Difficult Men: Behind the Scenes of a Creative Revolution: From the Sopranos and the Wire to Mad Men and Breaking Bad (35 page)
Authors: Brett Martin
Tags: #Non-Fiction
Thanks, first and foremost, are due to the people who so generously shared with me their time and stories. That includes, with few exceptions, all the major players in this story as well as dozens of other writers, producers, directors, executives, actors, cinematographers, assistants, and so on. All did as much to create the Third Golden Age as they did to animate these pages. To the many who are not explicitly mentioned—or who preferred to go nameless—please know that I nevertheless relied on, and valued, your wisdom, insights, and perspectives.
Three significant interviewees did not live to see the project’s end. I am especially grateful for having had the chance to meet and learn from Henry Bromell, David Mills, and Stephen J. Cannell and to include their voices here.
At The Penguin Press, I will forever be grateful to Eamon Dolan for his early faith in me and this project; to Colin Dickerman for patiently and expertly shaping the result; and to Laura Stickney for a pleasant, if too brief, assist. Likewise to my agent, Daniel Greenberg, for his support and guidance, and to his colleague, Lindsay Edgecombe. I thank Jim Nelson and my other colleagues at
GQ
for their inspiration, indulgence, and friendship: Mark Lotto, Devin Friedman, Dan Fierman, Amy Wallace, Mary Kaye Schilling, and Alex Pappademas, among them. For close, perceptive, and immeasurably helpful reads and feedback, thank you to both Michael Oates Palmer and my old
Time Out New York
cubicle mate, Jason Zinoman. William Bostwick began this project nominally as my “assistant” but has since grown into a valued colleague; I fully expect to be working for him someday.
For aid—logistical, spiritual, and otherwise—along the way, I’d also like to thank the following: Diego Aldana, Theano Apostolou, Leslee Dart, John Solberg, Tobe Becker, Nancy Lesser, and Chuck Slocum; Adam Mazmanian, Jenny Ewing Allen, Brett Anderson, Nathalie Jordi, Pableaux Johnson, Rien Fertel, J Dagney, Chris Hannah, Adam Blank, and David Hirmes. It remains true that this could not have been done without the skill, good company, and forbearance of Jennifer Fistere.
To my parents, who once bribed me with a suction-cup bow-and-arrow set to watch no television for a month, I forgive you. To Scott Martin, who fortified and distracted me with yaka mein and companionship in the final stages of writing, I welcome you to our family’s new city. And to Kira Henehan, my indispensable, beloved gumshoe and partner, I hope my gratitude is evident every day.
Except where noted below and in the text, the material in this book is derived from original reporting and author interviewing.
On Victorian serialized novels, I consulted David Payne’s
The Re-Enchantment of Nineteenth-Century Fiction: Dickens, Thackeray, George Eliot and Serialization
(Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005);
Author and Printer in Victorian England
by Allan C. Dooley (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 1992); and, in particular, “No Time to Be Idle: The Serial Novel
and Popular Imagination,” an essay by Shawn Crawford (
World & I
13 [November 1998]: 323–32). Here and elsewhere, I also draw on my own
The Sopranos: The Book,
produced for HBO in 2007 by Melcher Media and accompanied by an episode guide assembled by Mimi O’Connor.
Chapter One: In This Maligned Medium
On MTM Enterprises and the Second Golden Age, I found two books to be invaluable:
Television’s Second Golden Age: From
Hill Street Blues
to
ER,
by Robert J. Thompson (New York: Continuum Publishing, 1996); and
MTM “Quality Television,”
edited by Jane Feuer, Paul Kerr, and Tise Vahimagi (London: British Film Institute Publishing, 1985). Also helpful for context was “Television’s Real A-Team” by David Freeman (
Esquire
magazine, January 1985) and “How I’d Fix Network TV” by Steven Bochco (
Los Angeles Times
, August 16, 1992).
The 2007
Vanity Fair
profile to which David Chase refers is “An American Family” by Peter Biskind (April 2007). Stephen J. Cannell was interviewed extensively for the Archive of American Television, which is a deep and wonderful resource for anyone interested in how TV gets made.
On the early history and economics of HBO, I relied heavily on
Inside HBO: The Billion Dollar War Between HBO, Hollywood and the Home Video Revolution
by George Mair (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1988).
