National Network for Equitable Library Service

Reveals the hard facts behind the laughter on TV’s most popular sitcom

The highest-rated scripted show on TV, The Big Bang Theory often features Sheldon, Howard, Leonard, and Raj wisecracking about scientific principles as if Penny and the rest of us should know exactly what they’re talking about.

An official guide to the crazy science of Orphan Black

Over the past decade, the magic of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series has spread across the globe, touching the imagination of hundreds of millions of people of all ages. From the 1997 U.K. publication of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone through the summer 2007 theatrical release of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the saga has been an amazing one in print, on screen, and in real life.

At the centre of the critically acclaimed Fox drama House, British actor Hugh Laurie has become the focus of fans across North America, Britain, and Australia. Winner of the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Dramatic Series, honoured by the Queen with an Order of the British Empire, and one of People’s Sexiest Men Alive, Laurie has become an icon.

But who is the man behind the cane and acerbic wit?

A musician? A motorcyclist? A comedian?

Get to know the eccentric alien known as the Doctor

From his beginnings as a crotchety, anti-heroic scientist in 1963 to his current place in British pop culture as the mad and dangerous monster-fighting saviour of the universe, the titular character of Doctor Who has metamorphosed in his 50 years on television. And yet the questions about him remain the same: Who is he? Why does he act the way he does? What motivates him to fight evil across space and time?

Richard Crouse, film critic and host of television’s award-winning Reel to Real takes you on a journey through 70 years of cinema history, choosing his favorite overlooked films.

A portrait of the most beloved Tarzan and a tale of Hollywood at its legendary peak. An authoritative insight into the life of the man most film fans consider the one and only Tarzan--Olympic swimming champion Johnny Weissmuller--this book offers an intimate look at Weissmuller's early life, middle years, and later decline, through swimming training, Olympic triumphs, failed marriages, a Hollywood life as Tarzan of the Apes, and subsequent career as Jungle Jim.

His women were tens, his guns were .38s, and his collection of jewel-encrusted walking canes numbered in the hundreds. For nearly 50 years, Jay Bernstein was a Hollywood fixture, owning one of the most powerful PR firms in Hollywood, making stars of Farrah Fawcett and Suzanne Somers, and producing dozens of television films and series.

Fans of offbeat cinema, discriminating renters and collectors, and movie buffs will drool over this checklist of the best overlooked and underappreciated films of the last 100 years. In Son of the 100 Best Movies You’ve Never Seen, Richard Crouse, Canada AM film critic and host of television’s award-winning Reel to Real, presents a follow-up to his 2003 book with another 100 of his favorite films.

“Save the cheerleader, save the world.”

With that immediately memorable mantra, Heroes became the top–rated new series of fall 2006. Featuring such archetypal characters as one with a split personality, one who can fly, one who can see the future, one who can time travel — and the evil villain out to steal all of the powers for himself — the show touches our inner comic book fan, even if we’ve never cracked open a comic book.