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Top of the Rock Inside the Rise and Fall of Must See TV Warren Littlefield T R Pearson Books

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Top of the Rock Inside the Rise and Fall of Must See TV Warren Littlefield T R Pearson Books

The book is actually the edited recollections of a number of individuals - not a memoir of one person or an actual narrative history of the period. You will have several "quotes" from different individuals on each page with no narrative tie. Some fit well together, some are jarringly disjointed. Mostly, the theme seems to be the wonderful job that Warren Littlefield did at NBC and how evil Don Ohlmeyer and others were.

Some interesting material about the start of some iconic shows from the people involved but too little to really carry a book.


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Top of the Rock Inside the Rise and Fall of Must See TV Warren Littlefield T R Pearson Books Reviews

The book isn't so much written as it is transcribed... a collection of raw excerpts, snippets really, from interviews conducted with the key actors, writers, producers, agents, schedulers, and lawyers behind NBC's 1990s hits... and, of course, quotes from Littlefield himself. He and co-author T.R. Pearson are going for the feel of an oral history, but it comes off as disjointed and scattershot.

There are some interesting facts and anecdotes revealed along the way, but much of the book felt like an excuse for Littlefield to settle a couple of old scores. Way too much of the book involves Littlefield and his former subordinates trashing Kelsey Grammer (described as a difficult actor with bad judgment and a substance abuse problem) and NBC president Don Ohlmeyer (depicting him as a boorish drunk with no creative instincts who contributed nothing to the success of the network's schedule) and touting his creative brilliance. It may all be true, but it still felt like sour grapes and became very tiresome.

All in all, it's worth reading if you're student of TV history, but it's not a very good book... not nearly as fascinating, revealing or well written as Season Finale The Unexpected Rise and Fall of the WB and UPN, Susanne Daniels' recent memoir of programming the WB, which later merged with its rival UPN to create the CW, a book I highly recommend.
MUST-SEE TV conjures up images of the 1990s, of SEINFELD, CHEERS, ER, FRIENDS, WILL & GRACE, etc. Warren Littlefield was in a position to know the ins and outs of the television landscape and has crafted a time capsule of the period with the help of the eras' creators, stars and suits. Littlefield has stated that this is his salvo in the story and is at odds with other NBC executives; he is quite disdainful for certain brass and what he sees as the failure of his successors. The book begins with the early 80s death of the sitcom and NBC's successful resurrection with CHEERS and THE COSBY SHOW, creating their first power-house night that was topped with the critical darling HILL STREET BLUES. Littlefield then goes on to the creation of SEINFELD, with input from Jerry and Jason (no Larry), as well as Paul and Helen's input on the construction of MAD ABOUT YOU. The CHEERS spin-off of FRASIER is detailed, with an examination of the politics of changing a show tonally from its' origin-source. Three of the six FRIENDS, as well as Marta and Crane, chronicle the formation of NBC's powerhouse show, complete with negotiations and intrigue. Finally, ER and WILL AND GRACE are featured, as Littlefield is fired in 1998. While these accounts are often fascinating there is little new information; I was hoping for a true picture of what NBC called Must-See TV - where was the VERONICA'S CLOSET? Where was the JESSE? And, Lord help us, where was THE SINGLE GUY? JUST SHOOT ME is briefly mentioned, as is THIRD ROCK FROM THE SUN. There were probably much more stories to tell - revelations and entertainment more often come from failure than success.
Warren Littlefield and his co-author T.R. Pearson used the device of providing excerpts from oral interviews (from around 50 people) to demonstrate all that he accomplished as the former NBC President of Entertainment. There is so much back-story available here, real inside information as to the production and eventual end of such great shows as Cheers, Frazier, Seinfeld, E.R. and Will and Grace that makes this book a very worthwhile read to people interested in television show production. Essentially, Mr. Littlefield's overarching theme is that the best way, in fact, the only way, to secure quality television is to let the creative people do their work with minimal involvement from the network suits. Based on NBC's ratings during most of his reign (as set forth by Mr. Littlefield), he may be right but, of course, as he points out, thanks to technology, the television business was quite different in the 1990s than today.

Given the amount of people involved in each show, it is unclear for a reader to determine how much credit should be given to Mr.Littlefield's contributions to each of these and other shows through the years but the quotes attributed to the people interviewed (from Jerry Seinfeld to Jim Burrows to Bob Wright to Jack Welch) suggest that it was indeed substantial. If this book has a second theme, it would be to serve as documentation that James Burrows was the greatest thing to ever happen to television sitcoms and that former NBC executive Dan Ohlmeyer (who was eventually allowed to fire Littlefield) was a chronic and moving obstacle.

Mr. Littlefield's former boss, the now deceased Brandon Tartikoff, once said that Mr. Littlefield was like a cockroach who could survive a nuclear war. We get to see those survival instincts in this book. For example, little credit is given to Mr. Littlefield's predecessors (Grant Tinker and Brandon Tartikoff) until the closing acknowledgments at the back of the book. In the last full chapter, Mr. Littlefield completes his attack on who proved to be his ultimate successor (Jeff Zucker) but with an eye to the future (the back cover suggests that Mr. Littlefield owns a television production company), he blows a kiss to the current NBC programming head, Comcast's Bob Greenblatt.

So Littlefield gets to fire the first shots. I can't wait to read the sequels from Jeff Zucker, Dan Ohlmeyer and Bob Wright.
The book is actually the edited recollections of a number of individuals - not a memoir of one person or an actual narrative history of the period. You will have several "quotes" from different individuals on each page with no narrative tie. Some fit well together, some are jarringly disjointed. Mostly, the theme seems to be the wonderful job that Warren Littlefield did at NBC and how evil Don Ohlmeyer and others were.

Some interesting material about the start of some iconic shows from the people involved but too little to really carry a book.