Some of the analysis in this chapter was aided and abetted by Susan Faludi’s
Stiffed: The Betrayal of the American Man
(New York: William Morrow & Co., 1999), which I’m grateful to have been pointed toward by Todd Kessler. Also useful, for Scott Sassa’s unfortunate quote about cable vs. network, among other details about Alan Ball and
Six Feet Under
, was “The Next Big Bet” by Tad Friend (
The New Yorker
, May 15, 2001). The economics of basic cable bundling were summarized nicely in a National Public Radio report, “‘Where’s My AMC?’ DISH Network Dispute Drags On,” by Lauren Silverman, aired September 13, 2012.
Both
Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets
and
The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood
are essential reading. Some of David Simon’s account of his year spent at BPD’s Homicide Unit, as well as his disillusionment with and divorce from the
Baltimore Sun
, comes from his afterword to the 2006 Holt Paperbacks reprint of
Homicide
. The tension between Simon and Charles Dutton on the set of HBO’s
The Corner
was the subject of “Who Gets to Tell a Black Story?” by Janny Scott (
New York Times,
June 11, 2000).
Chapter Seven: The Magic Hubig’s
David Simon’s letter to Carolyn Strauss was reprinted in
The Wire: Truth Be Told
by Rafael Alvarez (Edinburgh: Canongate Books, 2009) and also quoted in “Stealing Life” by Margaret Talbot (
The New Yorker,
October 22, 2007). Simon’s account of “Little” Melvin Williams’s drug empire and its downfall ran in the
Baltimore Sun
from January 11–15,1987
.
Several quotes from the novelists who worked on
The Wire
come from “Baltimore’s Finest” by Alex Pappademas (
GQ,
December 2008).
The account of David Chase’s appearance at New York’s Museum of Modern Art was informed, among other sources, by “Leaving the Family” (
Newark
Star-Ledger,
February 14, 2001).
Chapter Nine: A Big Piece of Equipment
The documentary
Without a Net: Creating NYPD Blue
(later subtitled
David Milch’s Creative Process
), directed by Marc Ostrick, is everything its two subtitles promise: a candid, fly-on-the-wall record of Milch’s final year at
NYPD Blue
and a vivid portrait of his unusual methods. Also very useful was “The Misfit” by Mark Singer (
The New Yorker
, February 14, 2005); the essay “Robert Penn Warren, David Milch and the Literary Contexts of
Deadwood”
by Joseph Millichap, collected in
Reading Deadwood: A Western to Swear By
, edited by David Lavery (London: I. B. Tauris, 2006); and
Deadwood: Stories of the Black Hills
by David Milch, interviews by David Samuels, produced by Melcher Media (New York: Bloomsbury USA, 2006), a veritable bonanza of Milchiana from which several of the on-set anecdotes are drawn.
Chapter Ten: Have a Take. Try Not to Suck
David Simon’s charges against star
Sun
reporter Jim Haner were laid out in “Favorite Son” by Abigail Pogrebin (
Brill’s Content
, October 2000). Other details are from “Stealing Life” by Margaret Talbot, referenced above.
Chapter Eleven: Shooting the Dog
Amy Wallace’s profile of Chris Albrecht, “Violence, Nudity, Adult Content,” appeared in the November 2010 issue of
GQ
.
On
Rescue Me
, I drew from the preface by Denis Leary and Peter Tolan in
Rescue Me Uncensored: The Official Companion
(New York: Newmarket Press, 2007).
Chapter Twelve: See You at the Emmys
Alone among the major showrunners covered here, Matthew Weiner declined, politely, to sit for interviews specific to this book. I was, however, able to draw on our multiple conversations in other contexts and on the truly heroic amount of talking he’s done on behalf of
Mad Men
elsewhere. Chief among those sources were an hour-long interview conducted by Weiner’s sister Allison Hope Weiner for her video podcast
Media Mayhem
and
“‘Mad Men’ Has Its Moment” by Alex Witchel (
New York Times Magazine
, June 22, 2008). Some quotes here come from my own articles: “Breakout: Jon Hamm” (
GQ
,
December 2008) and “The Men Behind the Curtain: A
GQ
TV Roundtable”
(
GQ
, June 2012). The latter is also the source of David Milch and Vince Gilligan quotes elsewhere.
