Tinderbox: HBO's Ruthless Pursuit of New Frontiers

I really enjoyed the author’s books on Saturday Night Live and ESPN so when I found out they were doing one on HBO I pre-ordered it right away. Of the 3 books I ended up liking this one the least. That is not to say that it is not good. The book is exceptionally long in the tooth. Unlike the other two books I found myself skipping over sections of this one especially when they got into politics and financial aspects of the networks workings in the boardroom. I felt that some of these sections, although important to the history of the franchise, could have been trimmed a bit. I never had this feeling with ESPN or SNL books. Some of the insights behind my favorite HBO programming were fascinating. I had never watched “Band Of Brothers” or some of the other classics that the book prompted me to go back and discover. I found it amazing to discover that the network spent over $30 million on a Game Of Thrones prequel pilot and then scrapped it. Overall this is a good book that sometimes gets bogged down in the weeds a bit. You may find yourself skipping over parts, but it is still a worthy read.

It's a long book. Absolutely. But as someone who has been watching HBO for over 40 years, I found the read quite satisfying. I like the oral history angle. It makes for a faster read and the events being discussed have a stronger connective tissue. Of course in close to 1000 pages there were parts (usually when they waded deep into the financial strategies and market share discussions) where I was lost, but overall I was riveted and could not put it down. And even when I tried to put it down at night, there were times I made the decision to forgo sleep because I wanted to know what happened next.I love HBO. And hearing about the mountain of quality programming they put out and their origin stories made me want to go back and re-watch "Band of Brothers" or " Six Feet Under" or "Real Sex" or realize how I missed "Olive Kitteridge" or "Chernobyl" or "Real Sports".The added layer of the palace intrigue that occurred over 50 years showed how a corporate culture evolved over time. It can be seen as profiles in leadership at best and downright juvenile and misogynistic at worst.I had my favorite characters, and my villains, both of whom revealed their true selves in their own words. Even though I knew many of the firings and humiliating exits, it still read as a suspense novel fatefully moving towards the inevitable.It was a super fun read for me and if you love HBO, really love it, then you owe it to yourself to pick up this book and find out how they did it.

Everything you eanted to know ever about HBO.

I read his book You Guys Have All The Fun about the history of ESPN and maybe that book had characters and info that was generally more interesting than this book does. I am about half way through and Miller spends way too much time on the infighting of HBO senior management in all the departments and not enough time on the history of ground breaking shows like OZ The Wire and the Supranoes. Maybe it will get better as the book gets more current. I hope so but at almost a 1,000 pages it can get bogged down in its detail

Stellar oral history of HBO! The author brings a spellbinding story to life through hundreds of first person accounts and backstories.While HBO was, as the title states, ruthless in its pursuits of new frontiers , James Andrew Miller was relentless in his wonderful reporting in this book of record.

I love all that James Andrew Miller does. He researches a topic (SNL, ESPN, CAA, HBO) and really tells a story. The detail and fun stories are awesome! Can't wait for his next one!

The best part of this long, long, book -- and I mean very, very long -- are the sections dealing with the colorful and contentious early HBO programming czar Michael Fuchs. He's got the best quotes in a book filled with too, too many quotes and it shows that his take no prisoners style is still alive and well. But it's that swagger and shoot from the lip that gave HBO the balls to produce some of the best programming in tv history. And it set the course for HBO to travel down for the next several decades. He'll never receive a popularity contest, but his spirit and grit jump off the page. Jeff Bewkes provides some surprisingly candid comments and it feels like he really let his hair down. Richard Plepler, who had the unfortunate luck to be running HBO when AT&T took over, receives some critical comments which I had never read before (and I've read a lot about HBO over the years). But this oral history is in desperate need of an editor -- rather make that a lawnmower. Miller lets his interviewees ramble on about the incredible work on some SVP in programming or the great HBO marketing team. It's like reading the worst Emmy speeches in history. Documentary chief Sheila Nevins, who DID oversee amazing work, is so relentlessly flattered by Miller that the reader can't help but wonder if she's promised him a production deal. If you've got the stomach for it, jump in and you will find nuggets to reward your journey. But buckle your seat belt because it's going to be a very long, tedious ride.

The book looks good ,this is a gift and I’m sure they will like it .