Media competes with public schools in terms of student engagement and time. However, the two needn't be mutually exclusive. The Pedagogy of Pop: Theoretical and Practical Strategies for Success discusses a variety of strategies and approaches for using social and mass media as tools through which teachers might improve schooling. While there is a vast body of literature in this field, editors Edward A. Janak and Denise Blum have created a text which differs in two substantive ways: scope and sequence. In terms of scope, this work is unique in two facets: first, it presents both theory and practice in one volume, bridging the two worlds; and second, it includes lessons from secondary and postsecondary classrooms, allowing teachers on all levels to learn from each other. In terms of sequence, The Pedagogy of Pop draws on lessons from both historical and contemporary practice. The introductory section of Janak and Blum's collection presents a pair of papers that use somewhat different approaches to examine the historical roots of contemporary critique. Part I presents a series of chapters designed to provide guidelines and theories through which educators on all levels can think about their practice, focusing more on the "why" of their approach than the "how." Part II presents a more "hands-on" approach by sharing a variety of specific strategies for incorporating pop culture in all its forms (technology, music, television, video games, etc.) in both secondary and postsecondary classrooms. The conclusion shows the praxis of teaching with popular culture, presenting a counterpoint to current thinking as well as a case study of the best of what can happen when popular culture is applied effectively.

First published in 1992, Images of Disability on Television examines the frequency and nature of disability on British and American television and how it is perceived and presented by programme makers. Attitudes held by those closest to the issues - disabled people, their carers, and television producers and writers - are presented as the result of interviews and discussions. There is an increasingly strong sentiment that television has got it wrong as far as disability is concerned and does not play its proper role in allowing the non-disabled to understand fully the world of disabled people. This book provides information to promote greater understanding of the needs of the disabled people in television portrayal and opens up possibilities for a change in attitudes. It will be valuable reading for students, researchers and lecturers in the social sciences, communication studies, and media studies.

A book for every person who's ever flipped past the religious channel on cable and thought, "I haven't the faintest clue what's going on there," or "that church doesn't seem like my church at all," or even, "wow, so that's what happened to Kirk Cameron." With the personalities of Christian broadcasting constantly in the news talking about every major issue from abortion to culture to war and with the amount of influence their movements have on the the political discourse in this country, to under stand more about the stop on the television dail is to understand more about American and America's religious landscape. On an average day, the largest religious broadcast channel in the country reaches millions of viewers and features programming from figures such as Benny Hinn, T.D. Jakes, Pat Robertson, Paul and Jan Crouch, Jess Duplantis, Joel Osteen, and others, yet despite it's presence in well over 50 million household many have little conception of what kind of faith happens there. Nadia Bolz-Weber, a Lutheran seminarian and former stand-up comic who's never before watched religious broadcasting, spends 24 hours in front of the TV immersing herself in the messages and culture to be found on the part of the dial. Bolstered by visits from guest such as rabbi, her 8-year-old daughter, Unitarian friend, and others, Salvation on the Small Screen? is Bolz-Weber's chronicle, augmented by after-the-fact research, of a huge, but unknown or mysterious to many, branch of religious culture."

Our story begins as the mischievous Goldilocks flees from the Three Bears into the deep, dark wood. As she stumbles down a rabbit hole to escape, she finds herself in Wonderland! And all is not well... Teaming up with The Three Musketeers and a whole host of fairy tale favourites (with a little help from the audience), can Goldilocks rescue Wonderland and live happily ever after before it's too late? With original live music, songs and plenty of chances to join in, Goldilocks and The Three Musketeers is a madcap festive adventure that will keep young audiences spellbound.

CSI has been heralded in many spheres of public discourse as a televisual revolution, its effects on the public unprecedented. The CSI Effect: Television, Crime, and Governance demonstrates that CSI's appeal cannot be disentangled from either its production as a televisual text or the broader discourses and practices that circulate within our social landscape. This interdisciplinary collection bridges the gap between the study of media, particularly popular culture media, and the study of crime. The contributors consider the points of intersection between these very different realms of scholarship and in so doing foster the development of a new set of theoretical languages in which the mediated spectacle of crime and criminalization can be carefully considered. This timely and groundbreaking volume is bound to intrigue both scholars and CSI enthusiasts alike.

Maid for Television examines race, class, and gender relations as embodied in a long history of television servants from 1950 to the turn of the millennium. Although they reside at the visual peripheries, these figures are integral to the idealized American family. Author L. S. Kim redirects viewers' gaze towards the usually overlooked interface between characters, which is drawn through race, class, and gender positioning. Maid for Television tells the stories of servants and the families they work for, in so doing it investigates how Americans have dealt with difference through television as a medium and a mediator.The book philosophically redirects the gaze of television and its projection of racial discourse.  

