Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
1st out of 3 books
—
2 voters
Desperate Networks : Starring Katie Couric Les Moonves Simon Cowell Dan Rather Jeff Zucker Teri Hatcher Conan O'Brien Donald Trump and a Host of Other Movers and Shakers Who
by
Bill Carter
In the executive offices of the four major networks, sweeping changes are taking place and billions of dollars are at stake. Now Bill Carter, bestselling author of The Late Shift, goes behind the scenes to reveal the inner workings of the television industry, capturing the true portraits of the larger-than-life moguls and stars who make it such a cutthroat business.
In a t...more
In a t...more
Hardcover, 404 pages
Published
May 2nd 2006
by Doubleday
(first published 2006)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
452)
Ohmigod, I freakin’ loved this book. You know it’s a good book for me when I want to read it with a pencil and highlight passages I like or find interesting in it. And this book I read with post-its! Don’t know why, I took them out before I returned it, but that is still a good sign that I really enjoyed it. It was about the change in the US Networks over the past 10 years, their heads of programming and the shows that they air. It was equally about CBS, NBC, ABC and Fox and how shows start at o...more
It's no secret I love television and I find it totally fascinating how the shows I watch came to be. This book is extremely readable with a flow of story, characters, and suspense, surely a byproduct of the author's reporting background. If anything, it made me feel like for the most part, I am way smarter than half the network execs out there! For someone who remembers the 2004-2005 TV season-the tumble of NBC, the rise of CBS, the smart shows of ABC, and American Idol domination-this is a grea...more
Carter is the master of this genre. This book was riveting even though I can admit there isn't much point to the whole thing. It's basically just a blow-by-blow of how your TV sausage gets made, and the peculiar Hollywood way in which a mixture of cleverness, happy accident, and blunder produce what goes on the air each year in the dominant American medium.
Have you ever wondered how some shows ever made it to the air?
Desperate Networks is an inside look at the brilliant/boneheaded choices top executives at the big 4 networks made in the past few years.
Most surprising to me was that Lost was not entirely a JJ Abbrams creation, but rather started as idea an executive had on vacation and couldn't let go of.
Desperate Networks is an inside look at the brilliant/boneheaded choices top executives at the big 4 networks made in the past few years.
Most surprising to me was that Lost was not entirely a JJ Abbrams creation, but rather started as idea an executive had on vacation and couldn't let go of.
It's a nice look at the process by which a few television shows followed unlikely paths to wind up on the air (Survivor, Lost, American Idol and Desperate Housewives), using those stories to describe the various bits of function and disfunction at the four main networks. A lot of the stories and character sketches are nice, but it's not a compelling story in the end, just vaguely interesting.
This book was suggested to me by a media CEO who was trying to help me in my new career. I can usually tell that non-fiction is good when I feel like recommending it to my dad... and he loved it, too. If you work or have ever wanted to work in the television industry, this is an essential read. I understand so much more about network television now than I did a month ago due to Carter's book. It's an adrenaline rush because you know most of the outcome and anticipate the big hits becoming big hi...more
Jan 24, 2008
David
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
people who love the entertainment industry
A very interesting book that provides an overview of the state of major networks from about 2003 through 2006. Mostly it's the story of the fall of NBC from its place of long dominance and the resurrection of ABC with Lost, Desperate Housewives and Grey's Anatomy. Great mini-bios of people like Marc Cherry, Teri Hatcher and Jeff Zucker. The writing style is fast-paced but a little "inside baseball." It assumes a fair amount of knowledge about the structure of a network and its relationship to it...more
Not a book one would save from a burning building, but a fast read and an excellent primer for what is currently happening at the networks. What ever happened to NBC? It's in here.
This is a classic business tale of an industry leader that fails to plan for a day when the competition will emerge from behind and clean its clock. I loved the author's description of NBC's hubris during its post-Seinfeld, Friends halycon days and how reality television (yuch!) and programs like Desperate Housewives (yuch again!) stole the ratings rug from underneath its decade-long ratings reign. For non-entertainment-industry readers the book also offers a glimpse into how shows are pitched a...more
After reading this book, you start to wonder how anything good, interesting, or innovative ever makes it on TV. Great behind-the-scenes look at how TV really works.
I read this book in grad school. It was not a bad read but it was a forced read. Maybe if I read it again on my own I will enjoy it.
Such a great look into the television industry. Bill Carter's other books on the late night talkshow scene are great as well.
The dish and the personalities - egos? - give the narrative some momentum, but the cliches do make you cringe. Read it before they all lose their jobs.
Audible (Abridged)
really interesting, fast read
Perhaps not quite as juicy as The Late Shift, but still extremely entertaining. Carter's tales of the dirtiest, most intimate details of TV sausage-making leave you feeling like a true Hollywood insider. Fun stuff for media aficionados.
Jul 10, 2007
Zel
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
any fan of behind the scenes hollywood
This book is very similar to that of the late shift and informs you of what happened to get a lot of the shows that are on the air now there. All of the behind the scenes happenings of the latest reality craze, the fall of NBC from it's Friends glory, the story of both Lost and Desperate Housewives getting on the air, etc.
Much more interesting to me because I work in TV, probably, but I suspect that other people might find this to be a really good read. It's quick and fun and all about how some of your favorite shows from the early 00's got on the air.
Good book about the onset of reality TV and the changing landscape of television amidst the rise of CBS on the back of CSI and Survivor and the subsequent fall of NBC
Excellent look at how television works--because nobody knows what they're doing!
But it will always be entertaining because nobody will ever admit it--!
But it will always be entertaining because nobody will ever admit it--!
Mostly interesting because I was working in TV at the time and knew many of the players mentioned. Not a bad book, but so quickly out of date...
i love this book. if you want to know what i do all day its listen to phone call about this stuff. very interesting stuff.
Jun 28, 2008
Ruth
added it
Fascinating. The author might be a little too enamored of certain of his subjects (Les Moonves, for one?).
Surprisingly entertaining- reads like fiction.
May 19, 2013
Kathy Fox
marked it as to-read
May 13, 2013
Joel Price
marked it as to-read
May 10, 2013
Sarah Millar
is currently reading it
view 1 comment
May 09, 2013
Christofer
added it
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
William J. Carter joined The New York Times as a national media reporter in 1989. In addition to his work for the newspaper, Mr. Carter has written numerous articles for The New York Times Magazine, including four cover stories.
Mr. Carter has covered the television industry for over 25 years. From 1975 until 1989, he was a television critic for The Baltimore Sun, writing four to six columns, repor...more
More about Bill Carter...
Mr. Carter has covered the television industry for over 25 years. From 1975 until 1989, he was a television critic for The Baltimore Sun, writing four to six columns, repor...more
Share This Book
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
