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This book delivers on what it promises: inside stories, cultural analysis, and lots of interview content. It's clear that Brett Martin had loads of direct access to the many industry players, and he does the work of synthesizing everything into a tight timeline. I constantly turned to my boyfriend and said "apparantly...." with some fun fact. The majority of the book is focused on David Chase and The Sopranos, with The Wire following for close second, then Six Fert Under, The Sheild, Mad Men, and Breaking Bad in descending order of pages. I would recommend it to anyone for whom the subtitle is appealing - you'll get what you're looking for.
I have not watched Six Feet Under or The Sheild. Luckily, it's very obvious when a show is going to become the focus of the writing. I skipped the section on 6FU, since I plan to watch it. I didn't skip the section on The Shield, and felt enough was explained to make it relevant to the larger thesis.
It must be stated that Sex & The City is given 1 paragraph, when it deserves much more, but there is a "Difficult Women" article in the New Yorker that corrects the record.
I have not watched Six Feet Under or The Sheild. Luckily, it's very obvious when a show is going to become the focus of the writing. I skipped the section on 6FU, since I plan to watch it. I didn't skip the section on The Shield, and felt enough was explained to make it relevant to the larger thesis.
It must be stated that Sex & The City is given 1 paragraph, when it deserves much more, but there is a "Difficult Women" article in the New Yorker that corrects the record.
This was very good, until it wasn't. The end got...slow, perhaps. I don't know. Interestingly, I don't, in general, watch any of these shows. But I'm interested in pop culture, and I'm interested in the anti-hero because I mostly HATE the anti-hero. (Hence the reason I don't watch these shows.) If I did like these shows, I'm not sure that knowing more about the showrunner/writer of the show enhances my love for the show, but it probably doesn't hurt it, either. I suppose there is a very narrow audience for this book, but if you're among that audience, it's easy enough to read.
When reading this book, I had to first come to terms with the fact that this was not a text with any pointed message. It does not try to make much of an argument. The book is just a peek into the process and people behind the great shows of the last decade. And if that appeals to you, this is definitely worth a quick read. I want to stress again that there's not much of an argument being made, so by extension, there's not a whole lot of structure to the book either. It moves chronologically, but Brett Martin clearly had either a personal bias toward or a shit-ton more connections with The Sopranos. I'd guess at least half the book is just about David Chase, his room, the influence of his show, etc. Another 15-20% pays due lip service to The Wire. The rest is kind of slapped together with whatever was available until we end on pretty much a day in the room with Breaking Bad and a pretty thin epilogue.