HBO has brought us nearly 50 years of riveting movies and TV shows; the behind-the-scenes stories are equally compelling. Journalist James Andrew Miller, who has written definitive oral histories of media institutions like Saturday Night Live and ESPN, tells Recode’s Peter Kafka about his newest work: Tinderbox: HBO’s Ruthless Pursuit of New Frontiers. Inclu ... Show More
Jul 29
Lucas Shaw on Warner Bros' Limbo, Netflix's Anxiety, and Hollywood’s Sort-of Comeback
When I last talked to Bloomberg’s Lucas Shaw, Netflix was buying Warner Bros. Discovery. Six months later, Paramount has the deal — but, surprisingly, it’s on hold while a group of states tries to block it in court.Lucas and I talk about whether Larry and David Ellison can still ... Show More
44m 16s
Jul 22
Substack Wants To Become A Social Network; Beehiiv Wants To Stay Invisible
You are a normal person, so if you think about “people writing their own newsletters” you probably think: “Substack”. But just as Xerox isn’t the only way to make photocopies, Substack doesn’t own the professional newsletter industry. So let’s meet a competitor: Beehiiv, run by 3 ... Show More
42m 1s
Jul 15
Inside Podcasting’s Fight Over Netflix, YouTube, and Creator Control
Chris Balfe is the CEO of Red Seat Ventures, the company behind some of the biggest names in podcasting, including Megyn Kelly, Tucker Carlson, Bill O’Reilly, and, more recently, Kill Tony. Since we last spoke, Red Seat has been acquired by Fox, making it one of the company’s big ... Show More
45m 24s
Dec 2021
"Tinderbox" author James Andrew Miller on HBO, streaming and the future of TV
James Andrew Miller, author of the new HBO oral history "Tinderbox," shares what he learned through his interviews with five decades of network executives, stars and producers. HBO created a "whole new pathway for people to experience television," he says. But now it is under tre ... Show More
47m 22s
Mar 2022
HBO: Present, Past, and Future TRAILER
After spending more than three years working on his latest book, “Tinderbox: HBO’s Ruthless Pursuit of New Frontiers,” replete with 757 interviews, Origins host Jim Miller decided he hadn’t had enough, and has returned with new interviews to further explore one of the world’s mos ... Show More
2m 27s
Feb 2022
State of Play: The Streaming Wars — with James Andrew Miller
James Andrew Miller, an investigative journalist and the author of Tinderbox: HBO’s Ruthless Pursuit of New Frontiers, joins the pod to discuss how the entertainment legend has differentiated itself over the years, as well as the state of the play of the streaming wars. Follow Ja ... Show More
1h 1m
Nov 2022
Netflix vs. HBO: The TV Rivalry of the Century
Since its launch nearly 50 years ago, HBO has revolutionized and disrupted the television ecosystem, but for the past 15 years it has been challenged by a new disruptor, Netflix. Matt is joined by Felix Gillette from Bloomberg News and John Koblin from The New York Times to discu ... Show More
33m 25s
Feb 2018
Netflix vs Blockbuster - HBO Gets In The Ring | 5
We take a step back to explore how a little company called Home Box Office went from serving B-movies to 325 homes in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania to become the juggernaut that we know as HBO. In the process, HBO, become the standard by which all other cable companies would have to ... Show More
26m 25s
May 2020
TV Critic James Poniewozik on the Murdochs and 'Succession' | 11
James Poniewozik, watches TV all day and gets paid for it. Dream job, right? James is the chief TV critic at the New York Times. He’s also the author of “Audience of One: Trump, Television, and the Fracturing of America.” On this episode, he explains how Rupert Murdoch brought a ... Show More
34m 31s