Unscripted: The Epic Battle for a Media Empire and the Redstone Family Legacy
James B. Stewart
The shocking inside story of the struggle for power and control at Paramount Global, the multibillion-dollar entertainment empire controlled by the Redstone family, and the dysfunction, misconduct, and deceit that threatened the future of the company, from the Pulitzer Prize–winning journalists who first broke the newsIn 2016, the fate of Paramount Global—the multibillion-dollar entertainment empire that includes Paramount, CBS, MTV, Nickelodeon, Showtime, and Simon & Schuster—hung precariously in the balance. Its founder and head, ninety-three-year-old Sumner M. Redstone, was facing a very public lawsuit brought by a former romantic companion, Manuela Herzer—a lawsuit that placed Sumner’s deteriorating health and questionable judgment under a harsh light. more
416 pages, Hardcover
First published Penguin Press
3.77
Rating
4756
Ratings
521
Reviews
James B. Stewart
43 books 285 followers
James Stewart is a modern-day muckraking journalist, covering everything from malpractice to fraud and law.While at The Wall Street Journal, Stewart won a Pulitzer Prize in 1988 for his reporting on the stock market crash and insider trading. Stewart is a graduate of Harvard Law School and DePauw University. He lectures frequently on values and ethics in American business and politics. He is a member of the New York bar and holds the Bloomberg chair at the Columbia School of Journalism, where he is a professor.
Community reviews
If you want to feel disgusted with powerful old white men then read this book. Sometimes I felt sorry for Sumner Redstone’s declining situation, but also he reaped what he sowed. He’s lucky that his family gained back control of his care at the end. When the book transitioned to talking about Les Moonves I became even more disgusted. The majority of those CBS board members also looked like weasels. more
120 pages in and I didn’t understand why I should care. I know Moonves is a dirtbag, but he has barely made an appearance more than a third of the way into the book. So far it is a mind-numbing and poorly-written soap opera about people lying to each other. So many last names of people that haven’t been fleshed out at all. Succession without charm, wit or stakes. more
An epic Succession-esq telling of a media mogul family. Interesting read. Great insight into the complex power dynamics of those who control public media narrative, and all of the drama and scandals surrounding them. more
Rich people are awful, and should be taxed more. more
Was Sumner Redstone banned from an upscale restaurant in Los Angeles. No. He was banned from all the upscale restaurants in Los Angeles, even though he was worth $13 billion. (One of his crimes: demanding to see the chef and then throwing his steak in the chef's face. Apparently the steak was overcooked. more
This should have been a home run for me. I love “Succession,” and I hate lecherous, entitled creeps. But it felt like a slog, with too many details that didn’t matter and a gossipy tone that undercut the seriousness. I was too bored to tap into the expected outrage, and I was too exasperated to follow the long, winding story. I found myself skimming the last half of the book, asking the same question again and again, “Why do I care about these people. more
I saw the authors on CBS Mornings & thought a book referred to as a real life ‘Succession’ (I’m a fan) would have to be entertaining. It was. Of course I had some knowledge of Sumner Redstone, his story, his family, as well as Les Moonves & his career at CBS prior to reading the book. Still, this well written story of money, greed & power was entertaining & jaw dropping at times. I was disappointed that there wasn’t more discussion of the business aspects of the story. more
This book really feels like two books in one. Part of the story is about Sumner Redstone, aging, and how grifters attached themselves to him, alienating his family. This part was totally gripping. The other part of the story is the #Me Too story of Les Moonves (CEO of CBS). These two stories intersect in an enormous board battle between Sumner's daughter, Shari, and the supporters of Les Moonves. more
I am a fan of James Stewart and his previous books. My husband bought me this book as a Valentine's Day present. I was hoping it was more business-oriented but it was largely the inside story of two men who use their power for their sole benefit (largely sexual). While I finished the book there were many moments when I put the book aside as I was so repelled by the story - particularly Moonves'. I found the behavior of Redstone and Moonves to be disgusting and depraved. more
I appreciate the work that went into documenting these stories but this was written like a list of things that happened. Never felt any attachment to anyone involved. I understand the point was to revel in the bad behavior of the rich and powerful but mostly it felt like the gory details were glossed over in favor of documenting every last thing the reader should be outraged about. . more
