Brett Martin (1) (1972–)

When I opened Difficult Men and found a gorgeous, graphic timeline of cable shows layered over one other and broken down by season, I gasped and nearly threw my other books across the room. Brett Martin had found his target audience. I don't watch a single show on network TV, nor do I watch comedies. Yes, I'm willing to admit that I'm a boring, typical product of my generation.

And my generation is one that grew up watching, what Martin calls, the Third Golden Age of television. Starting in show more the mid-1990's, with shows like Oz and The Sopranos, the TV drama began to shift in a radical way. Rather than the safe, self-contained storylines of network shows, cable writers began developing plots that spanned seasons and often left viewers with more questions than answers. Soon, those developing the shows came to be as complex and unpredictable as the characters they were creating.

Though I understand that the focus of Martin's book is, as the title states, the difficult men behind the television revolution, I think there was a bit of a missed opportunity to examine the role of female writers in Hollywood. While it could potentially fill a separate book on its own, I would have liked to see discussion of the low number of female showrunners as well as their comparatively harsh criticism from the media.

Still, Difficult Men is a fascinating peek into the evolution of television over the past 30 years, digging into backstories and histories of shows like The Wire, Six Feet Under and Breaking Bad, that will thrill even the casual fan.

Blog: www.rivercityreading.com show less

…Or to give the book its full title: Difficult Men: From The Sopranos and The Wire to Mad Men and Breaking Bad: Behind the Scenes of a Creative Revolution.

In this fascinating book, Brett Martin discusses what he calls the Third Golden Age of Television – a revolution in television broadcasting, that gave the viewers a new type of protagonist; a man (it was almost always men) who was morally compromised, not always likeable, sometimes acting very much on the wrong side of the law. In show more short, a difficult man, the most obvious examples of which include Tony Soprano of The Sopranos, Jimmy McNulty (and many other characters) of The Wire, Don Draper of Mad Men, and Al Swearengen of Deadwood. And the audience are supposed to care for and root for these characters – not always an easy sell.

Martin demonstrates how, in a reversal of typical roles (such as always good cops, and always evil villains), more complicated protagonists (such as those mentioned above) started emerging in the 1990s. (Suggestions of such anti-heroes were seen in shows such as NYPD Blue and Hill Street Blues.) HBO were largely responsible for the start of the Third Golden Age, with The Sopranos being the groundbreaking show that opened the door for those that came after it. Basic network cable followed suit with shows such as The Shield, Mad Men and Breaking Bad.

The book is fascinating, and hard to put down. It is packed with details of how the shows were put together, what life was like in the writers’ room, and how various problems were overcome. Many of the main players in the story were interviewed for the book, which provided insight into their world.

I couldn’t say whether the title of the book is intended to have two meanings, but the term Difficult Men certainly could apply equally to the men (again, it was always men) who created some of these shows. While they had undoubted talent and vision, it becomes clear that some of them were very difficult to work for or with, due to reasons such as temper, addiction, or various eccentricities. It makes for interesting reading.

One word of warning: The books contains several spoilers, of varying size, for The Sopranos, The Wire, Deadwood, The Shield, Breaking Bad and Mad Men, so if you are not up to date with any of these shows and want to read the book, it might be best to wait until after you have seen all the episodes.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, and definitely recommend it. show less

If you wanted a book that epitomises unoriginal, lazy, MFA’d writing this is that book. It starts with an interesting snippet about the filming of 'The Sopranos' and you can almost hear Martin’s writing teacher saying to him. ‘brilliant Brett, now that’s what we call the hook…’ and then after two pages Martin’s dull, uninteresting prose with insights that could almost certainly be bettered by any viewer remorselessly follows. If you want his thesis, then look no further than show more the title. Who knew that HBO and AMC et al thought they might have found a formula? The real achievement is that he somehow manages to make a book out of it - 303 pages in fact. It may be that this book is one of the ‘smartest’ ever written about American TV as David Thomson (no less) gushes on the cover. What an indictment of that genre if so. show less

Ok, I confess, I love the HBO show The Sopranos, primarily because the characters are so well developed.

Just when you think Tony Soprano is a kind, sensitive guy, babba bing, he "wastes" a rival. Just when you have compassion for Pauly Walnuts, slam bang, he dumps a body in the New Jersey pine barrens. Just when Carmela appears to be a conflicted soul regarding her husband's profession, whalla, her shallowness is manifested by the cushy life style she embraces.

This coffee table sized book is show more replete with great photos of the scenes and characters of the six-season series. There are wonderful personality descriptions. There are behind-the scenes descriptions of the music, the language, the food and the indepth portrayal of the characters.

If you followed the series, you will enjoy this book. show less