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It's pretty clear that the OP doesn't really have a strong understanding of the mechanics of the TV business.

For anyone who is interested in learning more about the mechanics of the TV business, I strongly recommend the book "Difficult Men" by Brett Martin. It's nominally about shows like the Sopranos and their creators, but there is a lot about the industry that is "quality television".

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+1 for Difficult Men. Very in-depth and well written.

A head's up though: even though it was published recently, it was written just before the ascendancy of good internet TV (House Of Cards and Seinfeld's web series were nominated for Emmy's only just this year) so it mainly chronicles the rise of HBO and then Showtime, AMC, etc from a decade ago. However the parallels between premium cable and the internet are pretty clear.

Yes. House of Cards is as important as anything that has happened in mainstream television in the last few years. Maybe the author will include an afterward in future editions?

Looks interesting. Thanks for the suggestion.

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