Name: Top of the Rock
ISBN: 9780307739766

Warren Littlefield

Inside the Rise and Fall of Must See TV

Top of the Rock

T. R. Pearson

A fast-paced oral history of a definitive era in television pays tribute to the producers, actors and programs that established new understandings of broadcast networking, sharing insider perspectives on how NBC subsequently lost its dominant standing. 100,000 first printing.

The Rise and Fall of Must See TV

Patrick Book

I don't know who this book is for. This pseudo-oral history is populated by too many suits and business types and few of the creative people Littlefield keeps saying are so important. It purports to explain the business side of the equation but glosses over details in favour of broad allusions to the importance of scheduling. The entire way along Littlefield praises himself and condemns execs like Don Ohlmeyer, never giving those he maligns a chance for rebuttals. Even worse is the album's closing chapter, a chance for a resentful Littlefield and others spurned by NBC after his ouster to bad mouth and metaphorically shit all over his successor, Jeff Zucker (who admittedly is a know-nothing twat, even if only for fucking over Conan O'Brien). It comes off as petty and mean-spirited, undermining all the preceding attempts to be magnanimous.

What little good there is to this gets lost in all the self-congratulatory back-slapping. There's a very good story to be told in NBC's glory days but this isn't it.

Jay Carter

Fast read -- the book is full of snippets of interviews with actors, writers, showrunners, and suits who all helped make Must See TV really something in the 90's. I especially appreciated the potshots taken at Jeff Zucker, who I believe brought down NBC primetime.

Michael Hessling

I love oral histories. This one probably didn't have enough Seinfeld, Fraiser, or Friends (and too much Will & Grace). Nor did it have enough JLD or Richards. But I love oral histories.

Top of the Rock Inside the Rise and Fall of Must See TV

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