''Sellevision'' (2000), a novel, is the first published work by

Augusten Burroughs Augusten Xon Burroughs (born Christopher Richter Robison, October 23, 1965) is an American writer best known for his New York Times Best Seller list, ''New York Times'' bestselling memoir ''Running with Scissors (memoir), Running with Scissors'' ...

, author of the best-selling books '' Running with Scissors,'' '' Dry,'' and ''

Magical Thinking Magical thinking, or superstitious thinking, is the belief that unrelated events are causally connected despite the absence of any plausible causal link between them, particularly as a result of supernatural effects. Examples include the idea tha ...

.'' Unlike Burroughs’ subsequent

memoir A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based on the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autob ...

s, ''Sellevision'' is a work of fiction. ''Sellevision'' is a comedy that contains themes of greed and obsession. It is about four people, Max Andrews, Peggy Jean Smythe, Leigh, and Bebe, and their lives, all linked together with Sellevision, a television company. Burroughs wrote the novel when he was getting sober. “I woke up one morning hung over, and I sat down and I wrote something,” Burroughs said in an interview. “It was two pages and it made me laugh, and I hadn’t laughed for years at that point, and that turned out to be the first couple pages of my first book, which was ''Sellevision''. It’s a novel about the home shopping world, that whole world—and, I didn’t know what I had written. But it amused me, so I kept on writing, and I wrote until very late that night. And I drank a little bit less. And the same thing the next day. Again, I had no idea what I was doing or where it was coming from, but by the seventh day, I was not drinking at all.“

Characters

; Max Andrews: The male protagonist. He is fired from Sellevision after accidentally showing his genitals on live TV. ; Peggy Jean Smythe: Considered the “top host” at Sellevision, she turns to Valium and alcohol after receiving strange emails from a stalker. ; Bebe Friedman: An older, single woman with a shopping addiction who finds her soulmate through the internet, only to find out that they might be “closer” than they thought. ; Leigh Bushmoore: One of the younger hosts on Sellevision, she is entangled in an affair with her married boss.

Adaptations

The film rights to ''Sellevision'' were optioned by former

Home Shopping Network HSN, Inc. an initialism of its former name Home Shopping Network, is an American free-to-air television network owned by the QVC Group (formerly Qurate Retail Group), which also owns Catalog merchant, catalog company Cornerstone Brands. It is ...

CEO Mark Bozek. Some actresses mentioned as signing on with the project included

Carrie Fisher Carrie Frances Fisher (October 21, 1956 – December 27, 2016) was an American actress and writer. She played Princess Leia in the Star Wars original trilogy, original ''Star Wars'' films (1977–1983) and reprised the role in'' Star Wars: The F ...

Julia Louis-Dreyfus Julia Scarlett Elizabeth Louis-Dreyfus ( ; born January 13, 1961) is an American actress and comedian. She has gained acclaim for starring in a string of successful comedy series as well as several comedy films. She has received List of awards ...

, and

Kristin Davis Kristin Landen Davis (also listed as Kristin Lee Davis; born February 23, 1965) is an American actress and producer. She is known for playing Charlotte York in the HBO romantic comedy series ''Sex and the City'' (1998–2004). She received no ...

. It was announced on September 10, 2009 that

Bryan Fuller Bryan Fuller (born July 27, 1969) is an American writer and producer, best known for creating the television series ''Pushing Daisies'' (2007–2009) and ''Hannibal (TV series), Hannibal'' (2013–2015). Fuller is also known for his work as a writ ...

and

Bryan Singer Bryan Jay Singer (born September 17, 1965) is an American filmmaker. He is the founder of Bad Hat Harry Productions and has produced almost all of the films he has directed, as well as multiple television series. After graduating from the Univ ...

were pitching ''Sellevision'' to NBC as a TV series. Fuller was writing the project, and Singer was on board to direct. In the TV adaptation, “we will keep true to the tone of the book, and most of the characters will be the same,” Fuller said.

External links

References

{{Augusten Burroughs 2000 American novels