The fourth network : how Fox broke the rules and reinvented television / Daniel M. Kimmel.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kimmel, Daniel M.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Fox Broadcasting Company--History.

Fox Broadcasting Company.

History.

Physical Description:

xii, 323 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Chicago : Ivan R. Dee, 2004.

Summary:

When Garth Ancier left NBC for the start-up FOX network, NBC head Grant Tinker told Ancier he was making a terrible mistake. "I will never put a fourth column on my schedule board," Ancier recalls Tinker telling him. "There will only be three." Today, less than twenty years later, FOX is routinely referred to as one of the "Big Four" television networks. More recent arrivals like UPN, PAX, and the WB strive to be number five. Australian-born media mogul Rupert Murdoch, Barry Diller, and the many executives who have worked at the FOX network over the years changed the rules of the game. They showed it was possible to build and sustain a fourth American television network through innovations in prime-time shows, sports, children's entertainment, news, and new business models that challenged the assumptions of how the industry should operate. Daniel M. Kimmel's lively account of the FOX story carries the reader from the launch of the ill-fated Joan Rivers Show in 1986 to the challenging media environment of the twenty-first century -- an environment FOX helped create. The Fourth Network is filled with behind-the-scenes wheeling and dealing, outsized personalities, improbable risk-takers, and the triumphs and disasters that led to such signature television series as The Simpsons, Beverly Hills 90210, The X-Files, and America's Most Wanted. For better or worse -- or perhaps a bit of both -- the story of the rise of FOX is the story of contemporary American television.

Contents:

Prologue: "If I found out, he was going to cancel the deal." 3

Part I. The Coat-Hanger Network

1 "There will only be three" (1985-1986) 17

2 "A brand that most of America knows" (1986-1987) 30

3 "Why should I buy you?" (1987-1988) 45

4 "Hey, you watched the whole show" (1988-1989) 57

5 "People will watch car accidents, too" (1989-1990) 71

6 "What is this 90210?" (1990-1991) 94

7 "We were throwing parties in the halls" (1991-1992) 111

Part II. The Revolving Door

8 "Like most businesses, this is a team sport" (1992-1993) 131

9 "How come you make my mommy cry all the time?" (1993-1994) 145

10 "I was never in doubt about what FOX intended" (1994-1995) 175

11 "They finally got it" (1995-1996) 194

12 "Tom, you've got to script the ad-libs" (1996-1997) 210

13 "We're not the establishment" (1997-1998) 224

14 "They've run the numbers" (1998-1999) 239

15 "I never got a real at bat" (1999-2000) 255

Part III. 21st Century FOX

16 "It was the perfect fit at the right time" (2000 and Beyond) 267.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 305-311) and index.

ISBN:

1566635721

OCLC:

54006728