It's not TV : the spectacular rise, revolution, and future of HBO

It's not TV The spectacular rise, revolution, and future of HBO

Felix Gillette

Book - 2022

"The riveting 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 g...roup 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"--

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Subjects
Home Box Office (Firm) > History.
Home Box Office (Firm)
Cable television > United States > History.
Subscription television > United States > History.
History.
Genres
History
Published
New York : Viking [2022]
Language
English
Main Author
Felix Gillette (author)
Other Authors
John Koblin (author)
Physical Description
402 pages ; 24 cm
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN
9780593296196
9780593653104
  • Prologue: Taking Flight
  • Part I. The Upstarts (1978-1995)
  • 1. Surviving the Premiere
  • 2. Punch Lines
  • 3. The Unsweer Science
  • 4. That "Cable Edge"
  • 5. Qualify Norse
  • Part II. Into the Shadows (1995-1999)
  • 6. The Land of Oz
  • 7. A Glamorous Playground
  • 8. Shooting the Moon
  • 9. The Ground Floor
  • Part III. Band of Shruggers (1998-2007)
  • 10. Sunday Is HBO
  • 11. Cable Envy
  • 12. Novel Reckonings
  • 13. Internet PTSD
  • 14. A Desert Gale
  • Part IV. The Night is Dark and Full of Netflix (2007-2018)
  • 15. HBOver
  • 16. Fresh Biood
  • 17. The Albanian Army
  • 18. Flying Blind
  • 19. Send a Raven
  • 20. A Clogged Pipeline
  • 21. AOL Déjà Vu
  • Part V. HBO to the Max (2018-2022)
  • 22. Dawn of the Bell Heads
  • 23. It's Just TV
  • 24. The Traumatic Arts
  • 25. Crimes of the Past
  • Acknowledgments
  • Notes
  • Index
Review by Booklist Review

Bringing in business, media, and art history, journalist-raconteurs Gillette (of Bloomberg News) and Koblin (The New York Times) snappily tell the sprawling life story of cable network HBO, from a destination for boxing matches broadcast around the world via new satellite technology in the 1970s, through its Y2K heyday with such hit Sunday nights shows as The Sopranos and Sex and the City, to its power plays in the arena where everyone, and everything, is streaming. Relying on subscribers rather than blandness-loving advertisers, HBO could court content from auteurs, "TV writers capable of diving into primordial undercurrents of humanity and reemerging with spellbinding tales of penitence and debauchery." There are loads of big names and insider tales here, like The Wire getting unceremoniously cancelled and, more shockingly, "un-cancelled," or an up-and-coming director quitting when an executive's next big project for him was his son's bar mitzvah, as well as unapologetic reminders of the network's shortcomings, in particular its protection of a CEO who assaulted multiple women and its general boy's-club atmosphere. Bingeworthy material for fans of behind-the-scenes media tales.

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

Journalists Gillette and Koblin debut with a comprehensive and brisk history of HBO. The cable network launched in 1975 with "some 375 subscribers," and from that inauspicious beginning, the authors trace the company's early successes, including original series Tales from the Crypt and Dream On, as well as hits that the network missed out on, such as It's Garry Shandling's Show (which went to Showtime). More recently, a big fish that got away was Netflix, the acquisition of which was considered in 2006 as the startup expanded to streaming. Instead the company developed HBO Go, which experienced numerous hiccups (reviewers were "unimpressed with the paltry amount" of programming) before being rebranded as HBO Max in 2020. Throughout, there are vivid accounts of the players who shaped the network, among them former director of documentary programming Sheila Nevins, who recalls the company's "boy's locker room" atmosphere in the '70s, and CEO Chris Albrecht, whose arrest for assault in 2007 marked a particularly challenging era. The authors are especially sharp in highlighting the contradictions in HBO's recent investment in "female-centric" shows: "When it came to selecting the visionary HBO creator... the role was still largely reserved for men. Even, in many cases, on shows about women." The result is a thorough, warts-and-all account of an entertainment industry giant. (Nov.)

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review

Seasoned mass communication observers and first-time authors Gillette (enterprise editor, Bloomberg News) and Koblin (the New York Times) add to the work of others analyzing Home Box Office, the premium, uncensored, and commercial-free cable channel. HBO changed the game of how stories could be told with such series as Sex in the City. This channel's frank depiction of race, gender, and sexuality has arguably influenced broadcast television as well as encouraged streaming rivals such as Netflix. Although premium cable channels now depict previously underrepresented demographics, their price barriers might still result in underserving these groups. Librarians and researchers should compare with other recent examinations of HBO, among them: History by HBO (Rebecca Weeks, 2022); HBO's Original Voices (Victoria McCollum and Giuliana Monteverde, 2018); The HBO Effect (Dean DeFino, 2014); and the identically titled It's Not TV (ed. by Marc Leverette, et al., 2008.) VERDICT Media-focused readers may enjoy the executives', actors', directors', and producers' personal accounts and the abbreviated storylines that review salient aspects of popular culture and iconic shows like The Sopranos, The Wire, Game of Thrones, Six Feet Under, The Larry Sanders Show, and Succession.--Frederick J. Augustyn Jr.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review

How a paid-TV novelty rose to prominence. Media reporters Gillette and Koblin begin with the launch of the Home Box Office network, which "sputtered" to life in 1972 with only 375 subscribers. During the early years of cable TV, HBO sought to distinguish itself with innovative satellite technology, broadcasting the iconic 1975 boxing match between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier. By the early 1980s, HBO began test-marketing more late-night adult programming ("low-cost enticement to male viewers") and sexuality documentaries, thanks to Emmy Award--winning documentary filmmaker Sheila Nevins, alongside its live broadcasts of major sporting events. Despite the success of scripted shows like Tales From the Crypt and Dream On, a series of missed opportunities prevented HBO from rising even higher. Showtime cut into HBO's business in 1986 when they bought It's Gary Shandling's Show, which HBO passed on, but the 1990s and early 2000s ushered in original series blockbusters like Sex and the City, Oz, and The Sopranos, which buoyed parent company Time Warner. As viewership evolved, so did the need for networks to bring in something new and groundbreaking. HBO's profits were declining due to the new DVD delivery service, Netflix, and executives were forced to swallow their pride at not acquiring the startup when they had the chance in 2006. As Netflix exploded, HBO entered the streaming arena with the HBO Go service, which soon morphed into HBO Max in 2020. Throughout their comprehensively detailed account, Gillette and Koblin remain fair-minded in their reportage, accentuating not only HBO's successes, but also its many failures. Though their brisk narrative is straightforward, it contains plenty of business melodrama. The authors offer profiles of the network executives that helped usher in successful eras, including Time Warner CEO Gerald Levin, who excelled as a shrewd mass-media businessman, and agent Chris Albrecht, whose interpersonal problems became a publicity nightmare. Pair with James Andrew Miller's Tinderbox. Entertainment buffs will find this report of a risk-taking network fascinating. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

EXCERPT COMING SOON Excerpted from It's Not TV: The Spectacular Rise, Revolution, and Future of HBO by Felix Gillette, John Koblin All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.

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