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Difficult Men: Behind The Scenes Of A Creative Revolution: From The Sopranos And The Wire To Mad Men And Breaking Bad (2013)

by Brett Martin(Favorite Author)

3.81 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

1594204195 (ISBN13: 9781594204197)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Penguin Press HC, The

review 1: If you’re a fan of Mike Brady, you may want to cover your ears for this. Same goes for Mr. Keaton, Mr. Seaver and any other lovable Hollywood dad of yesteryear. The new TV trend of the past decade and a half has made its main male protagonist something of an “antihero”—a guy who’s not exactly always…nice, but he’s definitely always interesting to watch. Author Brett Martin explores this fascination phenomenon in his book, “Difficult Men: Behind the Scenes of a Creative Revolution: From The Sopranos and The Wire to Mad Men and Breaking Bad” ($21.00).Martin’s main premise is that around 1999, when a demanding man himself, David Chase (who’s also profiled in the book) created “The Sopranos,” with it he created the third golden age of television, whos... moree main common denominator is a male lead who can be downright evil—i.e. Don Draper assuming a fake identity and nailing anything that moved, wife be damned, Tony Soprano suffocating his own nephew (amongst many other people), and Walter White becoming a meth lord while blowing people up, letting people OD before his very eyes and poisoning small children.“Difficult Men” takes a look at all of these characters, and includes all kinds of juicy anecdotes and behind-the-scenes dirt, plus exclusive interviews with David Simon and Ed Burns from “The Wire”, Matthew Weiner and Jon Hamm from “Mad Men,” David Milch from “NYPD Blue” and “Deadwood,” and David Chase from “The Sopranos.” More interesting than watching Mr. Brady help settle a scuffle between Jan and Marcia, Marcia, Marcia? Um, yeah.
review 2: As a big fan of TV shows like The Wire, Sopranos, Six Feet Under and Deadwood, this insightful book was a blast to read. Besides offering a glimpse into the immense, creative process that goes into making the shows of the third golden age of TV (1997-2012), Difficult Men also delves into the dark psyches of the titular characters and creators of said shows. More often than not, these "Difficult Men" on-screen end up sharing quite some resemblance to the showrunners and writers that birthed their ascension. less

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