The page numbers in this index refer to the printed version of this book. To find the corresponding locations in the text of this digital version, please use the “search” function on your e-reader. Note that not all terms may be searchable.
ABC, 45, 97, 175, 228
advertisers and advertising
act-outs preceding commercial breaks, 224
influence on content, 85–87
sensibilities of, 217, 220, 221
African American actors and audience, 51, 130–31, 140, 152
Albert, Lisa, 252
Albrecht, Chris
arrest and dismissal from HBO, 236
background in entertainment, 55–56
on cancellation of
Deadwood,
232–33
on
The Corner,
131
on Gandolfini as Tony Soprano character, 67–68
on HBO’s failures, 231
on HBO’s successful formula, 212
on hospitable environment for artists at HBO, 229–30
on
John from Cincinnati,
235
on
Lucky Louie,
230, 231
positions at HBO, 55–56, 229, 236
on Simon’s pitch style, 200–201
on
The Sopranos
“College” episode, 92–93
on
The Sopranos
pilot, 65–66, 69
successful series produced, 57–58, 229
work after dismissal from HBO, 281
working relationship with Strauss, 55, 57, 237
Almost Grown,
45, 69, 73, 75
Alvarez, Rafael, 113, 115–16, 125, 144–45
AMC. See also
Breaking Bad; Mad Men
Broken Trail,
247, 271
Emmy awards, 247
internal problems, 284
original-programming strategy, 246–47
transformation from commercial-free network, 245–46
The Walking Dead,
284
American Beauty
(film), 95, 107
antihero principle, 4–6, 87–88, 175, 222, 267–68
Ball, Alan
American Beauty
(film), 95, 107
on antiheroes, 106
approach by HBO with funeral home concept, 95, 96–97
Oh, Grow Up,
97–98
post-traumatic stress, 97–98
praise for
The Sopranos,
94–95
Six Feet Under,
4, 60, 98–104, 107
supportive showrunner style, 102–3
True Blood,
107, 281–82
basic cable.
See
cable dramas
Bedard, Bridget, 252–53, 255, 260
Bewkes, Jeff, 55, 56, 229, 237
Bianchi, Ed, 184
Biskind, Peter, 160, 286
black actors and audience, 51, 130–31, 140, 152
Boardwalk Empire,
5, 232, 282, 285
Bochco, Steven
approach by MTM for police drama, 27–28
autocratic showrunner style, 30
creative autonomy, 28, 29
on creativity in television writing, 32
dismissal from MTM, 32
on disparagement of television, 23
failures, 174
Hill Street Blues,
28–32, 172–74
NYPD Blue,
174–78
on working with Milch, 172–74, 177
Bradbury, Ray, 23
Brand, Joshua, 51–55, 156
Braun, Lloyd, 58, 65
Brazil, Scott, 218
Breaking Bad
acquisition by AMC, 270–71
antihero protagonist, 267–68
concept for, 266–68
female character, 5, 267
New Mexico production location, 272
pilot, 269
pitches for, 268–70
references to current events, 272
visual storytelling, 276
writers’ room, 264–65, 271–77
Broken Trail,
247, 271
Bromell, Henry
on Chase as showrunner, 161
on Chase’s writing, 45, 52–53
on new approach at HBO, 231
on pressure of showrunning, 9
sketch of television history, 24
Bronchtein, Henry, 243–44
Burgess, Mitchell
Almost Grown,
45
on Chase’s ambition, 78
Emmy award, 168
Northern Exposure,
75
on quality of
The Sopranos,
70
The Sopranos,
74–75, 159, 162, 169, 243
work after
The Sopranos,
281
Burns, Ed
background and learning experiences, 120–22
as Baltimore police officer, 109–10, 122–25, 136–38
book collaboration with Simon, 125–27
exclusion from
The Corner
writing staff, 130–31
Generation Kill,
119, 207
responsibilities after Colesberry’s death, 199
on
The Shield,
223–24
The Wire
as social activism for, 135
The Wire
pilot script, 136–38
in
The Wire
writers’ room, 143–46, 192–96, 199–200, 207–8
work after
The Wire
and
Generation Kill,
208, 280
cable dramas
actors’ job insecurity, 196
antihero principle, 4–6, 87–88, 175, 222, 267–68
bond between viewer and show, 16–17
in cable operator packages, 86, 212
as distinct and dominant art form, 11, 278
female characters, 5, 13, 227
literary storytelling structure, 6–7, 60
male-focused programming, 13–14
male inner struggle, 84, 104–6, 189–90, 228
opening credits, 15–16
pilots, 59–61
powerful showrunners, 8–9, 72–73, 148
producers’ responsibilities, 25n
quality of, 14, 285–86
season length, 6, 204–5
technologies affecting audience, 14–16, 31, 32, 85, 155, 203, 277
timeline, x–xi
traditional genres, 84, 260
unresolved endings, 120, 278
writers’ rooms, 70–73
Cablevision.
