Pandora's Box, page 39
64. “What people who don’t have”: Kevin Reilly, in discussion with the author, July 28, 2021.
65. “It was the kind of show that most people”: Kala Hoke, “Noah Baumbach Explains Why HBO Dropped ‘The Corrections,’” WNYC, March 27, 2015, https://www.wnyc.org/story/noah-baumbach-explains-why-hbo-dropped-corrections.
66. “like the Works Progress Administration”: Joe Satran, “HBO’s The Corrections Adaptation Is Dead–What Happens Now?,” HuffPost, May 2, 2012, https://www.huffpost.com/entry/hbo-the-corrections_n_1469456.
67. “schmuck insurance”: Quentin Schaffer, in discussion with the author, January 7, 2022.
68. “You can’t just pick a name”: Sue Naegle, in discussion with the author, January 27, 2020.
69. “He was a bully”: Confidential source, in discussion with the author.
70. “I don’t blame Sue”: Confidential source, in discussion with the author.
71. “They had all of these deals”: Felix Gillette and John Koblin, It’s Not TV: The Spectacular Rise, Revolution, and Future of HBO (New York: Viking, 2022), 284–85.
72. “an actor like Redford”: Mike Fleming Jr., “Taylor Sheridan on How the Harrison Ford–Helen Mirren Ratings Record Setter 1923 Came After Network’s Shocking Realization the Cast of Freshly Renewed 1883 Was Dead,” Deadline, December 20, 2022, https://deadline.com/2022/12/taylor-sheridan-harrison-ford-helen-mirren-yellowstone-spinoff-1923-bob-bakish-shock-1883-cast-killed-off-interview-1235202720.
73. “We were under tremendous pressure”: Richard Plepler, in discussion with the author, July 20, 2018.
74. “And that would’ve cost us”: Glenn Whitehead, in discussion with the author, May 25, 2022.
75. “piss on Milton Friedman’s grave”: Michael Fuchs, in discussion with the author, December 8, 2022.
76. “They’re the minor leagues”: Confidential source, in discussion with the author.
77. “Is the Albanian army”: Lindsay Powers, “Time Warner’s Jeff Bewkes: Netflix Is No Threat to Media Companies,” Hollywood Reporter, December 13, 2010.
78. “dog tag around my neck”: Ken Auletta, “Outside the Box,” New Yorker, January 26, 2014.
79. “They would stop for a week”: David Levine, in discussion with the author, March 7, 2021.
80. “It was just difficult to get shows made”: Sue Naegle, in discussion with the author, February 25, 2021.
81. “the right kind of girl”: Joey Soloway, in discussion with the author, November 6, 2020.
82. “It’s not Sex and the City”: Dave Itzkoff, “Cable’s New Pack of Girls, Trying on the Woman Thing,” New York Times, March 2, 2012, https://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/04/arts/television/lena-dunham-on-girls-her-new-hbo-comedy.html.
83. “My question is not”: Ta-Nahisi Coates, “Girls Through the Veil,” Atlantic, April 20, 2012, https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2012/04/girls-through-the-veil/256154.
84. “There could be more diversity”: Nisha Gopalan, “Issa Rae on Awkward Black Girl, Her Shonda Rhimes Show, and Hating L.A. Guys,” Vulture, February 28, 2013, https://www.vulture.com/2013/02/issa-rae-awkward-black-girl-interview.html.
85. “It was a boys’ club”: Carolyn Strauss, in discussion with the author, January 21, 2022.
86. “circular firing squad”: Glenn Whitehead, in discussion with the author, January 28, 2022.
87. “Lombardo and Ellenberg”: David Levine, in discussion with the author, March 7, 2021.
88. “It was not a pleasant”: Confidential source, in discussion with the author.
89. “I was always thinking, You’re not Carolyn.”: James Andrew Miller, Tinderbox: HBO’s Ruthless Pursuit of New Frontiers (New York: Henry Holt, 2021), Chapter 13, iBooks.
90. “You have to get out”: Sue Naegle, in discussion with the author, January 28, 2021.
91. “I think that if anybody had said”: Confidential source, in discussion with the author.
92. “I invented Plepler”: Michael Fuchs, in discussion with the author, May 9, 2022.
93. “They had their own little”: Kevin Reilly, in discussion with the author, July 28, 2021.
94. “See if there’s a series in there”: Terry Winter, in discussion with the author, May 20, 2022.
95. “I don’t need to read the book”: Terry Gross, “As Boardwalk Empire Comes to a Close, Creator Reminisces About Its Start,” NPR, September 11, 2014, in Fresh Air, podcast, https://www.npr.org/2014/09/11/347552966/as-boardwalk-empire-comes-to-close-creator-reminisces-on-how-it-started.
96. “I was kind of disheartened”: David Bianculli, “Down on the ‘Boardwalk’ with Terence Winter,” NPR, September 28, 2010, in Fresh Air, podcast, https://www.npr.org/transcripts/130184684.
97. “HBO told me”: Terry Winter, in discussion with the author, May 20, 2022.
98. “Prohibition was the single event”: Jennifer M. Wood, “Terence Winter Says Goodbye to Boardwalk Empire,” Esquire, September 6, 2014, https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/tv/interviews/a29836/terence-winter-boardwalk-empire-interview.
99. “No one’s ever given Marty”: Terry Winter, in discussion with the author, May 20, 2022.
100. “This is great”: David Bianculli, “Down on the ‘Boardwalk’ with Terence Winter,” NPR, September 28, 2010, in Fresh Air, podcast, https://www.npr.org/transcripts/130184684.
101. “A lot of feature people”: Kim Master, “HBO’s High-Class Problems: $100M Vinyl Disappoints Amid Westworld, David Fincher Woes,” Hollywood Reporter, February 24, 2016, https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/hbos-100m-vinyl-disappoints-westworld-868605.
102. “We shot The Wire for scraps”: Brian Lowry, “Terence Winter and the Boardwalk Empire Team on the Mob Men’s Last Call,” Variety, September 23, 2014, https://variety.com/2014/tv/news/boardwalk-empire-finale-terence-winter-1201311105.
103. “started to buy these massive productions”: Bob Greenblatt, in discussion with the author, July 15, 2021.
104. “pushing the envelope”: Terry Winter, in discussion with the author, May 20, 2022.
Chapter 5: FX Flips Off HBO
1. “I have good news and bad news”: Brett Martin, Difficult Men (New York: Penguin Press, 2013), 213.
2. “I came from a place”: Kevin Reilly, in discussion with the author, August 5, 2021.
3. “We would have loved”: David Madden, in discussion with the author, December 22, 2022.
4. “Nash Bridges was all rules”: Aaron Pruner, “The Untold Truth of The Shield,” Looper, January 26, 2023, https://www.looper.com/122869/untold-truth-shield; Derek Lawrence, “The Shield: Creator Shawn Ryan on the Possibility of a Revival,” Entertainment Weekly, March 14, 2017, https://ew.com/tv/2017/03/14/the-shield-shawn-ryan-15th-anniversary.
5. “My earliest memory working”: Shawn Ryan, “Shawn Ryan on The Shield: We Got Away with ‘Something Criminal,’” Hollywood Reporter, May 15, 2014, https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/shawn-ryan-shield-we-got-703515.
6. “got me thinking a lot”: Ben Marshall, “Out with a Bang,” Guardian, February 13, 2009, https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2009/feb/12/michael-chiklis-the-shield.
7. “He’s not a television cop”: Bernard Weinraub, “Police Show Has Humans, Not Heroes; In FX’s Hit The Shield, Means Justify Ends,” New York Times, April 3, 2002, https://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/03/arts/police-show-has-humans-not-heroes-in-fx-s-hit-the-shield-means-justify-ends.html.
8. “what people want these days”: “The Shield: Quotes,” IMDB, accessed February 21, 2023, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0286486/characters/nm0553468.
9. Shawn Ryan will never get this: Roger Cormier, “15 Incorruptible Facts About The Shield,” Mental Floss, March 12, 2017, https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/74534/15-incorruptible-facts-about-shield.
10. “I think there was an assumption”: Derek Lawrence, “The Shield: Creator Shawn Ryan on the Possibility of a Revival,” Entertainment Weekly, March 14, 2017, https://ew.com/tv/2017/03/14/the-shield-shawn-ryan-15th-anniversary.
11. “‘We don’t fucking like that guy’”: Walton Goggins, in discussion with the author, January 6, 2022.
12. “No one knew what we could”: Ibid.
13. “We’re gonna shove it”: Brett Martin, Difficult Men (New York: Penguin Press, 2013), 221.
14. “FX had shit advertising”: Kevin Reilly, in discussion with the author, August 5, 2021.
