Top of the Rock

Warren Littlefield was president of NBC Entertainment during the Must See TV years of the 1990’s, a time when the network developed hit series after hit series, including Seinfeld, Friends, and ER.  The network was on top of the TV world, dominating the ratings and generating unprecedented amounts of advertising revenue.  A decade later the bottom fell out and NBC found itself looking up at the other networks in terms of ratings and hit shows.  In Top of the Rock: Inside the Rise and Fall of Must See TV, Littlefield writes about his time at NBC and what went right and wrong in producing the shows that would bring such popularity to the network.

The book is written as a series of interview excerpts from actors, writers, executives, and others involved with the network during the time.  It was a light and relatively fun read.  There wasn’t anything too revealing, and it contained less inside secrets than I might have expected from a book written by a former executive that the network fired before it eventually sunk to the bottom of the ratings.  But it was interesting to read some of the stories of actors auditioning for certain roles and how close some shows (Seinfeld as an example) came to being cancelled when they struggled out of the gate.

So I would ultimately recommend the book, although I could be biased because I loved NBC’s Must See TV and apparently am one of only like 25 people who still watches the network.  My favorite comedies - and the only two network shows I watch anymore - Parks and Recreation and Community are both NBC shows.  I guess for me, the “fall” in the rise and fall of NBC hasn’t happened yet.

Next up:  The Angel’s Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon