Tony Soprano and the White House: A golden age began
(This is the latest chapter of the book-in-progress, “Television, and How It Got That Way.” To read the full book, so far, from the beginning, click “The Book,” under “categories.”)
In their early days, many cable channels wanted to look like a real network … or, at least, like an independent TV station.
They loaded their line-ups with low-cost, low-impact shows. They took few risks and stirred little excitement.
Ted Turner took that route with TBS, but when TNT started in 1988, he went a different way. That approach, already being used by HBO, would lead to a world of “Sopranos” (shown here) and “Breaking Bad” and the second golden age of TV drama. Read more…
