In this riveting and surprising personal history, John Lithgow shares a backstage view of his own struggle, crisis, and discovery, revealing the early life and career that took place out of the public eye and before he became a nationally known star. Above all, Lithgow's memoir is a tribute to his most important influence: his father, Arthur Lithgow, who, as an actor, director, producer, and great lover of Shakespeare, brought theater to John's boyhood. From bedtime stories to Arthur's illustrious productions, performance and storytelling were constant and cherished parts of family life. "Drama" tells of the Lithgows' countless moves between Arthur's gigs-John attended eight secondary schools before flourishing onstage at Harvard - and details with poignancy and sharp recollection the moments that introduced a budding young actor to the undeniable power of theater. Before Lithgow gained fame with the film "The World According to Garp" and the television show "3rd Rock from the Sun", his early years were full of scenes both hilarious and bittersweet. A shrewd acting performance saved him from duty in Vietnam. His involvement with a Broadway costar brought an end to his early first marriage. The theater worlds of New York and London come alive as Lithgow relives his collaborations with renowned performers and directors, including Mike Nichols, Bob Fosse, Liv Ullmann, and Meryl Streep. His ruminations on the nature of theater, film acting, and storytelling cut to the heart of why actors are driven to perform, and why people are driven to watch them do it. Lithgow's memory is clear and his wit sharp, and much of the humor that runs throughout "Drama" comes at his own expense. But he also chronicles the harrowing moments of his past, reflecting with moving candor on friends made and lost, mistakes large and small, and the powerful love of a father who set him on the road to a life onstage. Illuminating, funny, affecting, and thoroughly engrossing, "Drama" raises the curtain on the making of one of our most beloved actors.

The tensions between utopian dreams and dystopian anxieties permeate science fiction as a genre, and nowhere is this tension more evident than in Star Trek. This book breaks new ground by exploring music and sound within the Star Trek franchise across decades and media, offering the first sustained look at the role of music in shaping this influential series. The chapters in this edited collection consider how the aural, visual, and narrative components of Star Trek combine as it constructs and deconstructs the utopian and dystopian, shedding new light on the series' political, cultural, and aesthetic impact. Considering how the music of Star Trek defines and interprets religion, ideology, artificial intelligence, and more, while also considering fan interactions with the show's audio, this book will be of interest to students and scholars of music, media studies, science fiction, and popular culture.

Drawing the Line: Technical Hand Drafting for Film and Television is the essential resource for students and aspiring professionals studying and working in film and television design. The book covers all aspects of scenic drafting by hand - a technique still used in film and television because of its unparalleled emotive and aesthetic qualities. Discover how to draw the iconic scroll of a classical column or learn the difference between Flemish bond and English bond brickwork - it is all here! Other key features include the following: Beautifully illustrated, approachable, step-by-step instructions for every aspect of scenic drafting - specific to film and television; Illustrated explanations of camera lenses, including calculating aspect ratios and projections; Coverage of the four types of drafting projection: isometric, oblique, orthographic and axonometric; A comprehensive glossary of terms, including an illustration of each entry. This beautiful book is clear, accessible, and a must-have for any student aspiring to work in film and television design.

This Brief Guide is a comprehensive guide to P.G.Wodehouse's two best-loved comic characters, Bertram ("Bertie")Wooster and his valet Reggie "Jeeves," Bertie's many friends and relatives, and their life of country houses and champagne. Cawthorne offers fascinating insights into Wodehouse's world, his Jeeves and Wooster stories, and the many adaptations for stage and screen.

Filled with delicious recipes inspired by the hit television series, this cookbook allows fans to experience the world of Supernatural like never before. Whether you're a seasoned chef, beginner cook, or diner food enthusiast like the Winchester Brothers, Supernatural: The Official Cookbook brings a variety both savory and sweet recipes from the show to life. When they aren't keeping humanity safe from all kinds of otherworldly threats, Dean and Sam often take time to eat and devise their next steps for hunting monsters at a small-town diner. This complete culinary guide features some of the brothers' favorite dishes, such as Dean's breakfast Pigs `N A Poke, cheeseburger and fries, angel food cake, Sam's salads-and, of course, pie! Featuring other recipes inspired by characters and locations and complete with illustrations, recipe modifications, and mouthwatering full-color photos, this cookbook will inspire you to not wait for your next road trip and prepare your own delicious feast.

