The Age Of Television

Television today is better than ever. From The Sopranos to Breaking Bad, Sex and the City to Girls, and Modern Family to Louie, never has so much quality programming dominated our screens. Exploring how we got here, acclaimed TV critic David Bianculli traces the evolution of the classic TV genres, among them the sitcom, the crime show, the miniseries, the soap opera, the Western, the animated series, the medical drama, and the variety show. In each genre he selects five key examples of the form to illustrate its continuities and its dramatic departures. Drawing on exclusive and in-depth interviews with many of the most famed auteurs in television history, Bianculli shows how the medium has evolved into the premier form of visual narrative art. Includes interviews with: MEL BROOKS, MATT GROENING, DAVID CHASE, KEVIN SPACEY, AMY SCHUMER, VINCE GILLIGAN, AARON SORKIN, MATTHEW WEINER, JUDD APATOW, LOUIS C.K., DAVID MILCH, DAVID E. KELLEY, JAMES L. BROOKS, LARRY DAVID, KEN BURNS, LARRY WILMORE, AND MANY, MANY MORE

This collection of papers examines the evolving relationship between the motion picture industry and television from the 1940s onwards. The institutional and technological histories of the film and TV industries are looked at, concluding that Hollywood and television had a symbiotic relationship from the start. Aspects covered include the movement of audiences, the rise of the independent producer, the introduction of colour and the emergence of network structure, cable TV and video recorders. Originally published in 1990.

This book examines television drama in the age of streaming—a time when television has been reshaped for national and international consumption via both linear ‘flow’ and on-demand user modes. It builds on an in-depth study of the Norwegian public service broadcaster (NRK) and some of its game-changing drama productions (Lilyhammer, SKAM, blank). The book portrays the formative first decade of television streaming (2010-2019), how new streaming services and incumbent television providers intersect and act in a new drama landscape, and how streaming impacts existing television production cultures, publishing models and industry-audience relations. The analysis draws on insight gained through more than a hundred interviews with television experts and fans, hundreds of hours of observations, and unique access to industry conferences, meetings, working documents, and ratings. The book combines perspectives from production studies, media industry studies, and fan studies to inform its analysis.

Acknowledgments Introduction 1: The Participatory Moment 2: "Reagan's Magic" and "Olliemania": How Journalists Invented the American People 3: The Living Traditions of Citizenship: From Monitoring to Mobilizing in the Summer of 1987 4: Turning the Intimate into the Public: The Participatory Act of Writing a Congressman 5: Choosing a Voice and Making It Count 6: Interpreting Politics in Everyday Life 7: Bringing Critical Issues into the Public Forum: Policing the World and Defining Heroism 8: Making Citizens Visible: Toward a Social History of Twentieth-Century American Politics Conclusion: Drawing Politics Closer to Everyday Life Note on Sources and Method Notes Index Copyright © Libri GmbH. All rights reserved.

Having spent most of his career working with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Martin Esslin appraises American TV with the eyes of both a detached outsider and a concerned insider. "American popular culture," writes Esslin, "has become the popular culture of the world at large. American television is thus more than a purely social phenomenon. It fascinates and in some instances frightens the whole world." The Age of Television discusses television as an essentially dramatic form of communication, pointing to the strengths and weaknesses that spring from its character. It explores its impact on generations destined to grow up under its influence, with such questions as how TV turns reality into fiction, and fiction into reality. Esslin considers the long-term effects of television on our abilities to reason, to read, to create. He asks if current programming on American television constitutes what we want and deserve, and asks what we would change, if we could. These are but a handful of the questions Esslin probes in this penetrating analysis of contemporary television and its impact on our lives. In his new introduction, Esslin discusses changes in the media over the last two decades. He explores the increasing number of television stations available, the rise of "boutique" channels concentrating on news, sports, or film, and the relationship between television and other forms of electronic media such as video games and the Internet. Finally, he considers the effect of these developments on our ability to concentrate, our sensitivity to violence, and even our artistic taste. Most compelling of all is his final question: Can the Age of Television, with all its dangers, yet become a golden age of cultural growth? Martin Esslin is professor emeritus of drama at Stanford University. His numerous critical works include: Brecht-The Man and his Work, The Theatre of the Absurd, An Anatomy of Drama, and Artaud. He cur

This is an insider's tour, touching on the network's dizzying decision-making process, and the artists who have revolutionized the medium.

"TV Museum : contemporary art and the age of television charts the changing status of television as cultural form, object of critique, and site of artistic intervention since the 1950s." -- back cover.