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The past two decades have put viewers firmly in the Golden Age of television, where showrunners have aspired to—and frequently achieved—an almost novelistic quality with series like The Sopranos, Breaking Bad, The Wire, and more.
We thought it was high time to celebrate these addictive series, and so we did. In The Curious Viewer: A Miscellany of Streaming Bingeable Shows from the Last 20 Years, managing editor Jennifer M. Wood and the Mental Floss staff have compiled the ultimate reference guide to many of the best shows to hit the airwaves (or streaming waves) in recent years.
Want to know the real-life inspiration for Mad Men scoundrel Don Draper? Why a Black-ish episode was deemed too controversial for TV? How Curb Your Enthusiasm actually saved a man’s life? You’ll find all that and much more in this compendium of facts, history, and surprises. You may even discover your next binge-worthy obsession.
Publishers Weekly calls The Curious Viewer "the ultimate bingeing guide," writing that in this "handy reference companion, chock-full of entertaining trivia and behind-the-scenes facts, to some of the biggest shows in television ... the editors ensure no terrific series (even the more obscure, like AMC’s Halt and Catch Fire) goes unmentioned, in succinct roundups covering everything from 'Amazing One-Season Shows' to best series finales and staff favorites."
Published by Weldon Owen and created in partnership with Indelible Editions, The Curious Viewer is on sale now wherever you buy books. You can order it online here. Are you bingeing books? Then check out The Curious Reader: A Literary Miscellany of Novels and Novelists, edited by Mental Floss editor-in-chief Erin McCarthy, available here.