See
AMC
Cahill, Jason, 76
Cannell, Stephen J., 25–26, 41–42, 86
Carnivàle,
230
Carter, Chris, 265–66
Castleman, Dan, 75
Catlin, Sam, 271, 274
CBS, 45, 64, 169, 215
Chase, David. See also
Sopranos, The
Almost Grown,
45, 69, 73
as director, 65–66
disdain for television, 8, 34–35, 45
Emmy awards, 44, 168
experiences inspiring
The Sopranos,
35–36, 38, 62–63
failed pilots, 61–62
fame, 156
I’ll Fly Away,
52–54, 65, 75
interest in filmmaking, 37–39, 44–45, 69, 289–90
Kolchak: The Night Stalker,
39–40
negative temperament, 35, 52, 53–54, 64, 105
Northern Exposure,
53–55, 73, 75
Off the Minnesota Strip,
43–44, 62–63
power and autonomy as showrunner, 8, 159, 161–62, 252, 258
primitive impulses, 88–89
The Rockford Files,
42–43, 73
on showrunning, 73–74
and Simon, compared, 111–12
start of television career, 39–40
worry and stress, 156, 160–61
Chernin, Peter, 213, 220
Chiklis, Michael, 218–19, 223
C.K., Louis, 230, 284
Cleveland, Rick, 101
Close, Glenn, 227
Colesberry, Bob, 131, 140–41, 191, 198
Collins, Chris, 143–44
Corner, The: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood
(Burns and Simon), 126–27
Corner, The
(miniseries), 130–32
Corrado, Regina, 186–87, 189
Coulter, Allen, 90
Curry, Jack, 49
Damages,
12, 13, 166–67, 227
Deadwood
cancellation, 232–34
as classic American narrative, 181
female characters, 5
Milch’s work process and style, 183–87
repurposed pitch for, 178–81
themes and characters, 4, 181–83
Def Comedy Jam,
51, 130
Dexter,
6, 12
Dirt,
269
Dolan, Charles, 47, 48
Doman, John, 150
“Doug & Dad,” 55
Dunham, Lena, 211–12
Dutton, Charles “Roc,” 131, 132
Eglee, Charles “Chic,” 218, 283
Elba, Idris, 140, 197–98, 280
Elice, Jeremy, 220–21, 247, 254–55, 270, 284
Falco, Edie
as actress, 1
audition for
The Sopranos,
68–69
Emmy awards, 96, 168
at final episode of
The Sopranos,
288
work after
The Sopranos,
281
Falsey, John, 46, 51–52, 54
Fin-Syn Rules (Financial Interest and Syndication Rules), 26, 32
Fitzgerald, Susie, 56, 61, 67, 79
Fogel, Alexa, 139–40
Fontana, Tom, 57, 127–28
Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television
(Mander), 23–24
Free Fire Zone
(Rebeck), 176
Frolov, Diane, 54, 158
Fuchs, Michael, 48, 55, 56
FX. See also
Shield, The
Breaking Bad
ownership and sale, 269–71
Damages,
12, 13, 166–67, 227
Dirt,
269
Justified,
284
Louie,
230, 284
Nip/Tuck,
227
offices, 214–15
original programming and brand identity, 86, 212–14, 228–29
profane and violent programming, 214, 226, 284
Rescue Me,
4, 105–6, 227–28
Sons of Anarchy,
226, 284
Game of Thrones,
235, 281, 282
Gandolfini, James
casting of, 67–68, 69
Emmy award, 168
erratic behavior, 1–3, 17, 157
work after
The Sopranos,
281
Generation Kill,
119, 207
Gilliam, Seth, 57, 149, 150–51, 152, 194
Gilligan, Vince. See also
Breaking Bad
on credit for script writing, 259
on difficulty of television production, 11
feature films, 265, 266
supportive showrunner style, 264–65
