?A read so riveting, it s not hard to imagine watching it unfold on Sunday nights. ?The Associated Press?An incisive account that is more than a rosy victory lap for one of TV?s most influential channels. ?Eric Deggans, NPR?s ?Books We Love ?It?s Not TV proves to be a lively companion to all these shows. ?Andrew O?Hagan, The New York Review of BooksThe inside story of HBO, the start-up company that reinvented television?by two veteran media reportersHBO changed how stories could be told on TV. The Sopranos, Sex and the City, The Wire, Game of Thrones. The network?s meteoric rise heralded the second golden age of television with serialized shows that examined and reflected American anxieties, fears, and secret passions through complicated characters who were flawed and often unlikable. HBO?s own behind-the-scenes story is as complex, compelling, and innovative as the dramas the network created, driven by unorthodox executives who pushed the boundaries of what viewers understood as television at the turn of the century. Originally conceived by a small upstart group of entrepreneurs to bring Hollywood movies into living rooms across America, the scrappy network grew into one of the most influential and respected players in Hollywood. It?s Not TV is the deeply reported, definitive story of one of America?s most daring and popular cultural institutions, laying bare HBO?s growth, dominance, and vulnerability within the capricious media landscape over the past fifty years.