Difficult Men
Behind the Scenes of a Creative Revolution
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Narrated by:
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Christopher Grove
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By:
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Brett Martin
About this listen
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, plots that wrapped up neatly every episode, or subjects that were deemed safe and appropriate, shows such as The Wire, The Sopranos, Mad Men, Deadwood, The Shield, and more tackled issues of life and death, love and sexuality, addiction, race, violence, and existential boredom. Just as the Big Novel had in the 1960s and the subversive films of New Hollywood had in 1970s, television shows became the place to go to see stories of the triumph and betrayals of the American Dream at the beginning of the twenty-first century.
This revolution happened at the hands of a new breed of auteur: the all-powerful writer-show runner. These were men nearly as complicated, idiosyncratic, and “difficult” as the conflicted protagonists that defined the genre. Given the chance to make art in a maligned medium, they fell upon the opportunity with unchecked ambition.
Combining deep reportage with cultural analysis and historical context, Brett Martin recounts the rise and inner workings of a genre that represents not only a new golden age for TV but also a cultural watershed. Difficult Men features extensive interviews with all the major players, including David Chase (The Sopranos), David Simon and Ed Burns (The Wire), Matthew Weiner and Jon Hamm (Mad Men), David Milch (NYPD Blue, Deadwood), and Alan Ball (Six Feet Under), in addition to dozens of other writers, directors, studio executives, actors, production assistants, makeup artists, script supervisors, and so on. Martin takes us behind the scenes of our favorite shows, delivering never-before-heard story after story and revealing how cable TV has distinguished itself dramatically from the networks, emerging from the shadow of film to become a truly significant and influential part of our culture.
©2013 Brett Martin (P)2024 Penguin AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
"Following what the journalist Brett Martin identifies as a first burst of literary energy in the 1950s (when the medium was young) and a second in the 1980s (when the forward-thinking television executive Grant Tinker’s MGM Enterprises begat the groundbreaking Hill Street Blues), this moment of ascendancy has become television’s 'Third Golden Age.'” And in ‘Difficult Men,’ Martin maps a wonderfully smart, lively and culturally astute survey of this recent revelation—starting with a great title that does double duty….Martin writes with a psychological insight that enhances his nimble reporting."—New York Times Book Review
"Martin is a thorough reporter and artful storyteller, clearly entranced with, though not deluded by, his subjects… In between the delicious bits of insider trading, the book makes a strong if not terribly revelatory argument for the creative process."—Los Angeles Times
"Martin offers sharp analysis of the advances in technology and storytelling that helped TV become the 21st century's predominant art form. But his best material comes from interviews with writers, directors, and others who dish about Weiner's egomania, Milch's battles with substance abuse, and Chase's weirdest acid trip ever."—Entertainment Weekly
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Performance
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Who invented reality television, the world’s most dangerous pop-culture genre? And why can’t we look away? In this revelatory, deeply reported account of the rise of “dirty documentary”—from its contentious roots in radio to the ascent of Donald Trump—Emily Nussbaum unearths the origin story of the genre that ate the world, as told through the lively voices of the people who built it. At once gimlet-eyed and empathetic, Cue the Sun! explores the morally charged, funny, and sometimes tragic consequences of the hunt for something real inside something fake.
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Weak, semi-unconnected stories
- By KDN on 07-20-24
By: Emily Nussbaum
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The War on Warriors
- Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free
- By: Pete Hegseth
- Narrated by: Pete Hegseth
- Length: 8 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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The War on Warriors uncovers the deep roots of our dysfunction—a society that has forgotten the men who take risks, cut through red tape, and get their hands dirty. The only kind of men prepared to face the dangers that the Left pretends don’t exist. Unlike issues of education or taxes or crime, this problem doesn’t have a zip code solution. We can’t move away from it. We can’t avoid it. We have only one Pentagon. Either we take it back or surrender it altogether.
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Well Done
- By Catherine on 06-11-24
By: Pete Hegseth
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Hits, Flops, and Other Illusions
- My Fortysomething Years in Hollywood
- By: Ed Zwick
- Narrated by: Ed Zwick
- Length: 10 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Though there are many factors behind such success, including luck and the contributions of his creative partner Marshall Herskovitz, he’s known to have a special talent for bringing out the best in the people he’s worked with, notably the actors. In those intense collaborations, he seeks to discover the small pieces of connective tissue, vulnerability, and fellowship that can help an actor realize their character in full.
