Customer Reviews

The Fourth Network: How FOX Broke the Rules and Reinvented Television

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

When Garth Ancier left NBC for the new start-up FOX network, he was told he was making a terrible mistake; but twenty years later FOX has become one of the 'big four' of TV networks. Boston TV critic and newspaper commentator Daniel M. Kimmel is in the perfect position to present the story of FOX's rise to power, what with his background as a TV and film critic and his law degree and film teacher experience. Chapters are lively as The Fourth Network explains how a risky launch turned into a billion-dollar creation.

What a great book this is! It's a good read and successfully balances business concepts and strategies, with lively descriptions of the personalities involved. Kimmel quotes many of the participants in this venture and provides a fast pace that entertains and educates at the same time. For the business school student or anyone with an interest in business, this makes an excellent case study. It should be required reading, especially for those who know odds are against creating a new thing in established territory. The people at Fox were smart, creative and gutsy; they defied the odds, gamed the system and won. And the author, Daniel Kimmel, really conveys the fast pace and atmosphere in which the Fox team must have operated. I am not an industry insider, so I feel like I really learned a lot about how networks are run, what the regulatory environment is like and the culture that developed at Fox. Great book. Highly recommended.

Wow! For anyone interested in the modern television landscape or anyone of my generation who grew up watching FOX (the broadcast network, mind you -- not the cable news channel) this book offers an incredibly well-researched history as well as tasteful commentaries on the network that "broke the rules and reinvented television."
The pleasure in reading comes from Kimmel's apparent respect for the network and what it has accomplished, but even so, he is not quick to shy away from the controversies and scandals that threatened to thwart FOX's climb.
The only disappointment of this book (as noted by the author in the acknowledgements) is that the FOX network itself did not help with Kimmel's research. Regardless, his many interviews with previous FOX employees and associates as well as drawing from countless newspapers and trade magazines offer more than enough information to make the book informative and consistently interesting.

The story of how the big three networks were broken to allow a fourth to develop is a great one. The stagnation of the big three combined with the drive at fox was amazing. Particularly instructive is at the start of each chapter there is a sheet that tells you how many programs they had on during primetime. You really get a sense for how important the match ups and programming are in order to get a network off the ground. This is just an all around good business book.

An expose of the network that replaced News with lies and deception? Not at all. Everything suggests Faux News paid for this book to draw readers away from in depth inquiries.
Kimmel must have been working from clippings, because you won't find any personalities here. The people who made Fox are characterless names. Fox may not have news but at least they are entertaining. This text provides neither one.