huckabee discusses america's current political landscape. representative steve israel on his novel. julian examines lyndon johnson's great society. plus books on the history of washington, dc and inside report from north korea and much more. for complete television schedule booktv.org. booktv, 48 hours of nonfiction books and authors. television for serious readers. >> live from new york, it's saturday night. and the authors are james andrew miller and tom shales. mr. miller, what was the point of this book? >> we had written a definitive -- we wanted to be a definitive hoyt of "saturday night live," ended in 2002 and decided to update it. and turns out the last 12 years of "saturday night live" were very busy and there's a lot to write. we added another 200 pains.

>> tom shales you're a long-time tv critic. what was your contribution. >> i encouraged jim to keep working. go back to "saturday night live's" dawning. i was there not for the first show but i used to go to new york and hang around and make a nuisance of myself because i was immediately attracted to it. something both new and old and then went week in dives live tv, which i remember from being a kid and also broke all kinds of new ground in terms of what you could say and do and what subjects you could cover on television so the show has dear to my heart since the beginning 4 , years you. >> did cast members talk to you for the book? >> essly, mostly to jim. we both worked on the first become but jim did -- this new version was jim's idea and he talked to most of the new cast members who are a study in contrast to the old ones.

>> we had a lot of hosts and writers and people like governor palin, senator mccain obviously "saturday night live" had a great role during the 2008 presidential election and talked to tina fey about what went on. that was a lot of fun. and hosts from christopher walken to scar let johansen. so very interesting. probably more than 100 interviews. >> m mr. miller, how important is "saturday night live" to politics or -- has it always been a political show? >> well, it has. i mean right from the beginning when chevy chase used to make fun of gerald ford and fall down i think it's an important part of the political process. every four years when there's a presidential election, you kind of look to "saturday night live" to see how they're going to characterize and even brand some of the characters. governor palin told me that she thought that people overestimated "saturday night live's" influence on voters but

i think it may not actually materialize in the voting booth, like somebody who is questioning to vote for mccain and palin doesn't say, well, all of a sudden i'm going to vote for obama and biden because of that one "saturday night live" receive but it gives if an image of something. will ferrell playing bush 43 dana carvy, bush 41 gives us a sense who they are, fairly or unfairly. >> tom shales you wrote for the "washington post" down here in a political town. how important is the politics in "saturday night live"? >> well, i think as jim said, it's a lot of interaction there a lot of influence and they sort of couldn't live without each other, i guess. the show has gotten -- the show has always had a young audience young demographic, and for some of the young demographic this is their main exposure to politics or learn a lot of

political reality out there "saturday night live." they don't watch the news really very much i think. they maybe get stuff over the internet but "saturday night live" is an actual source of political information for them not just entertainment. i don't mean it's their only source but i think it plays a major role in how they think of things. >> the big difference is when "saturday night live" first start thread was nothing else like it so when they were doing the political satire, it was a big deal now. you have jon stewart every night at 11:00, city february kolbert john oliver, a lot of people doing what they used to do. so the competition is much more fierce. >> jim miller when you're not writing books, that do you do. >> if write papers and do media consult little. >> jim miller, tom shales live from new york, the complete onscreen sored history of "saturday night live." this is booktv on c-span2.

>> next, how a group of hackers, and geeks created the digitat revolution. ...ipt and they just gave me permission to deviate from it. that is what i am going to do. i first met walter isaacson a month ago washington d.c. and he gave me a copy of his new book and i was excited because i love coming come from trips with something for my wife and i got home and i was like i have got a copy of walter's new book. i knew she was a big fan. now we have two copies. she has gone out and bought it that afternoon. it was a spectacular book and if you haven't reawalt