ABOVE & BELOW: THE UNOFFICIAL 25TH ANNIVERSARY "BEAUTY AND THE BEAST" COMPANION

by Edward Gross

Beauty and the Beast may be a tale as old as time, but never has it been more imaginatively told than in the 1987-90 live action television series created by Ron Koslow.

The concept has a noble lion-man, Vincent (Ron Perlman), member of a vast, wondrous community located beneath the streets of Manhattan, who saves the life of New York socialite turned assistant district attorney Catherine Chandler (Linda Hamilton). As he nurses her back to health, a connection is formed between them that drives the rest of the series as their worlds intertwine, exploring their love as well as the darker underpinnings of society.

Now as the show celebrates its 25th anniversary, Above & Below: A 25th Anniversary Beauty and the Beast Companion looks back at the making of the series, beginning with profiles of Hamilton and Perlman and continuing with a behind the scenes look at every episode through the eyes of the various writers and directors who helped bring it to life, among them George R.R. Martin, creator of Game of Thrones; and the team of Howard Gordon and Alex Gansa, creative minds behind Homeland. Together, they recount struggles with the network (including fears regarding the Catherine/Vincent romance), the challenge of changing creative course in response to declining ratings, and being forced to completely reconceptualize the series when Hamilton departed at the end of season two. How could a show called Beauty and the Beast survive without its leading lady?

All of it is explored in the only companion of this type devoted to Beauty and the Beast.

About the Author

Edward Gross is an entertainment journalist who has served on the editorial staff on a number of magazines and websites. He is currently executive editor of Movie Magic and Life Story magazines, regular contributor to SciFi Now and Geek, and the author of numerous non-fiction covering film and television.

Genres: Nonfiction

146 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 28, 2012

About the author

Edward Gross is a veteran entertainment journalist who took his childhood passion for film and television and turned it into a career. As a student at Hofstra University, while most of the staff of The New Voice was interviewing the likes of student senators and faculty members, he was speaking to people like playwright Neil Simon (awarded an honorary degree by the school), Curtis Sliwa of New York’s Guardian Angels, Dr. Daniel Schwartz, the police psychiatrist who interviewed both David Berkowitz and Mark David Chapman; and James Bond director John Glen. Early on he sold pieces to New York Nightlife, Starlog and Filmfax magazines and was on his way.
Over the years he would not only become a correspondent for Starlog, but part of the editorial staff of Fangoria, Cinefantastique, SFX, Cinescape, Sci-Fi Now, Not of This Earth, RetroVision, Life Story, Movie Magic, Film Fantasy and TV Magic. Online he was Executive Editor, US for Empire Online, Film and TV Editor at Closer Weekly, Life & Style, and In Touch Weekly, and Nostalgia Editor for DoYouRemember? Currently he is senior editor at Geek magazine, and editor and podcast host for Voices from Krypton (devoted to the superhero genre), TV RetroVision (classic television) and Vampires and Slayers (the name says it all).
In addition to the oral history books he’s written with Mark A. Altman, Gross’ other titles include Secret File: The Making of a Wiseguy and The Unofficial 25th Anniversary Odd Couple Companion; X-Files Confidential; Spider-Man Confidential; Planet of the Apes Revisited with Joe Russo and Larry Landsman; Rocky: The Ultimate Guide; and Stargate: SG1 — In Their Own Words.

Reviews

[Elena]

I'm not rating this book, but it was a great reading, honestly.
Based on TV series starring Ron Perlman and Linda Hamilton, this book consists of two parts. The first one is about how Ron Koslow and his crew came with the whole idea of B&B series, and about preproduction and production prosess. The second part is a list of short synopsises of all episodes of three seasons. Also it includes interviews with directors and screen writers, who speak about each episode, telling us their ups and downs, and how this or that idea appeared, or if there were any difficultes, etc.
To read this book you must be familiar with the series, and remember names of characters.
Book has some minor grammar issues and a number of misprints.
It also includes several black and white photos.
All in all, I liked it very much. A nostalgy.