visual approach to storytelling, 275–76
The X-Files,
265–66
Girls,
211
Glazer, Mitch, 241
Gould, Peter, 271, 276
Green, Robin
Almost Grown,
45
Emmy award, 168
on Milch’s erratic behavior, 174
Northern Exposure,
51, 75
The Sopranos,
74–75, 78, 162, 168–70, 243
work after
The Sopranos,
281
on working with Weiner, 244
Greenblatt, Bob, 64, 99
Grey, Brad, 25n, 65
Griffiths, Rachel, 100, 103
Gyllenhaal, Stephen, 128
Hall, Barbara, 14, 51, 52, 70
Hamm, Jon, 249–51
HBO. See also
Deadwood; Sopranos, The; Wire, The
adult themes and gratuitous sex, 50, 214, 231, 282
African American actors and audience, 51, 130–31, 140, 152
Boardwalk Empire,
5, 232, 282, 285
Carnivàle,
230
The
Corner,
130–32
Def Comedy Jam,
51, 130
failures, 230–31
Game of Thrones,
235, 281, 282
HBO (
cont.
)
Generation Kill,
119, 207
inception as cable subscription service, 47–48
independence from advertisers, 85
internal problems, 229, 231–32, 234, 236–38
John from Cincinnati,
235–36
The Larry Sanders Show,
50–51, 230
Luck,
187, 233, 281, 282, 285
Lucky Louie,
230, 231
on-demand service, 203–4
original-programming mission, 4, 12, 49–51, 58, 229–30
Oz,
57–58, 68
personnel changes, 55–56, 229, 236–38, 281
programming spectrum, 48–50, 281–83
Sex and the City,
12, 58, 229
Six Feet Under,
4, 60, 98–104, 107
successful formula and signature attributes, 96, 204–5, 212, 228–29
successful runs, 14, 95–96, 229
Tell Me You Love Me,
231
Treme,
132, 142–43, 207–8, 279, 281
True Blood,
107, 281–82
Hill, Walter, 181, 247
Hill Street Blues,
27–32, 171, 172–74
Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets
(Simon), 117–20
Homicide: Life on the Street
(television series), 127–30, 175
Huggins, Roy, 39
Hutchison, Gennifer, 271
I’ll Fly Away,
52–54, 65, 75
Jacquemetton, Andre and Maria, 252
James, Caryn, 154
Job, The,
228
John from Cincinnati,
235
Johnson, Clark, 129–30, 138–39, 141, 218, 223
Justified,
284
Kael, Pauline, 13–14
Kaplan, Bruce Eric, 101
Kecken, Joy Lusco, 136, 144
Kessler, Todd
on Chase’s primitive impulses, 88–89
Damages,
12, 13, 166–67, 227
The Sopranos,
164–66
Kolchak: The Night Stalker,
39–40
Kozoll, Michael, 27–28, 30
Krause, Peter, 100, 103–4
Landgraf, John, 86, 227, 268–69
Landress, Ilene, 25n, 69
Landsman, Jay, 110, 118, 120, 123
Larry Sanders Show, The,
50–51, 230
Leary, Denis, 228
Lehane, Dennis, 148
Levin, Jerry, 48
Levinson, Barry, 127, 128
Lewis, Jeffrey, 30, 172
Liguori, Peter
on casting for
Rampart
(later
The Shield
), 219
on debut of
The Shield,
222–23
decision to produce risky program, 217–18
on male-focused programming, 13
mission to transform FX, 213–15
plea to advertisers for
The Shield,
221
on Tony Soprano character, 85
work after departure from FX, 283
Liss, Ira, 248
Lombardo, Michael, 201, 230, 231, 232, 237
Lombardozzi, Domenick, 149, 150–51, 152, 194–95
Long, Rob, 48
Luck,
187, 233, 281, 282, 285
Lucky Louie,
230, 231