Difficult Men: Behind the Scenes of a Creative Revolution: From the Sopranos and the Wire to Mad Men and Breaking Bad (36 page)

Mad Men

artistry and emotional intelligence, 260–63

casting, 140, 249–51

female characters, 5

Golden Globe Award, 257

HBO’s rejection of, 239, 244

pilot, 248–49, 252

promotion strategy, 256

story line, 59, 249

writers’ room, 252–56, 258–59

Mander, Jerry, 23–24

Mann, Michael, 282

Manos, James, Jr., 60–61, 72, 76, 93–94, 225

Mastras, George, 271

Mazzara, Glen, 225, 226, 284

McLarney, Terrence, 110, 118, 120, 123–24

McNutt, Myles, 282

Milch, David. See also
Deadwood

on cancellation of
Deadwood,
233–34

creative process, 176–77, 187–89

on decline in influence of advertisers, 86–87

early successes, 171

Emmy awards, 171, 173

failures, 174

on future of original programming, 286

health problems, 172, 177

Hill Street Blues,
27–32, 171, 172–74

John from Cincinnati,
235

Luck,
187, 233, 281, 282, 285

NYPD Blue,
171, 174–78

on standard season length, 204–5

unpredictability, 172, 173–74, 176

on work at MTM, 32

on writers’ collaboration, 72–73

Mills, David, 113, 128–29, 175–76, 200

Minow, Newton, 22

MTM Enterprises

creation of, 24

creative freedom for writers, 26–27

Hill Street Blues,
27–32, 171, 172–74

influential dramas, 27

St. Elsewhere,
31–32, 51

Naegle, Sue, 27, 237, 282

Nash Bridges,
215

NBC, 27–29, 30–31

Nevins, Sheila, 49

Nip/Tuck,
227

Noble, Nina K., 141, 199, 201–2

Northern Exposure,
51–52, 53–55, 73, 75

NYPD Blue,
171, 174–78

O’Connor, John J., 44

Off the Minnesota Strip,
43–44, 62–63

Oh, Grow Up,
97–98

Oliver, Nancy, 101

Overmyer, Eric, 127, 142, 144

Oz,
57–58, 68

Palmer, Tom, 252

Paltrow, Bruce, 31, 51

Patterson, John, 37–38, 39

PBS, 54, 284

Pelecanos, George

on failure of
The Wire
season five, 204, 207

on relationship between Simon and Burns, 144, 207

on Simon’s antiauthoritarianism, 138

The Wire,
147–49, 193, 194, 195–96, 197–98, 207

Peranio, Vince, 142

Peters, Clarke, 150, 280

Pierce, Wendell, 150, 151, 280

pilots, functions and challenges of, 59–61

Playdon, Paul, 39–40

Plepler, Richard, 51, 231, 237

Polcsa, Juliet, 243

Poniewozik, James, 203

Post, Mike, 25–26, 43

Poul, Alan, 99, 100, 101, 103

Powers, Kate, 271

Price, Richard, 148–49, 281

Provenzano, Chris, 73, 252, 253, 255

Rampart.
See
Shield, The

Rebeck, Theresa, 176, 185–86

Reilly, Kevin

on Albrecht’s response to
The Sopranos
pilot, 69

on Chase’s ideas and views, 62, 64

on Chernin’s response to
The Shield
pilot, 220

on HBO ratings in early years, 51

mission to transform FX, 213–15

on reaction of advertisers to
The Shield,
221

on risk in producing
Rampart
(later
The Shield
), 217–18

on
The Shield
’s Emmy prospects, 223

on unsuitability of
The Sopranos
for network television, 64

work after departure from FX, 283

Renzulli, Frank, 76–78, 91, 162–64

Rescue Me,
4, 105–6, 227–28

Rockford Files, The,
42–43, 73

Rosenbaum, Scott, 225

Royo, Andre, 150–52, 153, 196–97, 200

Ryan, Shawn. See also
Shield, The

early work, 215–16

on future of original programming, 286

Nash Bridges,
215

on television as commercial venture, 224–25

work after
The Shield,
283

Sapan, Josh, 245–46

Saraceni, Mark, 76

Sassa, Scott, 96

Schnauz, Thomas, 266, 271, 275

Schneider, Andrew, 4, 32, 54, 158

Sex and the City,
12, 58, 229

Shield, The

act-outs preceding commercial breaks, 224–25

advertisers, 217, 220, 221

antihero protagonist, 217, 226

casting, 218–20, 227

comparison with
The Wire,
223–24

debut following September 11 terrorist attacks, 221–23

Emmy award, 223

one-line story summary, 60

pilot’s risky ending, 217–18

references to current events, 216–17, 226

run-and-gun production style, 218

writers’ room, 225–26

showrunners

institutionalized autocratic role, 30, 252

power of, 8–9, 72–73, 148

primitive impulses, 88

script rewriting and writer credit, 258–59

Showtime

Dexter,
6, 12

Nurse Jackie,
281

Weeds,
13, 268–69

Silverman, Fred, 27, 30–31

Simon, David. See also
Wire, The

antiauthoritarianism, 138

argument as creative process for, 112–13, 133, 145

blog,
The Audacity of Despair,
279–80

and Chase, compared, 111–12

The Corner
(book), 126–27

Simon, David (
cont.
)

