I had been waiting for this book for months and it more than delivered — and had a tragically timely debut. When The Sopranos star Tony Gandolfini died in June, Brett Martin appeared on CNN and he had an article in the just-released July edition of GQ based on “Difficult Men: Behind the Scenes of a Creative Revolution: From The Sopranos and The Wire to Mad Men and Breaking Bad.” It is not only a fascinating read, but a lively one and a great “role model” for aspiring entertainment reporters.
“Difficult Men” is MUST READING if you’re a fan of the groundbreaking The Sopranos, which set the stage for other special cable series about “difficult men” created by “difficult men.” Martin correctly points out that television has had three “golden ages”: during the 1950s, the 1980s (when Grant Tinker ran MTM productions and was instrumental in the creation of such series as Hill Street Blues which started a new trend and style) — and the one we’re in the middle of now. Only the real jewels of today’s Golden Age are on cable.
Martin starts with The Sopranos — about how Gandofini with his incredible acting and David Chase who crafted the series had suddenly made TV attractive to high quality creative people. They now realized they could do a film-quality series — with only 13 episodes so they could focus on exceptional writing, acting and production values. He looks at the creators, the history, casting and insides stories surrounding The Sopranos, Breaking Bad, The Wire, Mad Men and more.
Martin’s writing is superb. This book moves faster than members of The Sopranos trying to escape from an FBI raid.
I gave it five stars on Amazon (this review is on Amazon in a slightly different form) — but it deserves a 10 for it detailing how a hum-drum medium suddenly became the place for cinematic quality production, scripting and acting. Even if you’re not interested in that, buy it and read it to learn how these series came about, the ideas behind certain characters and casting. MUST READING if you love (great) television.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.