Desperate Networks : Starring Katie Couric Les Moonves Simon Cowell Dan Rather Jeff Zucker Teri Hatcher Conan O'Brien Donald Trump and a Host of Other Movers and Shakers Who [DELUXE EDITION] (Hardcover)

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The power relationships of network television have turned topsy-turvy in the last five years. Carter, who covers the industry for the New York Times, reveals as one example how NBC was muscled out of its first-place standing as the other networks developed hit after hit. The shows he chooses to showcase are instantly recognizable—American Idol, Survivor, Desperate Housewives—and in every case, the show's path to the airwaves is at least as dramatic as its content. Though Carter is primarily concerned with prime-time hits, his reporting spreads out from the TodayShow to the nightly newscasts and, harking back to his bestselling The Late Shift, the negotiations that cemented Conan O'Brien as Jay Leno's successor on The Tonight Show. Despite multiple narrative threads, the story never gets confusing or bogged down. Though some clear heroes emerge, like Housewives creator Marc Cherry, most of the key figures, from Idol's acerbic Simon Cowell to network execs like CBS head Les Moonves and NBC's Jeff Zucker, are depicted ambiguously, reflecting failures as well as successes. And it's Carter's insider access, illuminating the players' states of mind, that makes this backstage drama so riveting. (May 2)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Carter's book The Late Shift (1996), also an HBO movie, focused on the vicious battle for Johnny Carson's coveted spot on The Tonight Show. Here he tackles the entire industry, taking a behind-the-scenes look at network television's struggle to compete for eyeballs and revenue dollars with looming distractions from the likes of cable, TiVo, and computers. Despite all that, no hit can create the type of sensation that a network megahit can. Carter takes us into the process at the executive decision-making level, where network bigwigs clamor for years for the next monster hit only to have it slip through their hands and wind up on a competing network. The shake-ups are evident: NBC's "Must-See TV" dominance ended with the last episode of Friends, ABC rose from the ashes with Lost and Desperate Housewives, and Fox constantly challenges the old guard. All three major network news anchors--Rather, Brokaw, and Jennings--signed off in an amazingly short period of time. Without resorting to gossip, Carter digs up the dirt on the shows you love and the ones you love to hate. David Siegfried
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Doubleday; Networks edition (May 2, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385514409
• ISBN-13: 978-0385514408
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #470,553 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating behind the scenes look at network television and the shows we watch, May 5, 2006

By	A. G. Corwin - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Long overdue, Bill Carter's new book Desperate Networks takes readers behind the scenes of America's television networks, a world of intrigue, competition, backstabbing, number crunching, demographic projections, and a money-making medium that reaches 90% of the American public. This is a world in which money is the driving factor rather than creativity, where ratings and formulas decide what shows make the schedules and how long they survive, and why some of the best shows fail and the worst thrive. This is a fascinating world, and Carter, TV critic for the New York Times, sheds light on it.

Carter gives many telling glimpses into the schizophrenic workings of network television. Carter details the struggle of American Idol to get on the air, and how Fox executives, who were totally resistant to the show immediately picked it up after owner Rupert Murdoch's daughter pushed for it. Marc Cherry and JJ Abrams, the creators of Desperate Housewives and Lost respectively, had to fight with ABC over everything from budget to casting. Over at CBS, Survivor's creator Mark Burnett ran into stumbling block after stumbling block in his effort to sell the show. CBS would only air it if Burnett found sponsors to underwrite the cost. Once he did so, and Survivor became a massive hit, CBS execs hit the roof when they realized their "safe and no risk" deal with Burnett gave him half of the ad revenue from future seasons. At NBC, Carter delves into the choas that followed the loss of Seinfeld and Friends and the inability of the network to recapture its lost audience. Carter's commentary on network pandering to demographics and audience surveys is also illuminating, as some of the most popular current shows are ones networks didn't want because they didn't fit the mold.

Carter also touches on the success and failures of ABC, FOX, CBS, and NBC, the decline of the days of the iconic news anchor, the backroom deals and payoffs of the Leno/Letterman/Carson wars, and many other topics in bite sized vignettes. Full of juicy information, this book is more of a sweeping glance at the industry as a whole rather than an in-depth analysis, but makes for interesting reading nonetheless. Carter helps explain many of the questions you have every time you turn on your tv, and its name-dropping and inside scoop is sure to please. Worth a read.

A.G. Corwin
St.Louis, MO

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars 4 stars to the author, 0 stars for the actual networks/executives, June 22, 2006

By	Sreeram Ramakrishnan (Salem,MA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

In a fairly entertaining behind-the-scenes account of the major US networks' programming decisions, the author provides a glimpse of the inner workings of TV executives (and intentionally or not, doesn't necessarily show them to be geniuses). The initial discussions surrounding Survivor's introduction is perhaps the better written part of the book. Past blunders (always in hindsight, though) by all the major networks as discussed by the author is an interesting read as well. The "characters" themselves seem particularly myopic and is very difficult to believe these people shape what the rest of the world gets to watch on television. The book itself is well-written in an easy-going narrative style. A good read.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Politics and luck, October 20, 2006

By	Alan S. Mazer - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This was a really fascinating book. It started off slowly (the first pages were tedious) and the writing is disjointed. The author jumps from time period to time period and network to network almost convulsively. You'll be reading about NBC in 2004 and then next thing you know it's ABC in 2000 and then back to CBS in 2005.

That said, the story is compelling: networks passing on shows like Desperate Housewives, Simon Cowell doing American Idol in the hope of discovering talent for his record company. Careers depend on the ability to predict what the public will watch, and what they will and won't watch isn't as obvious as one might think, even to people in the business with years of experience.

If you have any interest in television, personal politics, or the fallibilities of corporate execs, this is an interesting read.