Behind the Eye

"Rare is the leader who embodies the instinct and intellect to drive an art form forward-as Gene Jankowski did for television. And even rarer is the talent who can entertain with elegance-as he does in the pages of this extraordinary memoir." Bob Gazzale, President and CEO, American Film Institute

Behind the Eye is the lively story of how a little boy from Buffalo, enchanted with moving pictures, rose to become president and chairman of CBS Broadcasting during television's Golden Age in the 1970s and 1980s. Ever the optimist, dealmaker, and creative mind, Gene Jankowski was largely responsible for CBS's meteoric rise to the coveted position of number-one network-and for keeping it there. Jankowski tells the stories behind the headlines about such bold-faced names as Walter Cronkite, Dan Rather, William S. Paley, Martha Stewart, Ted Turner, Donald Trump, and other newsmakers. His tales touch on the "Mad Men" era of Madison Avenue advertising, the glamor and glitz of Hollywood, and the power and politics of Washington, D.C. Interwoven are events from Jankowski's colorful personal life, and tales from the intersection of the two. If you're nostalgic for a time when there were three major TV networks, competing fiercely every week to be the U.S.'s #1 source of news, entertainment, and sports, then Behind the Eye is the book for you.