Lamb to End 'Booknotes' Run

by Staff -- Publishers Weekly, 8/16/2004

After a 15-year run, Booknotes will cease production in December, as host and C-SPAN CEO Brian Lamb will move on to working on other interview programs. In explaining Lamb's decision to end Booknotes, C-SPAN spokesperson Robin Scullin noted that it takes Lamb about 20 hours to prepare for each show. "There's some desire for some weeks when he doesn't have to read a book," she said.

Lamb will continue to host Washington Journal and oversee C-SPAN. He'll also host a new show called Q&A, which won't specialize in author interviews but will sit in the same time slot as Booknotes. It will debut December 12.

Connie Doebele, executive producer of BookTV, which runs on C-SPAN 2 every weekend, said the end of Booknotes will give BookTV a chance "to try something new." BookTV produced Booknotes, but won't produce Q&A since it isn't a book show, freeing staff time, Doebele said. "We're trying to decide how best to keep BookTV fresh," Doebele said. The channel does a limited amount of original programming and may add more. "We're looking to find innovative ways to cover books," Doebele said.

One staple of BookTV, "encore" presentations of Booknotes, is likely to continue running for some time.