15. “Their business model”: Alex Gansa, in discussion with the author, August 11, 2022.
16. “Everybody was telling me”: Robert Rorke, “Close Call,” New York Post, July 22, 2007, https://nypost.com/2007/07/22/close-call.
17. “I was offered Dune”: Dan Snierson, “What Glenn Close Is Doing in The Shield,” Entertainment Weekly, March 11, 2005, https://ew.com/article/2005/03/11/what-glenn-close-doing-shield.
18. “Somehow, the audience”: Derek Lawrence, “The Shield: Creator Shawn Ryan on the Possibility of a Revival,” Entertainment Weekly, March 14, 2017, https://ew.com/tv/2017/03/14/the-shield-shawn-ryan-15th-anniversary.
19. “When I look back”: Ben Marshall, “Out with a Bang,” Guardian, February 13, 2009, https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2009/feb/12/michael-chiklis-the-shield.
20. “The Shield not only put FX”: Maria Elena Fernandez, “Shawn Ryan: The Man Behind The Shield,” Los Angeles Times, August 24, 2008, https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-ca-ryan24-2008aug24-story.html.
21. “I never think of The Shield”: Troy L. Foreman, “Interview: Shawn Ryan,” The PC Principle, December 16, 2018, https://thepcprinciple.com/interview-shawn-ryan.
22. “We felt like our show was comparable”: Alan Sepinwall, “The Shield: Shawn Ryan Post-Finale Q&A,” What’s Alan Watching? (blog), November 25, 2008, http://sepinwall.blogspot.com/2008/11/shield-shawn-ryan-post-finale-q.html.
23. “All the guys in power”: Sam Lansky, “How Ryan Murphy Became King of the Streaming Boom,” Time, September 3, 2019, https://time.com/5667752/ryan-murphy-netflix.
24. “‘I have to take this’”: Stephen Tolkin, in discussion with the author, October 16, 2020.
25. “I was just very frustrated”: KC Ifeanyi, “Inside FX’s ‘Fearless’ Rise to TV Domination,” Fast Company, June 1, 2017, https://www.fastcompany.com/40425927/inside-fxs-fearless-rise-to-tv-domination.
26. “both the biggest mistake I ever made”: Ibid.
27. “I poured a lot of David Chase”: Todd Kessler, in discussion with the author, July 13, 2022.
28. “Oftentimes the person”: Randy Gambill, “On the Set of Damages,” hmonthly.com, February 10, 2009, https://www.hmonthly.com/2009/02/10/set-damages.
29. “We want you to feel”: KC Ifeanyi, “Inside FX’s ‘Fearless’ Rise to TV Domination,” Fast Company, June 1, 2017, https://www.fastcompany.com/40425927/inside-fxs-fearless-rise-to-tv-domination.
30. “They said they needed someone”: Graham Yost, in discussion with the author, September 9, 2020.
31. “I was a big fan of Leonard’s”: Ibid.
32. “WWED”: Ibid.
33. “did kill a lot of people”: Ibid.
34. “he was a liar who lied”: Ibid.
35. “I turned down Justified twice”: Walton Goggins, in discussion with the author, January 6, 2022.
36. “I said, ‘Look, I’ll say the things’”: David Fear, “Walton Goggins on Tarantino, Marilyn Manson and Sons of Anarchy,” Rolling Stone, January 21, 2016, https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-news/walton-goggins-on-tarantino-marilyn-manson-and-sons-of-anarchy-190797/; marakara (screen name), “Justified at TCA Press Tour,” LiveJournal (blog), January 15, 2011, https://justified-fx.livejournal.com/43915.html.
37. “The hardest thing was how”: Walton Goggins, in discussion with the author, January 6, 2022.
38. “In the world of Elmore Leonard”: Jeremy Egner, “Defined by a Smile and a Drawl,” New York Times, January 5, 2012, https://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/08/arts/television/timothy-olyphant-in-elmore-leonards-justified-on-fx.html.
39. “He’s deeply insecure”: Confidential source, in discussion with the author.
40. “We weren’t talking”: Walton Goggins, in discussion with the author, January 6, 2022.
