Alan Sepinwall

This masterfully engaging book by two smart guys who really know their stuff is one of the most enjoyable reads I've had in a long time. Intelligent discussions of the very best of television, show by show, are wonderfully readable, as though one were a participant in those discussions and learning much from the insights of one's magnificently well-informed friends. Though they left out a few items from my own list of excellences from TV's history (the brilliant Combat!, the charming and moving Brooklyn Bridge), there's scarcely a show listed that doesn't deserve to be on a list of the most meaningful works in the medium. Fun, informative, revelatory, TV (The Book) was addictive, one of the most compelling "just one more page" experiences I've had in a long time.… (meer)

TV critic Alan Sepinwall details the origins and importance of 12 TV shows that together form the backbone of the modern golden age in television. I've been reading Sepinwall's TV blog regularly for several years now and while I don't always agree with him, I do find him to be an interesting voice in the still very young field of television criticism. As someone who tends to look for behind the scenes info as much as possible when I enjoy TV shows, movies or books, this book didn't always reveal that much new information. I actually thought each section could have benefitted from being a little more in depth and analytical. As it is, it is mostly just a recollection of the history of each show with some, but not that much, analysis of the content of the shows themselves. Then again, I could probably read whole books about each of these shows (as well as several not given their own chapter here), but that was never what this was going to be. I enjoyed the book the most when reading what the various creators and writers have to say about their shows in interviews conducted by Sepinwall specifically for this book.

My only real quibbles with the book are incredibly minor and subjective. There were a few times where I disagreed with Sepinwall on his qualitative judgments of certain plotlines, characters and episodes and I found it a little bothersome how he would dismiss these very matter-of-factly without exploring what exactly made them so objectively bad. I was also a bit bothered by him unnecessarily spoiling certain specific details from other shows not part of the main focus of this book when he could have gotten his points across by being a little more vague. I do suspect though, that these quibbles are fairly specific to me and won't bother many other readers.

I'd recommend the book for anyone interested in the shows detailed or just interested in how television changed in the late nineties/early aughts.… (meer)