The fourth network : how Fox broke the rules and reinvented television / Daniel M. Kimmel.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 305-311) and index.

Acknowledgments -- Prologue : "If I found out, he was going to cancel the deal" -- pt. 1. The coat-hanger network -- 1. "There will only be three" (1985-1986) -- 2. "A brand that most of America knows" (1986-1987) -- 3. "Why should I buy you?" (1987-1988) -- 4. "Hey, you watched the whole show" (1988-1989) -- 5. "People will watch car accidents, too" (1989-1990) -- 6. "What is this 90210? (1990-1991) -- 7. "We were throwing parties in the halls" (1991-1992) -- pt. 2. The revolving door -- 8. "Like most businesses, this is a team sport" (1992-1993) -- 9. "How come you make my mommy cry all the time?" (1993-1994) -- 10. "I was never in doubt about what FOX intended" (1994-1995) -- 11. "They finally got it" (1995-1996) -- 12. "Tom, you've got to script the ad-libs" (1996-1997) -- 13. "We're not the establishment" (1997-1998) -- 14. "They've run the numbers" (1998-1999) -- 15. "I never got a real at bat" (1999-2000) -- pt. 3. 21st century Fox -- 16. "It was the perfect fit at the right time" (2000 and Beyond) -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index.

"Daniel M. Kimmel's lively account of the FOX story carries the reader from the launch of the ill-fated Joan Rivers Show in 1986 to the challenging media environment of the twenty-first century - an environment FOX helped create. The Fourth Network is filled with behind-the-scenes wheeling and dealing, outsized personalities, improbable risk-takers, and the triumphs and disasters that led to such signature television series as The Simpsons, Beverly Hills 90210, The X-Files, and America's Most Wanted. For better or worse - or perhaps a bit of both - the story of the rise of FOX is the story of contemporary American television."--BOOK JACKET.