Inside Prime Time / Edition 2

by Todd Gitlin

Overview

Prime time: those precious few hours every night when the three major television networks garner millions of dollars while tens of millions of Americans tune in. Inside Prime Time is a classic study of the workings of the Hollywood television industry, newly available with an updated introduction. Inside Prime Time takes us behind the scenes to reveal how prime-time shows get on the air, stay on the air, and are shaped by the political and cultural climate of their times. It provides an ethnography of the world of American commercial television, an analysis of that world's unwritten rules, and the most extensive study of the industry ever made.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780415085007
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	09/15/1994
Series:	Communication and Society
Edition description:	Revised
Pages:	384
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

About the Author

Todd Gitlin is Professor of Culture, Journalism, and Sociology at New York University. His books include Sacrifice (1999), The Twilight of Common Dreams (1995), The Sixties (1987), and The Whole World Is Watching (California, 1980).

Table of Contents

Prologue; Part 1 Nothing Succeeds Like Success; Chapter 1 The Problem of Knowing; Chapter 2 Predicting the Unpredictable; Chapter 3 By the Numbers; Chapter 4 Making Schedules; Chapter 5 The Triumph of the Synthetic; Chapter 6 “Another American Dream Gone Astray”; Part 2 The Television-Industrial Complex; Chapter 7 Inside Tracks in a Small World; Chapter 8 The Deal Is the Art Form; Chapter 9 Movies of the Week; Part 3 The Politics of Prime Time; Chapter 10 The Turn Toward “Relevance”; Chapter 11 Shifting Right; Chapter 12 The “Far Righteous” Shake the Temple of Commerce; Chapter 13 The Temple Stands; Chapter 14 Hill Street Blues;

Editorial Reviews

Perhaps the best book ever written about the thinking of the insulated men and women in the executive suites of Century City, Burbank and Television City.

Los Angeles Book Review

‘Todd Gitlin's Inside Prime Time is perhaps the best book ever written about the thinking of the insulated men and women in the executive suites of Century City, Burbank and Television City.' - Los Angeles Times

‘This is very likely the most concentratedly intelligent book yet written about television' - Film Quarterly

‘Inside Prime Time presents the richest information ever collected on the inner workings of America's chief culture industry' - Commonweal

From the Publisher