The question of why we laugh (or don't laugh) has intrigued scholars since antiquity. This book contributes to that debate by exploring how we evaluate screen comedy. What kinds of criteria do we use to judge films and TV shows that are meant to be funny? And what might that have to do with our social and cultural backgrounds, or with wider cultural ideas about film, TV, comedy, quality and entertainment? The book examines these questions through a study of audience responses posted to online facilities such as Twitter, Facebook, review sites, blogs and message boards. Bore's analysis of these responses considers a broad range of issues, including how audiences perceive the idea of "national" comedy; what they think of female comedians; how they evaluate romcoms, sitcoms and web comedy; what they think is acceptable to joke about; what comedy fans get excited about; how fans interact with star comedians; and what comedy viewers really despise. The book demonstrates some of the ways in which we can adapt theories of humour and comedy to examine the practices of contemporary screen audiences, while offering new insights into how they negotiate the opportunities and constrictions of different online facilities to share their views and experiences.

Popular film and television hold valuable potential for learning about sex and sexuality beyond the information-based model of sex education currently in schools. This book argues that the representation of complicated-or "messy"-relationships in these popular cultural forms makes them potent as affective pedagogical moments. It endeavours to develop new sexual literacies by contemplating how pedagogical moments, that is, fleeting moments which disrupt expectations or create discomfort, might enrich the available discourses of sexuality and gender, especially those available to adolescents. In Part One, Clarke critiques the heteronormative discourses of sex education that produce youth in particularly gendered ways, noting that "rationality" is often expected to govern experiences that are embodied and arguably inherently incoherent. Part Two explores public intimacy, contemplating the often overlapping and confused boundaries between public and private.

This volume examines the shift toward positive and more accurate portrayals of mental illness in entertainment media, asking where these succeed and considering where more needs to be done. With studies that identify and analyze the characters, viewpoints, and experiences of mental illness across film and television, it considers the messages conveyed about mental illness and reflects on how the different texts reflect, reinforce, or challenge sociocultural notions regarding mental illness. Presenting chapters that explore a range of texts from film and television, covering a variety of mental health conditions, including autism, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and more, this book will appeal to scholars of sociology, cultural and media studies, and mental health.

Discover the ultimate collection of film and TV locations with the next instalment in Lonely Planet's Spotter's Guide series. Featuring locations from more than 100 of the most iconic scenes ever committed to film, we'll show you where incredible moments from Indiana Jones, Star Wars, Thelma & Louise, Game of Thrones and many more favourites were shot. Whether you're sat in the dark of your local cinema, or curled up on the sofa, each film has the rare ability to transport you to amazing destinations around the globe. Inside this book, you'll be able to explore the real-life locations for some of the most famous productions of all time, filmed in countries including Canada, Australia, Jordan, Croatia, Iceland, Japan, New Zealand, Tunisia and India. Many of these locations effortlessly played themselves, while others were disguised as hostile, alien deserts, futuristic cityscapes, or Jedi hideaways. While a film's job is make you forget you're watching one, there are certain locations that can transport you right into the world of a movie. If you want to feel like 007 with a license to kill, you can take a boat out to James Bond Island, otherwise known as Khao Phing Kan, in Thailand, home to The Man with the Golden Gun. If you want to follow in the footsteps of Holly Golightly, then enjoy a coffee and a Danish pastry outside Tiffany's in Manhattan. Or perhaps you'd like to celebrate something momentous by running up the steps of the Philadelphia Museum like Rocky Balboa. Whether you're a film buff, a travel addict, or both, this book will help to convince you that CGI is never a substitute for the real thing. About Lonely Planet: Since 1973, Lonely Planet has become the world's leading travel media company with guidebooks to every destination, an award-winning website, mobile and digital travel products, and a dedicated traveller community. Lonely Planet covers must-see spots but also enables curious travellers to get off beaten paths to understand more of the culture of the places in which they find themselves. The world awaits! Lonely Planet guides have won the TripAdvisor Traveler's Choice Award in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016. 'Lonely Planet. It's on everyone's bookshelves; it's in every traveller's hands. It's on mobile phones. It's on the Internet. It's everywhere, and it's telling entire generations of people how to travel the world.' -- Fairfax Media 'Lonely Planet guides are, quite simply, like no other.' - New York Times

- Seeks to bridge the divide between scholarly work on critical aesthetics vs. audience expectations in relation to film and television studies. - Draws on a comprehensive and original data-set from a national survey that examined audience perceptions of film genres and television formats, associated viewing patterns, and the current usage of streaming and other newer moving image adjuncts. - Reflects on how the pandemic has impacted viewing patterns and genre and format expectations moving forward.

Hollywood's live-action superhero films currently dominate the worldwide box-office, with the characters enjoying more notoriety through their feature film and television depictions than they have ever before. This book argues that this immense popularity reveals deep cultural concerns about politics, gender, ethnicity, patriotism and consumerism after the events of 9/11. Superheroes have long been agents of hegemony, fighting for abstract ideals of justice while overall perpetuating the American status quo. Yet at the same time, the book explores how the genre has also been utilized to question and critique these dominant cultural assumptions.

