The Revolution Was Televised: From Buffy to Breaking Bad - the People and the Shows That Changed TV Drama Forever

Front cover; Praise for The Revolution Was Televised; Copyright; THE REVOLUTION WAS TELEVISED; Contents; Introduction; Prologue: Let's be careful out there ... The shows that paved the way; 1. What we were don't matter ... Oz blazes a trail; 2. All due respect ... The Sopranos changes everything; 3. All the pieces matter ... The Wire as the Great American Novel for television; 4. A lie agreed upon ... The profane poetry of Deadwood; 5. I'm a different kind of cop ... The Shield takes anti-heroism to the limit; 6. Do you want to know a secret? ... The perfect storm of Lost.;In The Revolution Was Televised, celebrated TV critic Alan Sepinwall chronicles the remarkable transformation of the small screen over the past fifteen years. Focusing on twelve innovative television dramas that changed the medium and the culture at large forever: The Sopranos, Oz, The Wire, Deadwood, The Shield, Lost, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, 24, Battlestar Galactica, Friday Night Lights, Mad Men and Breaking Bad, Sepinwall weaves his trademark incisive criticism with highly entertaining reporting about the real-life characters and conflicts behind the scenes. Drawing on interviews with writers David Chase, David Simon, David Milch, Joel Surnow and Howard Gordon, Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, and Vince Gilligan, among others, along with the network executives responsible for green-lighting these groundbreaking shows, The Revolution Was Televised is the story of a new golden age in TV, one that's as rich with drama and thrills as the very shows themselves."A spirited and insightful cultural history ... A terrific book."--Michiko Kakutani, New York Times"Mr. Sepinwall is an astute critic but also a dogged reporter. Part critical appraisals, part history lessons ... it adds up to something like an oral history of Mr. Sepinwall's small-screen 'revolution.'"-Wall Street Journal"A smart and substantive walk through the past fifteen years of television drama, making a lucid case for the auteurist mentality among modern showrunners."-Emily Nussbaum, New Yorker"TV fans have a new must-read."--USA TodayAlan Sepinwall has been writing about television for close to twenty years. Formerly a TV critic for The Newark Star-Ledger, he currently writes the popular blog What's Alan Watching? on HitFix.com.