Well this oughta be entertaining

[Eric Christopherson]

http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/james-ellroy-to-star-in-invest...

James Ellroy has his own TV series now. He's quite a character based on his TV appearances. I tried reading LA Confidential once but couldn't get into it for some reason. Any Ellroy fans here?

[Dana King]

Ellroy fascinates me, but not always in a good way, though his writing and persobnality have grown on me. I'll say this: the show will either be a ball to watch, or it will suck like endless reruns of HEAVEN'S GATE. No middle of theroad for Ellroy.

[Jim Thomsen]

He goes into my "authors whose work I respect but don't like" file. The absence of quote marks in his novels is, in my opinion, an irritating affectation.

[John McFetridge]

I really like Ellroy's work. I just finished his American Underworld trilogyy (American Tabloid, The Cold Six Thousand and Blood's a Rover) and they all have quote marks (he's not Cormac McCarthy ;) They have some odd dialogue and odd narration, that's for sure, and it can take a while to get into it, but I found it was worth it.

Sometimes I feel he may go too far with this idea that every character is pretty much morally bankrupt and selfish, but I do think he's writing about the world the way he sees it.

And I agree, a TV show could be really interesting or just too wierd.

[J W Nelson]

Ellroy's evolution fascinates me as does his earlier work. He could be a fascinating personality on-screen.

[Stacy]

Interesting.

[Jeffrey J. Mariotte]

I loved Ellroy's earlier work; he lost me at White Jazz, and I haven't read the newer stuff (except shorts and nonfiction). The Black Dahlia is, I believe, utterly brilliant, and Big Nowhere and L.A. Confidential were terrific too. Even the early ones, Brown's Requiem and Clandestine, were leagues beyond most of their competition at the time. He's definitely a gifted writer. If you're only going to read one Ellroy, though, make it Dahlia.

We also used to be friends, though I haven't seen him for years now. And one of his L.A. cop friends is a college buddy who I knew years, maybe decades before I ever met Ellroy, though I didn't know that until I heard his voice on a TV show, riding in a car with Ellroy. Mike Connelly put us back in touch a couple of years ago. I'll definitely check out the show. And either someone is very gifted at matching his tone, or Ellroy himself wrote the series description at that link.