A Companion to Television

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

Overview

Thirty-one papers, presented by Wasko (communication and journalism, U. of Oregon) provide a range of disciplinary and theoretical perspectives on the cultural study of television. The papers cover television and history; aesthetics and production; the state and television policy; television and commerce; programming, content, and genre; the public and audiences; challenges to corporate dominance; and case studies of international television developments. The material, with the exception of the international case studies, primarily deals with television in the context of the United States. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781119269458
Publisher:	Wiley
Publication date:	12/30/2019
Series:	Blackwell Companions to Art History
Sold by:	JOHN WILEY & SONS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	536
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Janet Wasko is Professor in the School of Communication and Journalism at the University of Oregon. Her many books include Hollywood in the Information Age: Beyond the Silver Screen (1994), Consuming Audiences? Production and Reception in Media Research (1999), Understanding Disney: The Manufacture of Fantasy (2001), and How Hollywood Works (2003).

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Table of Contents

List of Figures viii

Notes on Contributors ix

Introduction 1
Janet Wasko

Part I Theoretical Overviews

1 The Development of Television Studies 15
Horace Newcomb

2 Critical Perspectives on Television from the Frankfurt School to Postmodernism 29
Doug Kellner

Part II Television/History

3 Television and History 51
Paddy Scannell

4 Our TV Heritage: Television, the Archive, and the Reasons for Preservation 67
Lynn Spigel

Part III Television/Aesthetics and Production

5 Television as a Moving Aesthetic: In Search of the Ultimate Aesthetic – The Self 103
Julianne H. Newton

6 Locating the Televisual in Golden Age Television 126
Caren Deming

7 Television Production: Who Makes American TV? 142
Jane M. Shattuc

Part IV Television/The State and Policy

8 Who Rules TV? States, Markets, and the Public Interest 157
Sylvia Harvey

9 Public Broadcasting and Democratic Culture: Consumers, Citizens, and Communards 174
Graham Murdock

10 Culture, Services, Knowledge: Television between Policy Regimes 199
Stuart Cunningham

Part V Television/Commerce

11 Television Advertising as Textual and Economic Systems 217
Matthew P. McAllister

12 Watching Television: A Political Economic Approach 238
Eileen R. Meehan

13 Keeping “Abreast” of MTV and Viacom: The Growing Power of a Media Conglomerate 256
Jack Banks

14 The Trade in Television News 270
Andrew Calabrese

Part VI Television/Programming, Content, and Genre

15 Configurations of the New Television Landscape 291
Albert Moran

16 The Study of Soap Opera 308
Christine Geraghty

17 The Shifting Terrain of American Talk Shows 324
Jane M. Shattuc

18 Television and Sports 337
Michael R. Real

19 “Where the Past Comes Alive”: Television, History, and Collective Memory 361
Gary R. Edgerton

20 “How Will You Make it on Your Own?”: Television and Feminism Since 1970 379
Bonnie J. Dow

21 Television and Race 395
Sasha Torres

Part VII Television/The Public and Audiences

22 Television, Public Spheres, and Civic Cultures 411
Peter Dahlgren

23 Television and Public Opinion 433
Justin Lewis

24 Reality TV: Performance, Authenticity, and Television Audiences 449
Annette Hill

25 A Special Audience? Children and Television 468
David Buckingham

Part VIII Television/Alternative Challenges

26 Local Community Channels: Alternatives to Corporate Media Dominance 489
DeeDee Halleck

Part IX International Television/Case Studies

27 Latin American Commercial Television: “Primitive Capitalism” 503
John Sinclair

28 Television in China: History, Political Economy, and Ideology 521
Yuezhi Zhao and Zhenzhi Guo

29 Japanese Television: Early Development and Research 540
Shunya Yoshimi

30 Change and Transformation in South African Television 558
Ruth Teer-Tomaselli

31 Television in the Arab East 580
Nabil H. Dajani

Index 602

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