41. “very special, comforting”: The Deadline Team, “TCA: FX’s Justified EP on Final Seasons, Life Without Elmore Leonard & the Late Writer’s Upcoming Tribute,” Deadline, January 14, 2014, https://deadline.com/2014/01/tca-elmore-leonard-tribute-scheduled-for-january-21-in-santa-monica-664350/; Kristi Turnquist, “Timothy Olyphant on Elmore Leonard; Harry Connick Jr. and American Idol; TV’s Golden Age: TV Winter Press Tour 2014 (gallery),” Oregonian, January 15, 2014, https://www.oregonlive.com/movies/2014/01/timothy_olyphant_on_elmore_leo.html; Walton Goggins, in discussion with the author, January 6, 2022.
42. “In a good Elmore scene”: Graham Yost, in discussion with the author, September 16, 2020.
43. “It’s only a half joke”: Graham Yost, in discussion with the author, September 9, 2020.
44. “Does it feel like Elmore?”: Kara Howland, “TV Goodness Q&A: Justified Creator/EP Graham Yost Talks Season 5 and Previews ‘Restitution,’” TV Goodness, April 7, 2014, https://www.tvgoodness.com/2014/04/07/tv-goodness-qa-justified-creatorep-graham-yost-talks-season-5-and-previews-restitution-interview.
45. “I was just lying constantly”: Joe Weisberg, in discussion with the author, October 4, 2020.
46. “read yourself to death”: Joe Weisberg, “‘The Americans’ Producer Reveals His Secret CIA History,” Hollywood Reporter, May 13, 2014, https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/americans-producer-reveals-his-secret-703485.
47. “You’re in this little box of a room”: Joe Weisberg, in discussion with the author, October 4, 2020.
48. “I saw that my job was going to entail”: Olivia B. Waxman, “Q&A: The CIA Officer Behind the New Spy Drama The Americans,” Time, January 30, 2013, https://entertainment.time.com/2013/01/30/qa-the-cia-officer-behind-the-new-spy-drama-the-americans.
49. “I literally didn’t know what CAA was”: Joe Weisberg, “The Americans Producer Reveals His Secret CIA History,” Hollywood Reporter, May 13, 2014, https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/americans-producer-reveals-his-secret-703485.
50. Then, in 2010, the FBI rolled up: Maureen Dowd, “Good Riddance, Carrie Mathison,” New York Times, April 4, 2015, https://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/05/opinion/sunday/maureen-dowd-good-riddance-carrie-mathison.html.
51. “Do we have any spies that hot?”: Andrew Clark, “Anna Chapman’s Call to Father Led to FBI Spy Arrests,” Guardian, July 11, 2010, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/jul/12/anna-chapman-call-father-fbi-spy-arrests.
52. “They said, ‘What about making a show about this?’”: Joe Weisberg, in discussion with the author, October 3, 2020.
53. “They never tell you why”: Ibid.
54. “was the one guy”: Matt Brennan, “How The Americans Became the Best Show on Television,” Paste, March 24, 2017, https://www.pastemagazine.com/tv/the-americans/how-the-americans-became-the-best-show-on-televisi.
55. “Scary turned him on”: Joe Weisberg, in discussion with the author, October 3, 2020.
56. “Maybe our desire not to do that”: Christina Radish, “Creators Joseph Weisberg and Joel Fields Talk The Americans Season Finale, Crafting the Cliffhanger, Season 2, and More,” Collider, May 3, 2013, https://collider.com/the-americans-season-1-finale-joseph-weisberg-joel-fields-interview.
57. “In one meeting he said”: Joe Weisberg, in discussion with the author, October 3, 2020.
58. “Most of the stuff that seems”: Ibid.
59. “is absolutely based on reality”: Ibid.
60. “I don’t believe he’d ever written a script”: Graham Yost, in discussion with the author, September 9, 2020.
61. “little Miss America”: Joe Weisberg, in discussion with the author, October 3, 2020.
62. “I was like, ‘Me?’”: Lacey Rose, “The Americans On- and Offscreen Couple Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys in Rare Joint Interview,” Hollywood Reporter, August 4, 2016, https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-features/americans-actors-shows-graphic-sex-916725.
63. “‘I’m Steven Spielberg’”: Confidential source, in discussion with the author.
64. “making a bologna sandwich”: Mark Anthony Green, “House of Spies: The Americans’ Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys,” GQ, January 23, 2014, https://www.gq.com/gallery/the-americans-keri-russell-matthew-rhys.
65. “That changed everything”: Joe Weisberg, in discussion with the author, October 3, 2020.
66. “They had limitations on nudity”: Graham Yost, in discussion with the author, September 9, 2020.