Being an avid fan of he HBO acclaimed series Succession, I was inevitably drawn to this book. The show Succession revolves around a billionaire family that owns multiple media subsidiaries with an ailing father, the family members all compete against one another for the top spot. In doing so, they backstab one another, destroy their own personal lives and despite great personal suffering compete for their fathers affection who is all but happy to dangle it in their faces. As a result, the scenes are rife with chess match decision making between family members, constant outcome analyzing like "If he or she does this than what is that going to do for me. " and family interactions that represents activity much closer to a patient in a mental ward than what you and I would deem a family interaction. more
A little tabloidy, but y'all, rich people are wild. I couldn't believe what I was reading in the first 10 pages. Then it got more outlandish. more
Epic family and corporate wars over Viacom/CBS and Les Moonves. more
Amount of money involved in this story is astonishing. Feel bad for Sumner Redstone surrounded by hyenas on his death bed and story of Leslie Moonves is abhorrent. . more
Unscripted is more like two books, one about the effects of multi-billionaire media mogul Sumner Redstone’s physical and mental decay while under the control of a pair of mistresses, the other the downfall of CBS CEO Les Moonves during the height of the #MeToo movement. Shari Redstone’s battles to maintain her dad’s empire and become chairman of Paramount Global are the closest thing to a narrative through line here. There’s a lot of Stewart and Abrams’s first-rate journalistic research throughout, and the book bursts with amoral, toxic individuals, with nearly everyone being driven by the need of money, power, or sex (in Shari Redstone’s case, a father’s love). more
Look, I’m simple: if you bill a book as a “non-fictional Succession,” load it with family drama and a bunch of wannabe Richard IIIs and Lady Macbeths, and put billions of dollars and a major media or financial empire at stake, I’m absolutely going to devour it. This is no exception. As to the quality of the book, it’s fine. Quite good at times. James B. more
Really two books in one. The second on the downfall of Les Moonves is far more compelling than the soap opera of Sumner Redstone's decline into senility, but maybe that's just me. more
Unscripted is the real-life Succession. Written by New York Times reporters in the style of US Magazine, this riveting account details the shenanigans among Sumner Redstone, his family, and various hanger-ons for control of the family business. Redstone may have built a legacy of media interests, but at the sunset of his life, he was in failing health and poor memory. Enter a couple of hard-faced hussies, who pretend to be obedient concubines, but are really immoral thieves. They overtly rob Redstone, while spending vast quantities of his money on side pieces and revenge plots. more
A shocking look at the Redstone Media Empire and the tangled web of Hollywood, the #MeToo movement and the power- and greed-driven people caught up in it the drama. I was especially saddened by the elder abuse inflicted upon Sumner Redstone later in life, and the two women who faked being in love with him just to try to rob him him of millions, his family and his life. Sumner wasn’t perfect, but nobody deserves that kind of treatment. . more
memoirs like this make me wanna further as a journalism student, this is insane plot line of these rich media execs, board members and more show just how much is hidden behind the scenes , 10/10 to the authors/journalists . more
Real life succession vibes but with more coverups and sketchy behavior and payouts . more
I don’t know how to feel about this book. The first 1/3 has a lot of gossip, about who slept with whom and whose money they were after. This part is not as engaging, but is important to understand CBS/Viacom’s culture and the battle that ensues in the last 2/3 of the book. That second part was like an episode of GoT with different factions and alliances forming based on each individual’s best interests at the time. . more
I think you would have to care quite a lot about the Sumner Redstone family in order to find this interesting. There were some interesting parts but not nearly enough to base an entire book on. It was fine but dragged. A weird mix of Redstone family history, and “me too” movement stuff that never came together in the same compelling way as Ronan Farrow’s book or the book about the Sackler family. Sumner Redstone and Les Moonves were def gross guys tho. more
This book was OUTRAGEOUS. Every single person behaved terribly. The texts were wild. I did feel like they could have done a better job connecting the two halves of the book about Les and Sumner. Kind of felt like two insane stories smushed together . more
First half is a great entry in Women Fighting In a House canon. But second half is more of a standard MeToo report wrt Paramount. On the other hand: important recurring character Martha Minow. . more
Felt like a salacious extended gossip column, but credit to the authors because I could feel the utter exhaustion from the countless number of lawsuits and heartache the family had to go through. . more
Extremely disappointing, salacious and surprising from Stewart. . more