by Brett Martin
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.