The Corner
(miniseries), 130–32

divorce and unhappiness, 136, 138

Homicide
(book), 117–20

Homicide
(television series), 127–30, 175

as journalist, 111, 113–17, 124–25, 129, 205

persuasive writing, 133–34, 200–201

Treme,
132, 142–43, 207–8, 279, 281

year-in-the-life book proposal, 192

Sirico, Tony, 68, 160

Six Feet Under,
4, 60, 98–104, 107

Solberg, John, 220–21

Soloway, Jill, 101–2

Sons of Anarchy,
226, 284

Sopranos, The

antihero protagonist, 84–85, 89, 92–93

characters foreshadowed in Chase’s earlier works, 43–44

Chase’s intention to end series, 157, 167–68

“College” episode, 90–94

cultural climate at debut of show, 87

as cultural event, 154–57

Emmy awards, 93–94, 96, 168

Falco as Carmela character, 1, 68–69, 96, 168, 288

final episode, 286–89

Gandolfini as Tony character, 1–3, 17, 67–68, 69, 157, 288

inspirations for characters, 35–36, 38, 62–63

minimovie-like episodes, 90–91

music, 83–84

New Jersey setting, 15, 62, 65, 78, 90, 157

opening credits, 15

pilot, 64–70

premiere, 78–79

production costs, 158–59

studio set and crew, 3–4

title, 92

writers’ room, 27, 70, 74–78, 162–66, 168–70, 243–45

Sorcher, Rob, 245–48, 254, 270–71, 284

St. Elsewhere,
31–32, 51

Sterling, John, 120, 125, 192

Strauss, Carolyn

approach to Ball with funeral home idea, 95, 96, 99

on concept of antihero protagonist, 65

disengaged executive manner, 232, 237, 268

dismissal from HBO, 237–38

move to executive-producer position, 281

on viability of
The Wire,
201

on working environment at HBO, 58

working relationship with Albrecht, 55, 57, 237

Sutter, Kurt, 225–26, 232

Sydnor, Marvin, 110, 123

Tartikoff, Brandon, 27–28

television.
See also
cable dramas

advertisers’ influence on content, 85–87

cable transmission, 47

Fin-Syn (Financial Interest and Syndication Rules), 26, 32

limitations of early technology, 21–22

microwave-receiving dish, 47, 56

movie actors working in, 227, 229, 285

one-hour dramas on broadcast networks, 284–85

reality programming, 32

as reviled medium, 22–24

subscription service, 4, 48

Tell Me You Love Me,
231

Third Golden Age of television.
See
cable dramas

Thorson, Karen, 198

Tinker, Grant, 24–27, 32, 230

Tinker, Mark, 176–77, 178, 185, 235

TNT, 268

Tolan, Peter, 228

Toll, John, 15–16

Treme,
132, 142–43, 207–8, 279, 281

True Blood,
107, 281–82

Van Patten, Tim, 156, 232

Van Zandt, Steven, 66–67

Wagner, Michael, 30

Walking Dead, The,
284

Walley-Beckett, Moira, 271, 273

Wayne, Christina, 246–48, 257, 270, 284

Weeds,
13, 268–69

Weiner, Matthew. See also
Mad Men

abrasive personality, 243–44

autocratic showrunner style, 252, 254–55

background and early work, 239–42

credit for script rewriting, 258

egoism and competitiveness, 256–59

on pressure of showrunning, 160

The Sopranos,
25n, 72–73, 159, 243–45

working relationship with Chase, 244–45

Welles, Orson, 23

West, Dominic, 139, 150–51, 202

White, E. B., 23

White Shadow, The,
27

Williams, Michael K., 152–53

Winter, Terence

Boardwalk Empire,
5, 232, 282, 285

on Chase’s authoritarianism, 162, 166

on Chase’s discontent, 167–68

concern for Gandolfini, 17

friendship with Renzulli, 162, 164

on HBO’s unreceptiveness to new ideas, 232

on popularity of
The Sopranos,
155

The Sopranos,
3, 25n, 162, 243

on working with Weiner, 244–45

Wire, The

basis in real-life Baltimore, 110–11, 126–27, 136–38, 149–50

camaraderie among actors, 150–51

casting, 138–40

after Colesberry’s death, 199

comparison with
The Shield,
223–24

DVD release of first three seasons, 203

emotional toll on actors, 151–53, 196–97

failure of season five, 205–8

as Greek tragedy, 145–46

media as seasonal theme, 200, 205–6

on-demand previews, 203–4

pitch for, 133–34, 200–201

politics and drugs as seasonal themes, 193–96

production team and locations, 140–42

public school system as seasonal theme, 199–200

reviews, 203–4, 206–7

shortened season five, 204–5

as social activism and entertainment, 134–35

story outline, 59, 136–37

theme changes each season, 192–94

writers’ room, 143–49, 193–94, 206, 207

Wolynetz, Vlad, 247

Wright, Craig, 88, 101, 102

writers

creative freedom, 26–27, 284

credit for scripts, 258–59

deference to showrunner, 72–73, 148

displacement by reality programming, 32

disrespect for, 25–26

praise for other writers, 94

spec scripts, 101

writers’ rooms, 70–73

writer-showrunners.
See
showrunners

X-Files, The,
265–66

Yoshimura, James, 127, 129, 130

Zappa, Frank, 23

Zorzi, William, 110, 115–16, 143, 191

*
The term
producer
used throughout this book is a devilish one, meaning different things in different contexts:
The Sopranos
,
for instance, had five credited “executive producers” for its final episodes: Chase, as creator and head writer; Brad Grey, as one of the original developers; Ilene Landress, who was in charge of budgets, scheduling, and all other physical, nonwriting matters; and then Terence Winter and Matthew Weiner as the most senior writers, also responsible for overseeing production on episodes they wrote. In addition, there were seven other “producers,” ranging from associate to co-executive, with duties as varied as writing episodes, overseeing postproduction, and acting as Landress’s assistant. To further confound matters, the Writers Guild mandates specific “producer” credits for its writers, tied to their pay level and seniority. Here, anyway, I mean a more old-fashioned definition of executive, noncreative types.