A Companion to Television

by Janet Wasko (Editor), Eileen R. Meehan (Editor)

Overview

The latest edition of the acclaimed volume on television studies, featuring new original essays from leading scholars in the field

Although the digital age has radically altered the media and communications landscape worldwide, television continues to play a significant part of our lives. From its earliest beginnings through to the present day, television and its influence has been the subject of extensive study, critique, and analysis. A Companion to Television brings together contributions from prominent international scholars comprising a wide range of perspectives on the medium. Original essays define television in its current state, explore why it is still relevant, survey the ways in which television has been studied, discuss how television has changed, and consider what television might look like in the future. 

Now in its second edition, this compendium includes fresh chapters that cover technological changes affecting television, contemporary approaches to understanding television audiences, new programming trends and developments, and more. Addressing nine key areas of television studies, such as industry, genres, programs, and audiences, the Companion offers readers a balanced, well-rounded, integrative approach to scholarship in the field. This volume: 

• Provides overviews of extensive original research from leading scholars and theorists
• Examines television’s development and significance in various regions of the world
• Includes national and regional outlines of television around the world
• Features theoretical overviews of various critical approaches to television studies
• Explores historical, economic, institutional, political, and cultural issues studied by media scholars 

Presenting diverse perspectives on topics ranging from television advertising to satirical representations of the industry, A Companion to Television, Second Edition is an invaluable resource for those in undergraduate courses in television studies, as well as in general media studies and communications.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781119269434
Publisher:	Wiley
Publication date:	03/17/2020
Series:	Blackwell Companions in Cultural Studies
Edition description:	2nd ed.
Pages:	536
Product dimensions:	6.70(w) x 9.70(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Janet Wasko is the Philip H. Knight chair for Communication Research at the University of Oregon and President of the International Association for Media and Communication Research. She is the author of How Hollywood Works and Hollywood in the Information Age.

Eileen R. Meehan is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Radio, Television, and Digital Media at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. Among her publications are studies of the Nielsen ratings and television's commodity audience, corporate profiles of global media conglomerates, and analyses of media artifacts.

Read an Excerpt

Click to read or download

Table of Contents

Notes on Contributors ix

List of Tables and Figures xvii

Part I Introduction 1

Introduction 3
Janet Wasko and Eileen R. Meehan

Part II Theoretical Overview 15

1 Critical Perspectives on Television from the Frankfurt School to the Politics of Representation 17
Doug Kellner

Part III History 39

2 Our TV Heritage: Tracing the Logics of the Television Archive 41
Lynn Spigel

3 Locating the Televisual in Golden Age Television 63
Caren J. Deming and Deborah V. Tudor

4 The Past is Now Present Onscreen: Television, History, and Collective Memory 79
Gary R. Edgerton

Part IV Industry 105

5 Broadcasting in the Age of Netflix: When the Market is Master 107
Sylvia Harvey

6 The Audiovisual Industry and the Structural Factors of the Television Crisis 129
Giuseppe Richeri

7 Netflix, Inc. and Online Television 145
Jane Shattuc

8 Television Advertising: Texts, Political Economy, and Ideology 165
Matthew P. McAllister and Lars Stoltzfus‐Brown

9 Contested Connections: Public Broadcasting and Culture in Common 183
Graham Murdock

Part V Genres 199

10 Reality TV: Performances and Audiences 201
Annette Hill

11 Revisiting the Trade in Television News 221
Andrew Calabrese and Christopher C. Barnes

12 Twitter Watchers: The Care and Feeding of Cable News Flow in the Age of Trump 247
Deborah L. Jaramillo

13 Television and Sports 265
Michael R. Real and William M. Kunz

Part VI Programs 285

14 30 Rock and the Satirical Representation of the Television Industry 287
Lauren Bratslavsky

15 Nothing New Under the Sun: The Reimplementation of 80s Sitcom Tropes in NBC’s This is Us 307
Novotny Lawrence

Part VII Audiences 325

16 Children and Television: A Special Audience for a Special Medium 327
Dafna Lemish

17 Watching Television: A Political Economic Approach 345
Eileen R. Meehan

18 The Female Television Audience Updated: Women’s Television Culture in the Age of New Media 361
Andrea Press and Sarah R. Johnson

19 Television as a Moving Aesthetic: In Search of the Ultimate Aesthetic – The Self 379
Julianne H. Newton

Part VIII International Case Studies 403

20 Television in Latin America: Stages of Transition 405
John Sinclair

21 Drama, Audiences, and Authenticity: Television Programming and Audiences in Post‐Apartheid South Africa 423
Ruth Teer‐Tomaselli

22 Television in the Arab Region: History, Structure, and Transformations 439
Joe F. Khalil

23 Sixty Years of Chinese Television: History, Political Economy, and Ideology in a Conflicted Global Order 459
Yuezhi Zhao and Zhenzhi Guo

Index 477

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“Janet Wasko, one of our most distinguished media analysts, has assembled a veritable ‘dream team’ of authors to write about television. Drawing on multiple disciplinary and theoretical perspectives, this impressive new volume will shift our thinking profoundly about an object that continues to fascinate and frustrate both those who will its demise, and those who welcome its triumphs.”
Toby Miller, University of California, Riverside

“We need more accounts of television that really push at the interconnections of economy, institution and culture. This ambitious collection, often comparative and historical, hits the spot admirably.”
John Corner, University of Liverpool

“The volume comprehensively maps the terrain of television studies with an impressive line-up of authors. Each provides a state-of-the-art overview of a key topic, resulting in a stimulating diversity of historical, international, and multidisciplinary perspectives.”
Sonia Livingstone, London School of Economics

"Janet Wasko’s book provides a wealth of information, interesting analyses, and fruitful theoretical discussions."
Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television

Editorial Reviews

Janet Wasko, one of our most distinguished media analysts, has assembled a veritable ‘dream team’ of authors to write about television. Drawing on multiple disciplinary and theoretical perspectives, this impressive new volume will shift our thinking profoundly about an object that continues to fascinate and frustrate both those who will its demise, and those who welcome its triumphs.”
Toby Miller, University of California, Riverside

“We need more accounts of television that really push at the interconnections of economy, institution and culture. This ambitious collection, often comparative and historical, hits the spot admirably.”
John Corner, University of Liverpool

“The volume comprehensively maps the terrain of television studies with an impressive line-up of authors. Each provides a state-of-the-art overview of a key topic, resulting in a stimulating diversity of historical, international, and multidisciplinary perspectives.”
Sonia Livingstone, London School of Economics

"Jaent Wasko’s book provides a wealth of information, interesting analyses, and fruitful theoretical discussions."
Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television

From the Publisher