The Revolution Was Televised
The Cops, Crooks, Slingers, and Slayers Who Changed TV Drama Forever
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Narrated by:
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Joe Ochman
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By:
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Alan Sepinwall
About this listen
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, a 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.
©2013 Alan Sepinwall (P)2013 Random HouseListeners also enjoyed...
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- How a Few Eccentric Outsiders Gave Us Nightmares, Conquered Hollywood, and Invented Modern Horror
- By: Jason Zinoman
- Narrated by: Pete Larkin
- Length: 8 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Much has been written about the storied New Hollywood of the 1970s, but while Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, and Francis Ford Coppola were making their first classic movies, a parallel universe of directors gave birth to the modern horror film - aggressive, raw, and utterly original. Based on unprecedented access to the genre's major players, New York Times critic Jason Zinoman's Shock Value delivers the first definitive account of horror's golden age.
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A good listen, but narrow in scope
- By Billy on 01-31-13
By: Jason Zinoman
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The Simpsons
- An Uncensored, Unauthorized History
- By: John Ortved
- Narrated by: John Allen Nelson, Justine Eyre
- Length: 11 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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John Ortved's oral history is the first-ever look behind the scenes at the creation and day-to-day running of the television phenomenon known as The Simpsons, as told by many of the people who produce it.
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Great Content, Awful Reading
- By JH Easton on 03-13-11
By: John Ortved
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Homey Don't Play That!
- The Story of In Living Color and the Black Comedy Revolution
- By: David Peisner
- Narrated by: JD Jackson
- Length: 13 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Few television shows revolutionized comedy as profoundly or have had such an enormous and continued impact on our culture as In Living Color. Inspired by Richard Pryor, Carol Burnett, and Eddie Murphy, Keenen Ivory Wayans created a television series unlike any that had come before it. In Living Color shaped American culture in ways both seen and unseen. Now, Homey Don't Play That! reveals the complete, captivating story of how In Living Color overcame enormous odds to become a major, zeitgeist-seizing hit.
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Wow, that sucked......
- By Just W on 10-11-18
By: David Peisner
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Doctor Who
- A History
- By: Alan Kistler
- Narrated by: Alan Kistler
- Length: 10 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Premiering the day after the JFK assassination, Doctor Who humbly launched one of the entertainment world's first super-brands. We begin with a look at TV programming of the day and the original pitch documents before delving into the Daleks, which almost didn't make the cut but inspired many monsters to follow. After three years, First Doctor William Hartnell left, prompting the BBC to recast their hit rather than end it, giving us the first "regeneration" and making TV history.
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Not a Good Reference, a Good Springboard
- By SAMA on 12-16-13
By: Alan Kistler
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Steve McQueen
- A Biography
- By: Marc Eliot
- Narrated by: Marc Eliot
- Length: 10 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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One of the top box-office draws of the 1960s and '70s with now-classics such as The Magnificent Seven, The Great Escape, The Thomas Crown Affair, and Bullit, Steve McQueen is renowned as one of the most exciting actors ever to come out of Hollywood. Now, in Steve McQueen: A Biography, best-selling author Marc Eliot gives unique insight into McQueen's life, from his films to his three marriages, many affairs, and struggles with addictions.
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Snooze
- By Cill on 10-27-11
By: Marc Eliot
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Seinfeldia
- How a Show About Nothing Changed Everything
- By: Jennifer Keishin Armstrong
- Narrated by: Christina Delaine
- Length: 9 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Comedians Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld never thought anyone would watch their silly little sitcom about a New York comedian sitting around talking to his friends. NBC executives didn't think anyone would watch either, but they bought it anyway, hiding it away in the TV dead zone of summer. But against all odds, viewers began to watch, first a few and then many, until nine years later nearly 40 million Americans were tuning in weekly.
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This bad narration is making me thirsty...
- By Audio Gra Gra on 10-06-16
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Rebel
- My Life Outside the Lines
- By: Nick Nolte
- Narrated by: Nick Nolte, Christian Baskous
- Length: 7 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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In a career spanning five decades, Nick Nolte has endured the rites of Hollywood celebrity. Rising from obscurity to leading roles and Oscar nominations, he has been both celebrated and vilified in the media; survived marriages, divorces, and a string of romances; was named the "Sexiest Man Alive" by People magazine; and suffered public humiliation over his drug and alcohol issues, including a drug-fueled trip down a "long road of nothingness" that ended in arrest.
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Great read! No fooling.
- By Action Joe on 05-31-18
By: Nick Nolte
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Top of the Rock
- Inside the Rise and Fall of Must See TV
- By: Warren Littlefield, T. R. Pearson
- Narrated by: Bob Balaban
- Length: 8 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Warren Littlefield was the NBC President of Entertainment who oversaw the Peacock Network’s rise from also-ran to a division that generated a billion dollars in profits. In this fast-paced and exceptionally entertaining oral history, Littlefield and NBC luminaries including Jerry Seinfeld, Jason Alexander, Kelsey Grammer, Matt LeBlanc, Lisa Kudrow, Julianna Marguiles, Anthony Edwards, Noah Wylie, Debra Messing, Jack Welch, Jimmy Burrows, Helen Hunt, and Dick Wolf vividly recapture the incredible era of Must See TV.