Television is changing almost beyond recognition. In the battle for consumers, social media sites, smart phones and tablets have become rivals to traditional linear TV. However, audiences and producers are also embracing mobile platforms to enhance TV viewing itself. This book examines the emerging phenomenon of the second screen: where users are increasingly engaging with content on two screens concurrently. The practice is transforming television into an interactive, participatory and social experience. James Blake examines interactive television from three crucial angles: audience motivation and agency, advances in TV production and the monetisation of second screen content. He also tracks its evolution by bringing together interviews with more than 25 television industry professionals - across the major UK channels - including commissioning editors, digital directors, producers and advertising executives. These reveal the successes and failures of recent experiments and the innovations in second screen projects. As the second screen becomes second nature for viewers and producers, the risks and opportunities for the future of television are slowly beginning to emerge. Television and the Second Screen will offer students and scholars of television theory, industry professionals and anyone with an abiding interest in television and technology, an accessible and illuminating guide to this important cultural shift.

This book explores contemporary American true crime narratives across various media formats. It dissects the popularity of true crime and the effects, both positive and negative, this popularity has on perceptions of crime and the justice system in contemporary America. As a collection of new scholarship on the development, scope, and character of true crime in twenty-first century American media, analyses stretch across film, streaming/broadcast TV, podcasts and novels to explore the variety of ways true crime pervades modern culture. The reader is guided through a series of interconnected topics, starting with an examination of the contemporary success of true crime, the platforms involved, the narrative structures and engagement with audiences, moving on to debates on representation and the ethics involved in portraying both victims and perpetrators of crime within the genre. This collection provides new critical work on American true crime media for all interested readers, and especially scholars and students in the humanities and social sciences. It offers a significant area of research in social sciences, criminology, media and English Literature academic disciplines.

In this ultimate guide to the lives of Finn the Human and Jake the Dog, Adventure Time's most epic duo provides all the instructions needed to rescue princesses, explore deadly dungeons, and save the world from unspeakable evil. Finn the Human and Jake the Dog are on the scene to defeat evil and school the world on the art of coming to the rescue. Hero Time by Finn and Jake is the last word on saving the world from unspeakable evil.

Why is rudeness such a prominent feature of contemporary broadcasting? If broadcasting is about the enactment of sociability, then how can we account for the fact that broadcasting has become a sphere of anger, humiliation, anger, dispute and upset? And to what extent does belligerence in broadcasting reflect broader social and cultural developments? This book reflects upon and analyses the development of 'belligerent broadcasting' beginning with an examination of belligerence in its historical context and as an aspect of wider cultural concerns surrounding the retreat of civility. With attention to the various relations of power expressed in the various forms of belligerent conduct across a range of media genres, the authors explore its manifestation in political interviews, in the form of 'confrontation' in talk shows, in makeover television, as an 'authentic' means of proffering opinion and as a form of sociability or banter. Richly illustrated with studies and examples of well-known shows from both sides of the Atlantic, including The Apprentice, The Fixer, American Idol, Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares, DIY SOS, The Jeremy Kyle Show and Dragon's Den, this book reflects on the consequences and potentialities of belligerence in the media and public sphere. It will appeal to scholars and students of cultural and media studies, communication and popular culture.

He's been depicted as a serious thinker, a master of deduction, a hopeless addict, a bare-knuckle fighter. His companion is abumbler, a sympathetic equal, someone helpless in the face of his friend's social inadequacies. Sherlock Holmes and John Watson remain the most-adapted fictional characters of all time. In 2010, when Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman stepped into the roles, they managed to meld many previous incarnations into two glorious performances. Over Sherlock's first three seasons, the BAFTA-winning series created by Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat has brought new life to stories almost 130 years old and created a worldwide fandom unlike any other. Investigating Sherlock, written by bestselling author NikkiStafford, examines each episode through in-depth and fun analysis, exploring the character development and cataloguingevery subtle reference to the original stories. Containing revealing exclusive interviews from experts of the Sherlock Holmesphenomenom, and with biographies of Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman, as well as Arthur Conan Doyle.

An introductory guide for students learning professional make-up, hairdressing and wardrobe skills and `front of camera' professionals needing an understanding of the techniques. Written by an experienced professional, this manual offers a step-by step approach for the complete beginner with diagrams to show procedures for a variety of make-up effects, from corrective and character make-up, to period dramas, special effects and prosthetics. It describes the skills required of the job, introduces special make-up products and how to apply them for different effect and sets the context for the make-up artist's role, by considering technical requirements such as lighting, camerawork and chroma-key backgrounds.

'Beautifully written, meticulously researched and stuffed with rich sporting and social history ... Unputdownable' Mail on Sunday

After the Second World War, as the BBC tightened its grip on the national consciousness, two of the most famous English voices were commentators on games of cricket. John Arlott and E.W. ('Jim') Swanton transformed the broadcasting of the nation's summer game into a national institution.

Arlott and Swanton typified the contrasting aspects of post-war Britain. Because of their strong personalities and distinctive voices - Swanton's crisp and upper-class, Arlott's with its Hampshire burr - each had a loyal following. As England moved from a class-based to a more egalitarian society, nothing stayed the same - including professional cricket. Wise, lively and filled with rich social and sporting history, Arlott, Swanton and the Soul of English Cricket shows how, as the game entered a new era, these two very different men battled to save the soul of the game.

From The Sopranos to streaming: the scandalous behind-the-screens story of the TV revolution by the author of the cult film classic Easy Riders, Raging Bulls.

The revolution has been televized. From The Sopranos to Stranger Things, the shows we watch - and the ways we watch them - have been transformed over the past fifty years. Out of the bland wasteland of 'play-it-safe' broadcasting came astonishing stories of sex, violence, and corruption shown first on cable, and then by way of streaming. Today, the power of viewers to select what they want and when they want it is greater than ever before. In short, we are living in a new golden age of television, but golden ages don't last forever. Revolutions have a habit of eating their own, and the era of 'peak TV' may have an unhappy ending.

Pandora's Box is a major new account of the small screen from cultural critic Peter Biskind. Through exclusive, candid and colourful interviews with writers, showrunners, directors and actors, Biskind brings us face to face with the people whose creations we encounter every day on our sofas, and reveals the dynamic interplay of art, commerce and technology. We follow executives down the corridors of power and see how their money and guile cultivate, then crush creativity; we witness the making - and unmaking - of TVs biggest hits. There has never been a more exciting time in entertainment history, and Peter Biskind, the ideal insider guide, captures it all.

Gather your friends on your favorite couch and prepare over 50 recipes inspired by the iconic Central Perk cafe from the beloved hit sitcom Friends. Friends: The Official Central Perk Cookbook offers a variety of recipes for chefs of all levels. From appetizers and small bites to drinks and desserts, each chapter includes iconic treats from the show and cafe. The latest in Insight Editions' best-selling line of Friends products has more than 50 recipes and beautiful full-color photography, as well as classic stills and iconic quotes from the show. This will be the year's best home cooking companion for fans of the show that has always been there for you.

- There has been a strong shift towards industry studies within advanced undergraduate courses in television in recent years and this book responds to this shift with its industry-based perspective. -The book's novel use of the channel for its modular structuring logic and its organization of short, accessible chapters is an ideal approach, especially in the classroom setting, making focused and grouped reading assignments easy to manage across the syllabus. - A wide range of contemporary and classic case studies, covering variety of global networks and streaming services, make the material easy to grasp and a comprehensive resource for students.

Now in its fourth edition, Television and Screen Writing: From Concept to Contract is a classic resource for students and professionals in screenwriting and television writing. This book will teach you how to become a creative and marketable writer in every professional arena - including major studios, production companies, networks, cable and pay TV, animation, and interactive programs. Specific techniques and script samples for writing high-quality and producible "spec" scripts for theatrical motion pictures, the sitcom series, one-hour dramatic series, longform television, soaps, talk show, variety, animation, interactive and new media are provided. Television and Screen Writing: From Concept to Contract, Fourth Edition also offers a fully detailed examination of the current marketplace, and distinct strategies for marketing your scripts, from registering and copyrighting the script to signing with an agent. This new edition has been expanded to include the most up-to-date creative and professional script samples, marketing resources, and practical information possible. The companion website offers a wide range of contacts and resources for you to explore, and Internet links to professional resources. There is also an Annotated and Selected Bibliography for your reference

First published in 1990, this title presents a rich account of how television intersects with family life in American and other world cultures. From an analysis of the political and cultural significance of China's most important television series to detailed descriptions of how families in the United States interpret and use television at home, James Lull's ethnographic work marks an important stage in the study of the role of the mass media in contemporary culture. This title will be of interest not only to those in media and communications, but also to those in the broader fields of cultural anthropology and sociology.

Film and Television Analysis is especially designed to introduce undergraduate students to the most important qualitative methodologies used to study film and television. The methodologies covered include: ideological analysis auteur theory genre theory semiotics and structuralism psychoanalysis and apparatus theory feminism postmodernism cultural studies (including reception and audience studies) contemporary approaches to race, nation, gender, and sexuality. With each chapter focusing on a distinct methodology, students are introduced to the historical developments of each approach, along with its vocabulary, significant scholars, key concepts and case studies. Other features include: Over 120 color images throughout Questions for discussion at the end of each chapter Suggestions for further reading A glossary of key terms. Written in a reader-friendly manner Film and Television Analysis is a vital textbook for students encountering these concepts for the first time.