Down the Tube: An Inside Account of the Failure of American Television

by William F. Baker and George Dessart

Book Overview

This text reveals that television's primary purpose has nothing to do with producing quality programmes, but that its main concern is to deliver demographic groups to their advertisers. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0465007236
• ISBN13: 9780465007233
• Release Date: January 1999
• Publisher: Basic Books
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.3" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

A Very Informative Read

Personally I found this to be a great read, very informative. It really opened my eyes to aspects of the media industry with which I was completely unfamiliar. I totally understood Mr. Walker's points on the declining quality and motives behind mass media, and agreed with him whole heartedly. His references, which were plentiful, were a great help, as I found myself seeking out many of the sources from which he drew his information. Having spent a great many years in the media industry, Walker has seen much of its evolution, as well as its degeneration into many of the avarice-driven machinations so characteristic of its present-day form. As for the Kirkus Review of the book, I have to say I think they're a little too high up on that high-horse of theirs. This book was a fascinating read, very engaging; I pretty much read it from first to last page in a matter of days, I was so enthralled by it. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to know more about the workings of our contemporary media, how it got to where it is, and where it just might be going. AND, what it could be: Baker hasn't lost his idealism after so many years in the industry. Mr. Baker's style makes for an easy and engaging read, which is quite good when dealing with such complex subject matter.

Intelligent, insightful and interesting!

If you are at all interested the history of television, and how it got to be the vast wasteland that it is, you need to read this book! It ultimately gives a glimmer of hope to those of us who think television is too far 'Down the Tube' to be redeemed.

Highly recommended.

I am the CEO of a public television station, so I read the book with great interest and in an informed and critical frame of mind. I found it intelligent, analytical, and very felicitous in its combination of fact and philosophical judgment. It's a pleasure to read, and should be enjoyable and useful to anyone nterested in television, whether as a viewer or as a professional.

The lost world of Television.

Down The Tube: An Inside of Account of the Failure of American Television was one of the most informative books I have ever read on the inside story of the so-called "Big Networks". Mr. Baker and Mr. Dessart's accounts of real stories behind the executives' desks, was insightful, enlightening, and downright honest. A powerful read for those knowing anything about the industry. A great learning tool for those who want to persue a career in this field. It is a story that needed to be told, and for those of us who miss "real" television, it is a must read. Maybe if we do as the authors suggest, someone up and coming in television's new age will listen...and turn around the dial...and bring back what audiences everywhere are looking for....entertainment!