The Revolution Was Televised: The Cops, Crooks, Slingers, and Slayers Who Changed TV Drama Forever
Written by Alan Sepinwall
Narrated by Joe Ochman
4/5
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Currently unavailable
About this audiobook
A mob boss in therapy. An experimental, violent prison unit. The death of an American city, as seen through a complex police investigation. A lawless frontier town trying to talk its way into the United States. A corrupt cop who rules his precinct like a warlord. The survivors of a plane crash trying to make sense of their disturbing new island home. A high school girl by day, monster fighter by night. A spy who never sleeps. A space odyssey inspired by 9/11. An embattled high school football coach. A polished ad exec with a secret. A chemistry teacher turned drug lord.
These are the subjects of 12 shows that started a revolution in TV drama: The Sopranos. Oz. The Wire. Deadwood. The Shield. Lost. Buffy the Vampire Slayer. 24. Battlestar Galactica. Friday Night Lights. Mad Men. Breaking Bad. These 12 shows, and the many more they made possible, ushered in a new golden age of television, one that made people take the medium more seriously than ever before. Alan Sepinwall became a TV critic right before this creative revolution began, was there to chronicle this incredible moment in pop culture history, and along the way changed the nature of television criticism, according to Slate.
The Revolution Was Televised is the story of these 12 shows, as told by Sepinwall and the people who made them, including David Chase, David Simon, David Milch, Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, Vince Gilligan and more.
Alan Sepinwall
Alan Sepinwall has been writing about television for close to twenty years. Formerly a TV critic for the Newark Star-Ledger (Tony Soprano's hometown paper), he currently writes the popular blog What’s Alan Watching? on HitFix.com. Sepinwall's episode-by-episode approach to reviewing his favorite TV shows, "changed the nature of television criticism," according to Slate, which called him, "the acknowledged king of the form." Visit AlanSepinwall.com.
More audiobooks from Alan Sepinwall
Welcome to the O.C.: The Oral History Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Sopranos Sessions Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
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Reviews for The Revolution Was Televised
77 ratings4 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5An astonishingly great dissection of some of the best series American TV has broadcast since the late 1990s. You'd think that everything has been written about the new golden era of television, and then Alan Sepinwall comes along and published this insightful and knowledgeable tome, full of behind-the-scenes tales and quotes from the makers themselves.
The chapter on "Deadwood" alone is worth the price of the book, and made me love that HBO-series even more than I'd already did. - Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This book wasn't as good as I thought it was going to be. I found the chapters on the shows that I had seen interesting and sometimes it gave me a new view on them but for the ones I hadn't seen I was somewhat lost during it. It was also hard to distinguish at times why something was revolutionary as opposed to just really good. It's an interesting read and I would recommend it to people who have seen and enjoyed the shows that he was talking about. He does give a lot of plot points away so do not read this book if you intend on watching any of the shows.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5If you think something is different in the the television landscape of the early 21st century, you'd be right. This book, by critic Alan Sepinwall looks at 12 TV programs and how they changed viewing now and perhaps forever.
Be warned: This is not a series of recaps and strains of gossip and "hey-cool-Walter-White-ate-his-own-thumb!" moments. This is a thrilling-to-red sociological and cultural look at where TV was before a mid-level thug named Tony Soprano decided he needed therapy and where we are now.
I read it in three days. And want to dive right back in and read it all again. After I watch an ungodly amount of television.
More, Alan Sepinwall! More! - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5For several years, Alan Sepinwall's blog, first at the New Jersey Star Ledger and then at Hitfix.com, has been the site I visit right after watching an intense episode of my favorite serial drama. Sepinwall practically invented the practice of reviewing individual episodes of a TV series, an invaluable service in an era when television shows pack a level of depth and ambiguity that only movies used to have. In this book, he visits a dozen series that expanded how television approaches the storytelling form: Oz, The Sopranos, The Wire, Deadwood, The Shield, Lost, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, 24, Battlestar Galactica, Friday Night Lights, Mad Men, and Breaking Bad. He talks with the producers and writers of each show to get insights about the creative process that went into them and the particular challenges, both artistic and professional, that they solved (or didn't). If you were a fan of any of these shows, you'll enjoy revisiting them through this particular lens, and you'll want to start watching the ones you missed.
Sepinwall's writing here is smoother and even more enjoyable than the off-the-cuff (although still literate and engaging) work he does for the blog. I was pleased to learn that he's not only a great blogger, he's a good writer, period, and whenever his next book comes out, I'll read it—even if it's not about TV.