[Lynne Stringer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book a mixed bag. The book's formatting gives me the impression it's self-published. There are quite a few errors and some pages with monstrously long paragraphs. However, the information in its pages was still well worth the read. Given that I haven't watched an episode of Beauty and the Beast for many years, it was quite a shock to realise that George RR Martin wrote a number of the episodes! Given how violent some of his were, perhaps it's not all that surprising.
It was a nice reflection on a show that could have been so much more if the network had believed that true love was all that was necessary to sell a show.

[Reesha · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a long-time fan (my mother and I watched the show as it originally aired), this book brings me a lot of joy! It's a very fast read, too, flying by in just a few hours one evening.

There are definitely some easily fixable issues with it: editing, for one. There are quite a few really obvious errors that make it feel as if it was rushed out the door without much consideration. Formatting, for another. It's difficult to read sometimes due to a huge amount of information being provided with no paragraph breaks at all.

But getting the inside track on how the creators felt about the show and about each episode, plus tidbits that add nuance and explanation to things that always bothered me about this or that choice (usually what bothered me about an episode is exactly the thing the creators didn't want to be part of that episode, either!), made this a great read.

Sometimes it was quite painful to learn about this or that story that was never shot despite being miles better than some of those that were chosen--for example, there was supposed to be an entire episode where Catherine and Vincent DID make it to that cabin to see the sunrise, rather than just talking about it but never trying (OUCH)--and sometimes it was insightful. Sometimes it was also surprising when the creators hated something about an episode that I thought was great!

All in all, if you are a fan of this show, you're going to find something to like in this book.

[Mel · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I bought this I was really hoping it would tell me why Edie left after the first 12 episodes of S1 despite being in the credits for both seasons. But it didn't even mention her. It was a lot like the Lurker's Guide to B5. With the focus being on the writers/producers' views of the show. It was an episode guide and most of the discussion was, this one worked, or this one didn't work. But it was still an interesting read. Especially as most of the time I did seem to agree with the writers. (The casting of Lisa in particular). Though they seemed kinda clueless on the importance of Catherine and what made her so interesting and inspiring. When it came to the third season they seemed confused as to why Linda leaving made such a huge difference to the show when everything else was the same. They seemed to lack the awareness of how her job as assistant DA shaped things. It was either these are violent episodes or these are tunnel episodes. And that analysis seemed a little shallow. Also I learned what a fight George RR Martin had getting the right version of When the Blue Bird sings, which I'm very glad he did as that was definitely one of the better ones. I think the most interesting thing was reading the original version of the season 2 plots. And some of the ideas for if Linda had stayed.

[Jennifer Thompson-Thalasinos · Rating 5 out of 5]

My original copy of the Unofficial Beauty and the Beast companion has been one of my favorite possessions since receiving it for Christmas many moons ago. I remember devouring it as a teenager and looking up all the literary references. I was incredibly disappointed when I discovered my school library didn’t carry the poet Rilke.

I didn’t learn about the 25th anniversary edition until last year, but when it showed up on Amazon I grabbed it. This book is full of anecdotes from the writers and producers. I enjoyed reading about the background on each episode. It was interesting to learn what they felt worked or didn’t work. It was interesting to learn how some episodes started with one idea and ended in a completely different direction. No I understand where all the rewrites came in on different episodes. This book also goes more into detail about Linda Hamilton’s decision to leave the show.

I would say this is a must buy for any original Beauty and the Beast tv show.

[OG · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent comprehensive guide to B&B87.
I love the interviews with all crew cast etc, but most interesting for me was JRRM talking about his time with this show, I can see GOT forming in some of his stories. I can also see his frustration with TV happening as this series progressed. This, amongst others shows, was why he went off to write a song of ice and fire.
The writer is a good writer and the history is fascinating. A great book for anyone who loves B&B87 as I do.