2024 the best hbo tv series review

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“A read so riveting, it's not hard to imagine watching it unfold on Sunday nights.” —The Associated Press

“An incisive account that is more than a rosy victory lap for one of TV’s most influential channels.” —Eric Deggans, NPR’s “Books We Love”

“It’s Not TV proves to be a lively companion to all these shows.” —Andrew O’Hagan, The New York Review of Books

The inside story of HBO, the start-up company that reinvented television—by two veteran media reporters

HBO changed how stories could be told on TV. The Sopranos, Sex and the City, The Wire, Game of Thrones. The network’s meteoric rise heralded the second golden age of television with serialized shows that examined and reflected American anxieties, fears, and secret passions through complicated characters who were flawed and often unlikable. HBO’s own behind-the-scenes story is as complex, compelling, and innovative as the dramas the network created, driven by unorthodox executives who pushed the boundaries of what viewers understood as television at the turn of the century. Originally conceived by a small upstart group of entrepreneurs to bring Hollywood movies into living rooms across America, the scrappy network grew into one of the most influential and respected players in Hollywood. It’s Not TV is the deeply reported, definitive story of one of America’s most daring and popular cultural institutions, laying bare HBO’s growth, dominance, and vulnerability within the capricious media landscape over the past fifty years.

Through the visionary executives, showrunners, and producers who shaped HBO, seasoned journalists Gillette and Koblin bring to life a dynamic cast of characters who drove the company’s creative innovation in astonishing ways—outmaneuvering copycat competitors, taming Hollywood studios, transforming 1980s comedians and athletes like Chris Rock and Mike Tyson into superstars, and in the late 1990s and 2000s elevating the commercial-free, serialized drama to a revered art form. But in the midst of all its success, HBO was also defined by misbehaving executives, internal power struggles, and a few crucial miscalculations.

As data-driven models like Netflix have taken over streaming, HBO’s artful, instinctual, and humanistic approach to storytelling is in jeopardy. Taking readers into the boardrooms and behind the camera, It’s Not TV tells the surprising, fascinating story of HBO’s ascent, its groundbreaking influence on American business, technology, and popular culture, and its increasingly precarious position in the very market it created.

From the Publisher

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Viking (November 1, 2022)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 416 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0593296192
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0593296196
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.25 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.45 x 1.35 x 9.28 inches
Reviewer: Jessica T.
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: I was really into it
Review: This was interesting because I never thought of HBO as anything other than the huge dominator than it is now...I never thought about where or how it started. But reading this made me remember earlier days, sneaking to watch shows like Real Sex and when there wasn't a huge variety of stuff to watch yet. And in college when a bunch of us would gather in the lounge on Sunday nights to watch the new episode of Sex and the City. It was fascinating to read how everything came about, all the internal struggles and changes and everything else. I was glued to it.

Reviewer: Toni Marić
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Great history and overview of HBO story
Review: This is one od the most thorough written history of any company or network. Honestly for my taste a bit too thorough and I skipped like 40% of the book because writer was going in details about every character involved with the company.All in all recommended read for all media and TV experts and investors in similar companies.

Reviewer: Robert Vale
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: A fine abalysus…
Review: A great written book about the history, and possible future of HBO, although with HBO as latest merger with discovery, technically Time Warner and discovery, it’s missing what’s going to be a very interesting future for HBO, but it was an excellent read, especially after reading the oral history of HBO earlier this year very well researched enjoyed it a lot

Reviewer: Sridhar Pappu
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: A phenomenal work!
Review: HBO helped shape not only television but American culture. John Koblin and Felix Gillette through meticulous reporting and fantastic prose provide readers with an exhaustive, enlightening look into the power players and great personalities that helped shape this American institution. A truly amazing book.

Reviewer: Corwin Haught
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Good
Review: good

Reviewer: Raffaella De Luca
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Excellent!!!!
Review: I was looking for a non fiction book and ordered it on a whim, not really knowing what to expect. It turned out to be excellent. Interesting subject, incredibly well researched and written and so so witty. Do yourself a favor and get it!

Reviewer: The Brit
Rating: 2.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Funny for what's not in it
Review: The book is well written, but if you've been following the media for years as I unfortunately have you will realize fairly quickly what is not in it. Nothing about the celebrity industrial complex is in here. Vague references to the Clinton's, but it all comes off like fan boy fiction. We standing in the White House! Who cares? I realize now we all should have cared. Why were HBO executives at the White House? All the nonsense we live with now started in the 90's. A book about HBO and not one mention of Bill Maher? Not even his name as a comedian who did stand up specials in the early days? Is that the only way they could put it out by not mentioning some current long term stars? Because it seems very odd

Reviewer: Amazon Customer
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Great read!
Review: This is a great read! The book was so thoroughly researched and written. It is an absolutely indispensable history of HBO and tv during this era. A must for anyone interested in the topic.