From The Sopranos to streaming: the scandalous behind-the-screens story of the TV revolution by the author of the cult film classic Easy Riders,Raging Bulls.
The revolution has been televized. From The Sopranos to Stranger Things,the shows we watch - and the ways we watch them - have been transformed over the past fifty years. Out of the bland wasteland of'play-it-safe'broadcasting came astonishing stories of sex,violence,and corruption shown first on cable,and then by way of streaming. Today,the power of viewers to select what they want and when they want it is greater than ever before. In short,we are living in a new golden age of television,but golden ages don't last forever. Revolutions have a habit of eating their own,and the era of'peak TV'may have an unhappy ending.Pandora's Box is a major new account of the small screen from cultural critic Peter Biskind. Through exclusive,candid and colourful interviews with writers,showrunners,directors and actors,Biskind brings us face to face with the people whose creations we encounter every day on our sofas,and reveals the dynamic interplay of art,commerce and technology. We follow executives down the corridors of power and see how their money and guile cultivate,then crush creativity; we witness the making - and unmaking - of TVs biggest hits. There has never been a more exciting time in entertainment history,and Peter Biskind,the ideal insider guide,captures it all.
Publisher: Penguin Books LtdISBN: 9780241443903Number of pages: 400Weight: 500 gDimensions: 222 x 138 x 40 mm
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Peter Biskind's Pandora's Box is not only a richly detailed and colorful account of how TV has defiantly superseded the cinema in the last thirty years,but also an important historic document. Biskind brilliantly maneuvers his way through a panoply of cinematic and television endeavor with the precision of a surgeon's scalpel. A gripping and compulsive readPeter Biskind has always been the most rigorous and amusing Hollywood historian we have,taking on the great men of the past-and now with his trademark cheeky intelligence he takes on the giants of the present age of television-as-cinema. Despite my having lived much of the book's arc,Biskind offers a fresh perspective on the new Wild West of home entertainmentThis brisk,blistering overview of how streaming has changed where we put our eyeballs is classic binge-worthy reading. I had no idea the people who created culture-altering shows are as entertaining as the shows themselves,but Peter Biskind did,and you'll never look at them same way againPeter Biskind takes on a wild,whirlwind tour of the birth,life,death,and rebirth of cable and streaming services,introducingus to the people behind them who turn out to be as ferociously nutty as the characters they put on the screenPeter Biskind catalogs real-life misbehavior by the principals responsible for an array of lauded series with the same unsparing eye that he detailed the excesses of New Hollywood in Easy Riders,Raging Bulls This gossip-filled overview of the past 40 years of television will keep readers glued to their seatsBiskind is known as much for his outspoken opinions as his insightful commentary,and Pandora's Box is Biskind at his most candid. For readers interested in what goes on behind the scenes in the world of television,a must-read- - Praise for Peter BiskindWho else can explicate the hidden politics of movies and make you laugh out loud at the same timeInsanely readableYou'll never look at your favourite movies and TV shows the same way again. And you shouldn'tThoughtful,entertaining and occasionally profoundSpot onDishy,teeming,superbly reported...packed with lively inside anecdotes...(a) juicy and fascinating exposé Sensationally entertaining Peter Biskind's great,scathing,news-packed history...is one hell of an elixir-salty with flavorsome gossip,sour with the aftertaste of misspent careers,intoxicating with one revelation after another...an ABiskind's devourable book is that rarity,a Hollywood exposé that you can read mouth agape,slurping up scandal and titillation so fast you're in danger of choking-without feeling ashamed of yourselfBiskind is a magician at prying revealing yarns and juicy quotes out of his subjects. And the resulting scenarios are deliciously tawdry...moments of real intelligence and grace
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