Podcasts about difficult men behind

Ten years can be a lifetime (or two or three): Brett Martin returns to the show to celebrate the 10th anniversary of his book DIFFICULT MEN: Behind the Scenes of a Creative Revolution (Penguin), and we talk about how the TV landscape — prestige & otherwise — has changed in the past decade, how it felt to revisit the book 10 years later, and why this anniversary was more startling than his turning 50. We get into how Difficult Men was lauded for its criticism and analysis at the time but now shines for its reporting and character studies, how the explosion of prestige TV was unsustainable but led to amazing shows, how the #metoo movement intersected with male-dominated writers' rooms (and which show-creators in Difficult Men looked bad 10 years ago & worse now), and his feelings about the writers' and actors' strikes. We also discuss Brett's writing career, what food media really talks about, his reporting on the history (& racial complexities) of Preservation Hall, what he's learned about interviewing, why he's crushed by the retirement of Bartolo Colon, what our favorite eras of M*A*S*H are, why he's enjoying the heck out of Inkmaster and the new Night Court, and a lot more. Follow Brett on Twitter, Bluesky and Instagram • More info at our site • Support The Virtual Memories Show via Patreon or Paypal and via our Substack

On today's episode of All in the Industry®, host Shari Bayer is joined by Brett Martin, Food Critic and Correspondent for GQ magazine, who recently compiled GQ’s annual Best New Restaurants in America. Brett is the author of Difficult Men: Behind the Scenes of a Creative Revolution, From The Sopranos and The Wire to Mad Men and Breaking Bad (2014) and the forthcoming Fuck You, Eat This (Crown). He is a two-time James Beard Award winner and a six-time selectee of the annual Best Food Writing anthology. His work has appeared in Vanity Fair, Bon Appetit, the New York Times and The New Yorker, among others, and on public radio’s This American Life. Today's show also features Diella Allen, Executive Director, Event Marketing for FOOD & WINE, who directs the FOOD & WINE Classic in Aspen, which has its 37th Annual event taking place from June 14-16, 2019. In this role, Diella oversees all aspects of the premier culinary event of its kind, including programming and related content, talent coordination, marketing and promotion, ticket sales, sponsorships, and more. This episode also includes Shari's PR tip, and Solo Dining experience at Oxalis in Brooklyn, NYC. Listen at Heritage Radio Network; subscribe/rate/review our show at iTunes, Stitcher or Spotify. Follow us @allindustry. Thanks for being a part of All in the Industry®! Photos courtesy of Brett Martin & Diella Allen. All in the Industry is powered by Simplecast.

We kick off 2014 with a conversation with Brett Martin, author of Difficult Men: Behind the Scenes of a Creative Revolution: From The Sopranos and The Wire to Mad Men and Breaking Bad (The Penguin Press). We talk about TV's third golden age and the outsized personalities that helped drive it, the utter uncanniness of Tony Soprano (and James Gandolfini), how the TV showrunner became the auteur of our age, how Breaking Bad may have ended the notion of "Trojan horse" shows, why Battlestar Galactica didn't make the cut in his book, why it's so tough to end a novelistic TV show, and more! "I seem to spend a lot of time being hectored by big ego'd men in my career. I anticipate a lot more of that." It's an engaging conversation about the dominant narrative form of this century (at least in terms of ambition and scope), an exploration of the intersection of art and commerce, and a little bit of an inquiry into our age's rush to consensus and its attendant need to declare something The Best Ever. Brett's a terrific writer and has clearly thought long and hard about these topics.

Brett Martin ("Difficult Men: Behind the Scenes of a Creative Revolution, From The Sopranos and The Wire to Mad Men and Breaking Bad") joins the show. We discuss the recent crop of cable dramas that have dramatically changed the landscape of television.

