Television Programming For Children

The Children’s Television Community presents a cutting-edge analysis of the children’s television community—the organizations, major players, and approaches to programming—and gives an overview of the history, current state, and future of children’s programming. Leading children’s television professionals and distinguished academicians come together in this volume to take a distinctive behind-the-scenes look at how children’s television is created, programmed, and sold. This thought-provoking work emphasizes the various actors whose creative, financial, political, and critical input go into children’s television, and addresses advocacy for children’s television from multiple approaches. By blending these diverse perspectives, editor J. Alison Bryant offers readers a comprehensive picture of children’s television. Highlights include: * a community level approach to understanding children’s television; * perspectives from colleagues in various aspects of the media industry; and * an eye-opening analysis of how decision-making affects what children are exposed to through television. The Children’s Television Community is highly informative for educators, industry professionals, and practitioners in media, developmental psychology, and education.

Television is an integral part of the lives of American families. By the time most children begin the first grade, they will have spent the equivalent of 3 school years in front of the TV set. The Fed. Communications Comm. (FCC) received a congressional request to undertake an inquiry on television violence. This report contains the FCC¿s examination of the problem. Contents: Introduction; The Effects of Viewing Violent Television Programming on Children; Law & Policy Addressing the Distribution of Violent Television Programming; Defining Violent or Excessively or Gratuitously Violent Programming; & Conclusions & Recommendations.

In an authoritative look at how the nearly 1,000 annual hours of television programming for childern are shaped, Schneider provides a strong and detailed examination of this subject. Besides giving a well-illustrated history of the growth of childern's television, Schneider focuses on how the programs affect and communicate with childern and how advertisers and television producers use such knowledge. Schneider deals with the role of television in American society, marketing on television, and child development. ISBN 0-8442-3146-0: $29.95.

"This book provides a detailed account of the creative, economic and regulatory processes underlying the production of children's television in a multi-platform era. Its collection of integrated case studies includes extended interviews with leading producers whose programmes are watched by children all over the world. These case studies reveal the impact of digitization on the funding, distribution and consumption of children's television, and the ways that producers have adapted their creative practice accordingly. In its comprehensive analysis of the production culture of children's television, this book provides a valuable lens through which to view broader transformations in media industries in the on-demand age"--Page 4 of cover

“[An] accessible, well-researched introduction to the people and principles behind the show’s creation . . . Essential.” —Choice (An Outstanding Academic Title of the Year) By the late 1960s more than a few critics of American culture groused about the condition of television programming and, in particular, the quality and content of television shows for children. In the eyes of the reform-minded, commercial television crassly exploited young viewers; its violence and tastelessness served no higher purpose than the bottom line. The Children’s Television Workshop (CTW)—and its fresh approach to writing and producing programs for kids—emerged from this growing concern. Sesame Street—CTW’s flagship hour-long show—aimed to demonstrate how television could help all preschoolers, including low-income urban children, prepare for first grade. In this engaging study Robert W. Morrow explores the origins and inner workings of CTW, how the workshop in New York scripted and designed Sesame Street, and how the show became both a model for network television and a thorn in its side. Through extensive archival research and a systematic study of sample programs from Sesame Street’s first ten seasons, Morrow tells the story of Sesame Street’s creation; the ideas, techniques, organization, and funding behind it; its place in public discourse; and its ultimate and unfortunate failure as an agent of commercial television reform. “An insightful look at American children's television.” —Library Journal