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Nostalgic Look at NBC in the 90's
- By Jill on 10-10-12
By: Warren Littlefield, and others
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Save the Cat!
- The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need
- By: Blake Snyder
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 5 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Here's what started the phenomenon: This book has been a best seller for over 15 years and has been used by screenwriters around the world! Blake Snyder tells all in this fast, funny, and candid look inside the movie business. Save the Cat is just one of many ironclad rules for making your ideas more marketable and your script more satisfying.
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Don't waste your time
- By Amazon Customer on 02-05-20
By: Blake Snyder
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Orson Welles's Last Movie
- The Making of The Other Side of the Wind
- By: Josh Karp
- Narrated by: Keith Szarabajka
- Length: 8 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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In the summer of 1970, legendary but self-destructive director Orson Welles returned to Hollywood from years of self-imposed exile in Europe and decided it was time to make a comeback movie. It was about a legendary self-destructive director who returns to Hollywood from years of self-imposed exile in Europe. Welles swore it wasn't autobiographical.
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Engaging and human portrait of Welles
- By TrevorTrujillo on 06-20-20
By: Josh Karp
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Mary and Lou and Rhoda and Ted
- And All the Brilliant Minds Who Made the Mary Tyler Moore Show a Classic
- By: Jennifer Armstrong
- Narrated by: Amy Landon
- Length: 11 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Mary Tyler Moore made her name as Dick Van Dyke's wife on the eponymous show; she was a cute, unassuming housewife that audiences loved. But when screenwriters James Brooks and Allan Burnes dreamed up an edgy show about a divorced woman with a career, network executives replied: "Americans won't watch television about New York City, divorcées, men with mustaches, or Jews." But Moore and her team were committed, and when the show finally aired, in spite of tepid reviews, fans loved it.
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An Interesting Story That Never Quite Gets Told
- By S. Blythe on 07-26-13
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Caddyshack
- The Making of a Hollywood Cinderella Story
- By: Chris Nashawaty
- Narrated by: Peter Berkrot
- Length: 7 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Caddyshack is one of the most beloved comedies of all time, a classic snobs vs. slobs story of working-class kids and the white-collar buffoons that make them haul their golf bags in the hot summer sun. It has sex, drugs, and one very memorable candy bar, but the movie we all know and love didn't start out that way, and everyone who made it certainly didn't have the word classic in mind as the cameras were rolling.
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Not Really About Caddyshack Until Hour 5
- By William M. on 07-01-18
By: Chris Nashawaty
What listeners say about The Revolution Was Televised
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- B A
- 01-19-15
None
Great book. Loved the subject. Narrated very well also. All around good read. That is all 20 words are now
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- Christopher J. Murray
- 03-28-15
A must read if you are a fan of TV!
Fantastic book covering the influential shows of the last 15 years and the creative people behind them. I find TV so much more interesting today than movies and this book lays out Alan's arguments about how we got here. Having watched almost all of these shows myself it's hard to argue with his list. A little surprised no straight comedies on this list.
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- PM Toussaint
- 12-06-19
first audible book a good one
have to try about 4 bucks before I found this one but as an actor it was really great understanding the history of some of my favorite shows and shows that I have never watched I have heard about four years! Educational and entertaining.
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- Jeff
- 03-18-18
A Very Interesting Read
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
This book wasn't quite what I was expecting. I had read/listened to other industry insider takes before and was expecting more of the same. Instead each chapter was a deep dive into the unlikely events that lead into about a dozen different shows getting on the air and changing the television landscape. I would recommend this to anyone interested in the new golden age of television.
However I will say that the book does show its age a bit. It's Five years old now and it becomes a bit jarring when the book discusses Breaking Bad and Mad Men as ongoing shows when they've both been over for some time.
What other book might you compare The Revolution Was Televised to and why?
Desperate Networks
What about Joe Ochman’s performance did you like?
He made me think he was the Author and was surprised to discover that he was not.
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
No. The chapters were broken up by show and it made for easy listening in hour long sessions.
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1 person found this helpful
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- John
- 06-08-15
Good book
Good book. It does exactly what it sets out to do, which is review the development of high-end television shows in the 2000's, with chapters on each show that he covers: Sopranos, Friday Night Lights, Mad Men, etc. If you have watched any of these shows and liked them and enjoy reading about the business side of television, you will likely enjoy the book.
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- Jonathan Simpson
- 06-21-15
Hey fine meander through some great TV shows
The book is fine, really good even. It's just a little rudimentary. I would say the same about the narration. It has no flaws, it just does what it has to do.A great read, especially if you love these shows.
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- Sean Patrick Innocent Dineen
- 07-25-23
a brilliant analysis of televisions third gold age
Everything from The Wire to Mad men in all the glory of early 21st century tv.
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