Creating Television brings television and its creators to life, presenting fascinating in-depth interviews with the creators of American TV. Having interviewed more than 100 television professionals over the course of his 15 years of research, Professor Robert Kubey presents here the 40 conversations that provide the most illuminating insights about the industry and the people working in it. These interviews bring television's creators to life, revealing their backgrounds, work, and thoughts abo...
Liveness: Performance in a Mediatized Culture addresses what may be the single most important question facing all kinds of performance today. What is the status of live performance in a culture dominated by mass media? Since its first appearance, Philip Auslander's ground-breaking book has helped to reconfigure a new area of study. Looking at specific instances of live performance such as theatre, rock music, sport, and courtroom testimony, Liveness offers penetrating insights into media cultur...
Fundamental questions are asked in this book about the nature of what appears on screen and how it variously engages, informs and entertains viewers. After setting out some of the distinctive features of the medium, illustrated by examples, the question of the likely and possible political consequences of these features is directly addressed. Chapters on the specific but changing forms of news, documentary and advertising provide a detailed analysis of some of television's most controversial way...
Sarah Oates gives a detailed examination on a central theme in political science: the relationship between democracy and the mass media. This significant book contains a wealth of information and data, including: public opinion surveys, content analysis of television news, focus groups and in-depth interviews to examine why political parties and the mass media failed so spectacularly to aid in the construction of a democratic system in Russia. The analysis presents compelling evidence that telev...
Music in Twin Peaks
In this edited volume, contributors explore an essential element of the influential television series Twin Peaks: the role of music and sound. From its debut in 1990 to its return to television in 2017, Twin Peaks has amassed a cult following, and inspired myriad scholarly studies. This collection considers how the music and sound design not only create the ambience of this ground-breaking series, but function in the narrative, encouraging multiple interpretations. With chapters that consider ho...
The first half of Rewind and Search looks at the makers -- the producers, directors, writers, story editors, and actors -- while the second half deals with the decision-makers, issues, policy, and ethos that affect the making of CBC television, including drama. Miller pays particular attention to the ways in which programs were influenced by evolving audience expectations, technological advances, and changes in policy, personnel, and the corporate structure of the CBC. With more cutbacks and a...
Brady, Brady, Brady: The Complete Story of the Brady Bunch as Told by the Father/Son Team Who Really Know
by Sherwood Schwartz and Lloyd Schwartz
The Golden Girls made its prime-time debut in 1985 on NBC, and the critically acclaimed show has been a constant television companion through cable reruns and streaming media services ever since. Most people know that The Golden Girls is a sitcom about four feisty, older women living together in Miami who love to eat cheesecake, but Kate Browne argues that The Golden Girls is about so much more. Drawing on feminist literary studies and television studies, Browne makes a case for The Golden Girls...
Contested Ground (Culture and Politics in the Cold War and Beyond)
by Mike Conway
In 1962, an innovative documentary on a Berlin Wall tunnel escape brought condemnation from both sides of the Iron Curtain during one of the most volatile periods of the Cold War. The Tunnel, produced by NBC's Reuven Frank, clocked in at ninety minutes and prompted a range of strong reactions. While the television industry ultimately awarded the program three Emmys, the U.S. Department of State pressured NBC to cancel the program, and print journalists criticized the network for what they consid...
It Ain't Necessarily So
by David Murray, Joel Schwartz, and Professor S Robert Lichter
Anthrax scares. Airplane crashes. The AIDS epidemic. Presidential election polls and voting results. Global warming. All these news stories require scientific savvy, first to report, and then-for the average person-to understand. It Ain't Necessarily So cuts through the confusion and inaccuracies surrounding media reporting of scientific studies, surveys, and statistics. Whether the problem is bad science, media politics, or a simple lack of information or knowledge, this book gives news consume...