‘Tinderbox’: HBO has drama on and off the screen

For his exhaustive new book on HBO, James Andrew Miller talked to 600 people about the network that brought us “The Sopranos,” “The Wire” and “Veep.” Behind the scenes, executives were playing their own “Game of Thrones” — none better than former Time Warner chief Jeff Bewkes.

“He’s a silent killer,” Miller says. “He’s so affable, but meanwhile, this is the guy who took down Steve Case, he outmaneuvered Ted Turner, he gets to be the chairman, [and] he beats back Rupert Murdoch.”

In the first of a two-part interview — two parts because the book is nearly 1,000 pages long and spans decades and much of the media world — Miller tells us about the memorable rise and dramatic fall of former HBO chief Michael Fuchs. Miller also touches on the more recent AT&T takeover that ended badly.