to survive in what is charitably called the show biz jungle. It is not exactly Cheers. For one thing, the characters, though weird and wacky, are not notably heartwarming. For another, it is even funnier. Yes, Rob Long survived his yearlong education in the realities of show biz unreality. He did succeed in putting another sitcom on the air - only to see it yanked before the enthusiastic reviews were dry. And he did pick up the pieces and go on from there. What did it take? What did it cost? Was it worth it, and why? Read the frankest book ever written about video viperland, and decide for yourself - after you stop laughing.