TV critic Alan Sepinwall details the origins and importance of 12 TV shows that together form the backbone of the modern golden age in television. I've been reading Sepinwall's TV blog regularly for several years now and while I don't always agree with him, I do find him to be an interesting voice in the still very young field of television criticism. As someone who tends to look for behind the scenes info as much as possible when I enjoy TV shows, movies or books, this book didn't always reveal that much new information. I actually thought each section could have benefitted from being a little more in depth and analytical. As it is, it is mostly just a recollection of the history of each show with some, but not that much, analysis of the content of the shows themselves. Then again, I could probably read whole books about each of these shows (as well as several not given their own chapter here), but that was never what this was going to be. I enjoyed the book the most when reading what the various creators and writers have to say about their shows in interviews conducted by Sepinwall specifically for this book.

My only real quibbles with the book are incredibly minor and subjective. There were a few times where I disagreed with Sepinwall on his qualitative judgments of certain plotlines, characters and episodes and I found it a little bothersome how he would dismiss these very matter-of-factly without exploring what exactly made them so objectively bad. I was also a bit bothered by him unnecessarily spoiling certain specific details from other shows not part of the main focus of this book when he could have gotten his points across by being a little more vague. I do suspect though, that these quibbles are fairly specific to me and won't bother many other readers.

I'd recommend the book for anyone interested in the shows detailed or just interested in how television changed in the late nineties/early aughts. ( )

If you think something is different in the the television landscape of the early 21st century, you'd be right. This book, by critic Alan Sepinwall looks at 12 TV programs and how they changed viewing now and perhaps forever.

Be warned: This is not a series of recaps and strains of gossip and "hey-cool-Walter-White-ate-his-own-thumb!" moments. This is a thrilling-to-red sociological and cultural look at where TV was before a mid-level thug named Tony Soprano decided he needed therapy and where we are now.

I read it in three days. And want to dive right back in and read it all again. After I watch an ungodly amount of television.

More, Alan Sepinwall! More! ( )

http://teensniper.tumblr.com/post/41172780898/150-books-in-2013-05 ( )

This book identifies something important, something overlooked: just how fucking great some TV series now are (compared to just how dire they used to be). And it does so in considerable detail.

You know: it's great having someone discuss and celebrate something you've loved: Mad Men, Deadwood, Breaking Bad (some). And discussed with intelligence, aplomb and taste. Have to admit that he gave chapters to programs I couldn't stomach (Friday Night Lights) . . . but compared to the past, my god.

One more thing: the author, Mr Sepinwall, is the first other person I've ever heard - other than myself - acknowledge how important Hill Street Blues was. Even at the time, as a teenager (I'm old) I could see that it was (then) in a class of its own.

( )

An astonishingly great dissection of some of the best series American TV has broadcast since the late 1990s. You'd think that everything has been written about the new golden era of television, and then Alan Sepinwall comes along and published this insightful and knowledgeable tome, full of behind-the-scenes tales and quotes from the makers themselves.

The chapter on "Deadwood" alone is worth the price of the book, and made me love that HBO-series even more than I'd already did. ( )