Sellevision


Sellevision a novel is the first work published by Augusten Burroughs, author of the best-selling books Running with Scissors, Dry, and Magical Thinking. Unlike Burroughs’ subsequent memoirs, 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: Only main male character. 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 stalking e-mails.
; Bebe Friedman: An older, single woman who finally finds her soulmate, 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 rights to Sellevision have been optioned by former Home Shopping Network CEO Mark Bozek and is currently in production as a feature film. Some actresses mentioned as signing on with the project include Carrie Fisher, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and Kristin Davis.
Announced on September 10, 2009 Bryan Fuller and Bryan Singer are pitching Sellevision to NBC as a TV series. Fuller is writing the project, based on Augusten Burroughs’ novel. 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. Singer is on board to direct.