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Interesting look at show runners of key critically acclaimed shows - if you are a fan of the wire, mad men, sopranos, the shield, deadwood - this is good stuff, albeit a little repetitive. Very fast read.
I'm probably not the person to review this book, in part because I'm not the target audience. I guess I didn't read the title closely enough, I thought this was going to be an analysis or an argument about the rise of the anti-hero on post-Sopranos "quality television." Instead it's just a lot of behind the scenes stories (most of which are also recounted in [b:The Revolution Was Televised: The Cops, Crooks, Slingers and Slayers Who Changed TV Drama Forever|16137527|The Revolution Was Televised The Cops, Crooks, Slingers and Slayers Who Changed TV Drama Forever|Alan Sepinwall|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1352418331s/16137527.jpg|21966637] and comments only vaguely on why so many of these shows focus on men (he uses the reasoning that they were created by middle-aged men, and also focuses only on shows headlined by men, so the title is by selection rather than argument).
The book relies a lot on interviews with television creators and actors, but very little on other literature. It's probably my background in academia that his lack of citation (a pitiful things I looked at list, but nothing in text) offended me. Shrug/ It's a fun written fast paced read, it also made me want to teach the Sopranos pilot in class this fall, so I'm going to go look at the syllabus for that.
Probably like many people who read this book, I also read Alan Sepinwall's "The Revolution Was Televised." It's definitely worth reading both as there's not that much overlap. This book concentrates more on the men (mostly men) behind the scenes, their working habits and more importantly their attitude towards the medium in which they're working. It gives, even more than Sepinwall's book, a sense of what it might be like to work with these guys, what they're like as bosses and co-workers.
The picture isn't always pretty, but it's always compelling. It's easy to imagine that even people who left David Chase in tears will look back on it as a time in their life where they were, if nothing else, very alive.
I think I have a just about bottomless appetite for good analysis of these shows and the anxieties that drive them, so this book was a total enjoyment for me. Definitely recommend it--and Sepinwall's as well since personally I prefer analysis of the work itself rather than the people behind it. This book, of course, shows how those two things are often inseparable.
The picture isn't always pretty, but it's always compelling. It's easy to imagine that even people who left David Chase in tears will look back on it as a time in their life where they were, if nothing else, very alive.
I think I have a just about bottomless appetite for good analysis of these shows and the anxieties that drive them, so this book was a total enjoyment for me. Definitely recommend it--and Sepinwall's as well since personally I prefer analysis of the work itself rather than the people behind it. This book, of course, shows how those two things are often inseparable.
This was not a bad book by any means, there just wasn't too much in it that I hadn't read before. I read way too much stuff about pop culture, however, so I suppose it just depends on where you're coming from. That said, I think the showrunner's role and how different men have handled it is pretty fascinating stuff.
I know want to watch all these shows. Reminiscent of Biskind's Easy Riders, Raging Bulls in its easy story-telling mode and gossipy goodness.
I don't get putting The Shield in the same pantheon with The Sopranos, The Wire, Deadwood, Breaking Bad, and Mad Men. Doesn't matter that it might have preceded some of those great shows. FX shows are pretty much all facsimiles of other great shows.
That said, the background on these great shows makes this book worthy of a read. Plenty to skim, but the good stuff is very good.
That said, the background on these great shows makes this book worthy of a read. Plenty to skim, but the good stuff is very good.
If you are a fan of the Sopranos, the Wire, Mad Men, Breaking Bad, this book is a perfect behind the scenes look. Also, if you are interesting in storytelling--both the art and the mechanics--this book has a lot of valuable insight. These TV shows were literature, and this book chronicles how that happened.
Tremendous book; if you have any interest in the current state of television & how we got here you should definitely pick this up.
In the Third Golden Age of television (as Brett Martin calls it) things have changed drastically. With the rise of cable television, channels like HBO, Showtime and so on, are able to push the boundaries not afforded to network TV. Shows like The Sopranos, The Wire and Mad Men allowed the writers to offer something more complex or unpredictable. This saw the rise of the difficult men, characters like Tony Soprano (The Sopranos), Walter White (Breaking Bad) and Don Draper (Mad Men) offered a character study never seen before by viewers.
Brett Martin’s book Difficult Men looks at the stories behind some of the greatest shows of our time, mainly focusing on The Sopranos, Breaking Bad, The Wire and Mad Men. This is a deeper look into the evolution of modern story telling. The male protagonist within the Third Golden Age tends to be an enigma; complex, impulsive and so much more real. The type of characters that frustrates you with their mistakes but you can’t help but continuously watching.
The problem with this book is that it makes me want to watch all these shows. I have only gotten through half of The Sopranos and I haven’t found the time to try The Wire or Treme. All these shows look really great but finding time to binge watch them has become a real problem. I love reading about pop-culture and how it changes over the years and Difficult Men gave me everything I wanted. I enjoyed the insider information and the stories behind the stories. I can only hope that this evolution will start to extend toward better female leads. I would like to see the same treatment the Third Golden Age of television has give to men offered to woman as well.