Difficult Men: Behind the Scenes of a Creative Revolution: From the Sopranos and the Wire to Mad Men and Breaking Bad  (Penguin Press)  A riveting and revealing look at the shows that helped cable television drama emerge as the signature art form of the twenty-first century. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the landscape of television began an unprecedented transformation. While the networks continued to chase the lowest common denominator, a wave of new shows, first on premium cable channels like HBO and then basic cable networks like FX and AMC, dramatically stretched television's narrative inventiveness, emotional resonance, and artistic ambition. No longer necessarily concerned with creating always-likable characters, plots that wrapped up neatly every episode, or subjects that were deemed safe and appropriate, shows such as The Wire, The Sopranos, Mad Men, Deadwood, The Shield, and more tackled issues of life and death, love and sexuality, addiction, race, violence, and existential boredom. Just as the Big Novel had in the 1960s and the subversive films of New Hollywood had in 1970s, television shows became the place to go to see stories of the triumph and betrayals of the American Dream at the beginning of the twenty-first century. This revolution happened at the hands of a new breed of auteur: the all-powerful writer-show runner. These were men nearly as complicated, idiosyncratic, and "difficult" as the conflicted protagonists that defined the genre. Given the chance to make art in a maligned medium, they fell upon the opportunity with unchecked ambition. Combining deep reportage with cultural analysis and historical context, Brett Martin recounts the rise and inner workings of a genre that represents not only a new golden age for TV but also a cultural watershed. Difficult Men features extensive interviews with all the major players, including David Chase (The Sopranos), David Simon and Ed Burns (The Wire), Matthew Weiner and Jon Hamm (Mad Men), David Milch (NYPD Blue, Deadwood), and Alan Ball (Six Feet Under), in addition to dozens of other writers, directors, studio executives, actors, production assistants, makeup artists, script supervisors, and so on. Martin takes us behind the scenes of our favorite shows, delivering never-before-heard story after story and revealing how cable TV has distinguished itself dramatically from the networks, emerging from the shadow of film to become a truly significant and influential part of our culture. Praise for Difficult Men: "The new golden age of television drama--addictive, dark, suspenseful, complex, morally murky--finally gets the insanely readable chronicle it deserves in Brett Martin's Difficult Men . . . Here, at last, is the real story, and it's a lot more exciting than the version that gets told in Emmy acceptance speeches."--Mark Harris, author of Pictures at a Revolution: Five Movies and the Birth of the New Hollywood "This book taught me a thing or two about how a few weird executives enabled a handful of weirder writers to make shows I still can't believe were on TV. But what I found more interesting--and disturbing--is how it helped me understand why an otherwise lily-livered, civic-minded nice girl like me wants to curl up with a bunch of commandment-breaking, Constitution-trampling psychos--and that's just the cops."--Sarah Vowell "Any addict of the new 'golden' television (or extended narratives on premium cable) will love this book. Along the way, it is also one of the smartest books about American television ever written. So don't be surprised if that great creator, David Chase (of (The Sopranos), comes out as a mix of Rodney Dangerfield and Hamlet."--David Thompson Brett Martin has been reporting and writing non-fiction for more than fifteen years. He's contributed to Vanity Fair, Gourmet, Bon Appetit, The New York Times, The New Yorker, Esquire, Food and Wine, Details, Men's Journal and O: The Oprah Magazine, and is a frequent contributor to This American Life. He is currently a Contributor to GQ.  THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS JULY 17, 2013 COPIES OF THE BOOK FROM THIS EVENT CAN BE PURCHASED HERE: http://www.skylightbooks.com/book/9781594204197

We’re three podcasts into our coverage of Breaking Bad The Final Season, and we’ve finally arrived at the main event.  A heavyweight prize fight between Hank and Walt, scheduled for 8 rounds!  Join us for our complete, in depth coverage of the season premiere of Breaking Bad, “Blood Money”.  How in-depth, you ask?  Well, if this podcast were to be distributed evenly over the entire earth, it would cover the tallest mountain to the depth of two hours.  Hey, if Lucas can mix measures of time and space, so can I! Inside we talk about Hank’s case of PTSD (post traumatic shit disorder), Skyler’s “stay out of my territory” moment, Badger’s epic Trek script and it’s possible deeper meanings, the intricacies of GPS trackers, housing values in the ABQ, Walt’s penchant for copying traits of his victims, and Jesse’s Paperboy technique.  All this, and tons and tons of listener feedback, and a very light spoiler section, as always safely cordoned off behind our theme music. * Courtesy Cynthia B, a cool interview by NPR of Brett Martin regarding his new book, Difficult Men: Behind the Scenes of a Creative Revolution. * An awesome color chart for each main character throughout the seasons for you color conspiracy hounds. * Don’t forget to check out the Natter Cast, who graciously sponsored this episode of Breaking Good on our recent Kickstarter. Support Bald Move:  Amazon  |  Club Bald Move Leave Us A Review Join the discussion:  Email  |  Forums  |  Facebook  |  Twitter

Robert Kolker is the author of Lost Girls and a contributing editor at New York. "For better or for worse, my heart's not in the mystery. I want [the killer] to be caught—he's obviously a predator and he's unstable. But they all are. They're all messed up people who victimize other people and they all look normal. The art and science of catching serial killers has become more than slightly overblown in our society. And you know, I love Silence of the Lambs … but I'm not entirely sure that our obsession with who the serial killer is and why a serial killer does it is in proportion with how interesting they end up being." Thanks to TinyLetter for sponsoring this week's episode. Show notes: @bobkolker robertkolker.com Kolker on Longform Lost Girls: An Unsolved American Mystery (Harper 2013) [2:15] "A Serial Killer in Common" (New York • Jun 2011) [5:15] "Long Island Serial Killer Victims Bond in Support Group" (Christine Pelisek and Roja Heydarpour • The Daily Beast • Apr 2011) [10:30] "Kaboom" (New York • Mar 2013) [22:15] "The Devil in David Letterman" (New York • Oct 2009) [25:45] Difficult Men: Behind the Scenes of a Creative Revolution: From The Sopranos and The Wire to Mad Men and Breaking Bad (Brett Martin • Penguin 2013) [26:30] Longform Podcast #40: Vanessa Grigoriadis [30:00] Random Family: Love, Drugs, Trouble, and Coming of Age in the Bronx (Adrian Nicole LeBlanc • Nov 2010) [42:00] "My Aircraft" (New York • Feb 2009) [42:00] "I Did It" (New York • Oct 2010) [47:30] "The New Prostitutes" (The New York Times • Jun 2013)

Today, we are in what some consider the third golden age of television. Many programs are the talk of National Public Radio and of the most elite dinner parties. They have become a significant part of our cultural conversation.   So what changed?  Was it the long tail of cable television, the need for men to find a place reassert themselves into the national conversation, or simply a natural home for adult storytelling at a time when the movies have ceded this territory.GQ correspondent Brett Martin takes a deep look in Difficult Men: Behind the Scenes of a Creative Revolution: From The Sopranos and The Wire to Mad Men and Breaking Bad. My conversation with Brett Martin: