Difficult Men
by Brett Martin · first published 2013
3mentions
2recommended by
3HN commenters
2013–2026first – last mentioned
67% recommend33% neutral
"A riveting and revealing look at the shows that helped cable television drama emerge as the signature art form of the twenty-first century In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the landscape of television began an unprecedented transformation. While the networks continued to chase the lowest common denominator, a wave of new shows, first on premium cable channels like HBO and then basic cable networks like FX and AMC, dramatically stretched television's narrative inventiveness, emotional resonance, and artistic ambition. No longer necessarily concerned with creating always-likable characters, pl
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…OP doesn't really have a strong understanding of the mechanics of the TV business. For anyone who is interested in learning more about the mechanics of the TV business, I strongly recommend the book "Difficult Men" by Brett Martin. It's nominally about shows like the Sopranos and their creators, but there is a lot about the industry that is "quality television".
on “Why Netflix should buy AMC” ↗…by 1,000 papercuts. Netflix. Redbox. Cable system technology improving drastically. Cable TV improving drastically (this happened right around the time Blockbuster peaked, great book on how/why called Difficult Men). TV show quality in general improving drastically. The rise of HBO. Poor management. Etc.
on “ATMs didn't kill bank Teller jobs, but the iPhone did” ↗Recently someone gave me this book called "Difficult Men" by Brett Martin. Nope wasnt about mass shootings. It was about the protagonists created in the most popular TV shows in the US and the minds of the writers behind them. So Sopranos, Mad Men, Dexter,…
on “Nearly all U.S. mass attackers were male and faced major life stressor” ↗