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Authentic, Sobering & Full of Grace
- By David_Leah Wiley on 02-17-24
By: Ed Zwick
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James Gandolfini
- The Real Life of the Man Who Made Tony Soprano
- By: Dan Bischoff
- Narrated by: John Ventimiglia
- Length: 6 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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James Gandolfini: The Real Life of the Man Who Made Tony Soprano is the first biography of the actor, who died in June 2013 at age 51, widely recognized as one of the best - and most defining - actors of his generation. The audiobook, as performed by Gandolfini's Sopranos co-star John Ventimiglia (Artie Bucco), is informed by fresh interviews with Sopranos actors, HBO executives, the star’s acting teachers and coaches, his childhood friends, buddies from his days as a nightclub bouncer, and Hollywood figures including the directors of his posthumously released films.
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The Moving Story of a Man Who Touched Our Lives
- By Susie on 04-14-14
By: Dan Bischoff
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Cinema Speculation
- By: Quentin Tarantino
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini, Quentin Tarantino
- Length: 10 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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In addition to being among the most celebrated of contemporary filmmakers, Quentin Tarantino is possibly the most joyously infectious movie lover alive. For years he has touted in interviews his eventual turn to writing books about films. Now, with Cinema Speculation, the time has come, and the results are everything his passionate fans—and all movie lovers—could have hoped for. Organized around key American films from the 1970s, all of which he first saw as a young moviegoer at the time, this book is as intellectually rigorous and insightful as it is rollicking and entertaining.
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A letdown I didn't see coming.
- By polycow on 11-03-22
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The Fifty-Year Mission: The Complete, Uncensored, Unauthorized Oral History of Star Trek: The First 25 Years
- By: Edward Gross, Mark A. Altman, Seth MacFarlane - foreword
- Narrated by: Helen Litchfield, Alex Hyde-White, Jason Olazabal, and others
- Length: 23 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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The original Star Trek series debuted in 1966 and has spawned five TV series spin-offs and a dozen feature films, with an upcoming one from Paramount arriving in 2016. The Fifty-Year Mission is a no-holds-barred oral history of five decades of Star Trek, told by the people who were there. Hear from the hundreds of television and film executives, programmers, writers, creators, and cast as they unveil the oftentimes shocking story of Star Trek's ongoing 50-year mission.
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Best book I've ever heard on making pop culture
- By Chris Smith on 07-13-16
By: Edward Gross, and others
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Cue the Sun!
- The Invention of Reality TV
- By: Emily Nussbaum
- Narrated by: Gabra Zackman
- Length: 15 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Who invented reality television, the world’s most dangerous pop-culture genre? And why can’t we look away? In this revelatory, deeply reported account of the rise of “dirty documentary”—from its contentious roots in radio to the ascent of Donald Trump—Emily Nussbaum unearths the origin story of the genre that ate the world, as told through the lively voices of the people who built it. At once gimlet-eyed and empathetic, Cue the Sun! explores the morally charged, funny, and sometimes tragic consequences of the hunt for something real inside something fake.
-
-
Weak, semi-unconnected stories
- By KDN on 07-20-24
By: Emily Nussbaum
-
The War on Warriors
- Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free
- By: Pete Hegseth
- Narrated by: Pete Hegseth
- Length: 8 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The War on Warriors uncovers the deep roots of our dysfunction—a society that has forgotten the men who take risks, cut through red tape, and get their hands dirty. The only kind of men prepared to face the dangers that the Left pretends don’t exist. Unlike issues of education or taxes or crime, this problem doesn’t have a zip code solution. We can’t move away from it. We can’t avoid it. We have only one Pentagon. Either we take it back or surrender it altogether.
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Well Done
- By Catherine on 06-11-24
By: Pete Hegseth
What listeners say about Difficult Men
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Kevin Walters
- 05-21-24
Difficult Men, Fantastic Book
For all of us who gave so many hours to watching, rewatching, and obsessing over the Crown Jewels of the Peak TV “revolution” this book is a dishy, juicy, trip down TV memory lane. At the end of the day, they were *just* TV shows and they were works of sustained brilliance.
Having said that, that Vince Gilligan (who ran the happiest writers’ room) was also the showrunner to have the biggest success after his main show (Breaking Bad) ended while all of the ruthless, selfish, cut-throat showrunners all had their days in the sun and haven’t come close to repeating their feats again might speak to being nice to people on the way up because you’re gonna see them on the way down (Matthew Wiener.)
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