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This LAist has always been baffled by Los Angeles media's weak literary coverage given how much time, energy and money the local entertainment industry spends on acquiring literary material. Which is why we're so intrigued by "Between the Lines," the weekly interview series featuring noted authors on KLCS, the local public TV station owned and operated by the Los Angeles Unified School District.
The literary program's rotund host is Barry Kibrick, who is wildly enthusiastic about every book on his show. We forgive that annoying quirk because he usually asks intelligent questions and listens to his guest's responses. He's like the hairy love child of Charlie Rose and Roger Ebert. We've just learned that the show is shot in a studio replica of Kibrick's own living room where he initally taped the interviews when the show was just starting out.
Since Kibrick is a veteran TV producer—he's been involved with the creation or production of late-night comedy series such as "It's Fritz," "Snicker Theater," and a show that incubated the early version of "Politically Incorrect" with Bill Maher (we're sure there's quite a backstory behind that project)—we wish he'd team up with NPR's "Day to Day" book reviewer David Kipen to pitch a series on CSPAN's "Book TV" that actually covers fiction as well as nonfiction.
We think they could become the literary Siskel and Ebert and bring some much needed West Coast perspectives to broadcasting about books and publishing.