What I enjoy about these types of shows is not that the men are difficult but the way they tackle real issues and treat the protagonist as a real and flawed human being. They can explore ideas of life and death, love and sexuality, addiction, race and violence and the protagonist often struggles or makes mistakes. They often evolve as characters but it doesn’t mean they grow, there are times when I think Don Draper (Mad Men) or Hank Moody (Californication) have finally grown as a person but there is often slip ups or a spanner thrown into the mix, this makes for compelling television but also feels more real.
A huge section of Difficult Men is devoted to The Sopranos and James Gandolfini which is worth checking out. Gandolfini, in his own right, wasn’t a stereotypical leading man and there was a big exploration into his mental state. Playing the role of Tony Soprano was a very taxing role and what made James Gandolfini great at the job is how he didn’t act the role, he became the character. This ended taking a huge toll on his psychological wellbeing and this raises some interesting thoughts about the effect a role has on the actor.
Fans of television, pop culture or these shows in general will enjoy this book but I think a look into the psychological effect on the people involved will make this something to sit up and take notice. Hollywood is a complex industry and the effects can be damaging; all you have to do is walk down Hollywood Boulevard to see how it effects people. I am a big fan of the ground breaking changes these shows made towards the television industry but I didn’t realise the side effects. Brett Martin did a good job going behind the scenes and getting the back story.
This review originally appeared on my blog: http://literary-exploration.com/2014/10/14/difficult-men-by-brett-martin/
Brett Martin’s book Difficult Men looks at the stories behind some of the greatest shows of our time, mainly focusing on The Sopranos, Breaking Bad, The Wire and Mad Men. This is a deeper look into the evolution of modern story telling. The male protagonist within the Third Golden Age tends to be an enigma; complex, impulsive and so much more real. The type of characters that frustrates you with their mistakes but you can’t help but continuously watching.
The problem with this book is that it makes me want to watch all these shows. I have only gotten through half of The Sopranos and I haven’t found the time to try The Wire or Treme. All these shows look really great but finding time to binge watch them has become a real problem. I love reading about pop-culture and how it changes over the years and Difficult Men gave me everything I wanted. I enjoyed the insider information and the stories behind the stories. I can only hope that this evolution will start to extend toward better female leads. I would like to see the same treatment the Third Golden Age of television has give to men offered to woman as well.
What I enjoy about these types of shows is not that the men are difficult but the way they tackle real issues and treat the protagonist as a real and flawed human being. They can explore ideas of life and death, love and sexuality, addiction, race and violence and the protagonist often struggles or makes mistakes. They often evolve as characters but it doesn’t mean they grow, there are times when I think Don Draper (Mad Men) or Hank Moody (Californication) have finally grown as a person but there is often slip ups or a spanner thrown into the mix, this makes for compelling television but also feels more real.
A huge section of Difficult Men is devoted to The Sopranos and James Gandolfini which is worth checking out. Gandolfini, in his own right, wasn’t a stereotypical leading man and there was a big exploration into his mental state. Playing the role of Tony Soprano was a very taxing role and what made James Gandolfini great at the job is how he didn’t act the role, he became the character. This ended taking a huge toll on his psychological wellbeing and this raises some interesting thoughts about the effect a role has on the actor.
Fans of television, pop culture or these shows in general will enjoy this book but I think a look into the psychological effect on the people involved will make this something to sit up and take notice. Hollywood is a complex industry and the effects can be damaging; all you have to do is walk down Hollywood Boulevard to see how it effects people. I am a big fan of the ground breaking changes these shows made towards the television industry but I didn’t realise the side effects. Brett Martin did a good job going behind the scenes and getting the back story.
This review originally appeared on my blog: http://literary-exploration.com/2014/10/14/difficult-men-by-brett-martin/
maybe 2.5, idk
an interesting read, especially for someone like me who is very into tv and a lot of these specific tv shows, but ultimately i feel that it was much too soft on the "difficult" men making these shows, and severely overlooked the very real harm they caused to other human beings (particularly women, one showrunners domestic violence related arrests are given a mere couple of lines) whilst in pursuit of their vision. this book seems to take the stand that it was all worth it ~for the art~, and i think especially given the current movements that we're in, it so starkly contrasts with my own feelings on that topic. not mad i read it though
an interesting read, especially for someone like me who is very into tv and a lot of these specific tv shows, but ultimately i feel that it was much too soft on the "difficult" men making these shows, and severely overlooked the very real harm they caused to other human beings (particularly women, one showrunners domestic violence related arrests are given a mere couple of lines) whilst in pursuit of their vision. this book seems to take the stand that it was all worth it ~for the art~, and i think especially given the current movements that we're in, it so starkly contrasts with my own feelings on that topic. not mad i read it though