Outfoxed: Marvin Davis, Barry Diller, Rupert Murdoch, Joan Rivers and the Inside Story of America's Fourth Television Network

First off, one should immediately disregard JHW's review of this book. JHW has apparently confused this book with the documentary film of the same name. (Which is particularly evident in the book's copyright date, 1990, many years before Fox News Channel came to be.) There is absolutely nothing about the Fox News Channel in this book. Absolutely nothing. Outfoxed (the book) tells the story of the birth of the Fox television network (again, **not** the cable news channel!). The book is divided roughly into equal thirds: the first third deals with the tangled saga of the Twentieth Century-Fox studio, its struggles to remain afloat, and its ownership by Marvin Davis (and later buyout by Rupert Murdoch). The middle third deals with the launch of the Fox Broadcasting Company and focuses primarily on what was intended to be the new network's crown jewel, "The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers". Finally, the last spends its time on the growing pains of the new network, trying to find a programming foothold (and ratings success) while pushing the definitions of quality, acceptability and decency to their limits. Honestly, in reading this book, I could have done without the first third. Lots of history of Twentieth Century-Fox (the film studio), lots of behind-the-scenes stories of the studio's troubles and power struggles. This was supposed to be a book about a television network, and some background on Fox's history is certainly important, but 80 pages? After reading this book, I found myself thinking I could have simply picked it up at page 70 and not really missed out on anything needed to enjoy the rest of the book. The remainder of the book makes for a somewhat nostalgic look back at Fox; much of the action in the book took place twenty years ago. Some of the shows discussed are still on the air--"America's Most Wanted" and "Cops"; some are gone but remembered--"21 Jump Street", "Married...with Children"; and others are simply forgotten to the mists of time--"Beyond Tomorrow", "Mr. President", "Totally Hidden Videos". Along the way, the careers of Barry Diller, Jamie Kellner, Garth Ancier, Kevin Wendle, Peter Chernin, and many others are detailed. Overall, it's a good read for anyone interested in television history (particularly as Fox is still around and the current can be readily compared to the past). And again, this book has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with the Fox News Channel. (Indeed, one of the most interesting tidbits in this book: Rupert Murdoch's support for the presidential campaign of Jimmy Carter in 1980...go figure!)

Inside this book you'll find some disturbing and interesting information on how fox has twisted the news to support its owner's politics over fact and truth. This kind of stuff scares me and makes me feel justified in watching the BBC and CBC for internation news over some american owned nation/internation networks.