The antihero prevails in recent American drama television series. Characters such as mobster kingpin Tony Soprano (The Sopranos), meth cook and gangster-in-the-making Walter White (Breaking Bad) and serial killer Dexter Morgan (Dexter) are not morally good, so how do these television series make us engage in these morally bad main characters? And what does this tell us about our moral psychological make-up, and more specifically, about the moral psychology of fiction? Vaage argues that the fictional status of these series deactivates rational, deliberate moral evaluation, making the spectator rely on moral emotions and intuitions that are relatively easy to manipulate with narrative strategies. Nevertheless, she also argues that these series regularly encourage reactivation of deliberate, moral evaluation. In so doing, these fictional series can teach us something about ourselves as moral beings-what our moral intuitions and emotions are, and how these might differ from deliberate, moral evaluation.

Television directors remain an enigma to most students of the mass media; traditionally, their function has been little understood by scholars and the viewing public. In this book, John Ravage studies the role of the director in the producer-dominated medium of commercial television. Built around lengthy interviews with twelve of the leading directors of commercial programs-representing all the genres of "prime time"-the book analyzes the major issues facing television, its past, present, and portents for the future, and the audience that watches it.

Multilingualism is a phenomenon that has become increasingly visible in popular cinema and thus is currently a very novel object of academic inquiry. The present volume is a cutting-edge collection of cross- and transdisciplinary takes on this phenomenon and its different aspects. Its topics range from translation theory to political and aesthetic quandaries of audiovisual translation and subtitling, to narratological function of multilingualism in fiction, to language ideologies and language poetics onscreen. Its authorship is a worldwide body of perspectives, whose contributions span a distinctive collection of international, national and regional film traditions.

Yoga gurus on lifestyle cable channels targeting time-pressured Indian urbanites; Chinese dating shows promoting competitive individualism; Taiwanese domestic makeover formats combining feng shui with life planning advice: Asian TV screens are increasingly home to a wild proliferation of popular factual programs providing lifestyle guidance to viewers. In Telemodernities Tania Lewis, Fran Martin, and Wanning Sun demonstrate how lifestyle-oriented popular factual television illuminates key aspects of late modernities in South and East Asia, offering insights not only into early twenty-first-century media cultures but also into wider developments in the nature of public and private life, identity, citizenship, and social engagement. Drawing on extensive interviews with television industry professionals and audiences across China, India, Taiwan, and Singapore, Telemodernities uses popular lifestyle television as a tool to help us understand emergent forms of identity, sociality, and capitalist modernity in Asia.

What kinds of foreign television programs are broadcast in China? What types of cultural differences exist in the minds of Chinese television viewers? To what extent can they perceive and accept these differences? The author developed a three-stage empirical approach to examine these questions in five sample cities in China. First, the television schedules of 37 television channels were analyzed in order to determine the type, cultural modification, and export country of foreign programs. Second, based on 36 audience interviews 42 cultural dimensions were explored and summarized in a catalogue. Third, a survey was conducted among 450 viewers, which examined their perception and acceptance of cultural difference. Five viewer types were developed through cluster analysis. The impact of influential factors was examined.

Cinemulacrum, a conflation of "cinema," the art of the Hollywood film, and simulacrum, a reality counterfeit, was coined to designate contemporary media culture. This period is distinguished by the advent of digital film/video, an ideology of fantasy as the central narrative of movies and television, and a ruling audience demographic of the young adult. A pre-cinemulacrum era (1960-1980) and Age of Cinemulacrum (1980 to the present day) are demarcated to examine the fall-and rise-of classical Hollywood and the hegemony of television in a media dyad of movies and television. Cinemulacrum argues that the convergence of technology, ideology, and audience represent the primary factors surrounding the social immediacy of movies and television, and that video, fantasy, and the young adult have replaced film, realism, and the family as the outstanding attributes of contemporary media culture. A contemporary vision of media culture emerges in the 1980s. George Lucas and Steven Spielberg lead a populist new wave, combining technological modernity with a retro sensibility grounded both in B-movie melodramas and the genteel, domesticated television sit-coms of the 1950s. Television, however, gains an unrivaled authority through the spinoff production model and the expanded resources of cable with its 24/7 news, sports, and movies. Advocating a new or alternate history of movies and television, the author assesses critical trends from America's hybrid media culture. The pre-cinemulacrum era is unraveled through an "apocrypha of violence"-a cycle of conflicting portrayals of movie violence and heroism in Bonnie and Clyde, Dirty Harry, The Godfather, Taxi Driver, and Rocky. The Age of Cinemulacrum is then characterized by the 'making of simulacra'-the proliferating nature of movie sequels, prequels, and "special editions"-and by television's multi-generational young adult demographic of The Cosby Show, Seinfeld, and The Simpsons. The author concludes his study with an annotated timeline-"The Seven Ages of Cinemulacrum"-listing the history-making movies and television programs in contemporary media culture.

Born on the 2nd of June 1960 to Jamaican parents, Shaun is a Londoner born and bred, and has been a devoted Chelsea fan since 1967. From the age of 12, Shaun knew he wanted to be a barrister and was determined to make it. Despite one or two setbacks along the way, he finally managed to fulfil his childhood ambition when he was called to the bar in November 1984. He has been a Criminal Defence Advocate now for nearly 34 years, and has worked tirelessly on cases ranging from murder to money laundering to firearms to drug trafficking. Shaun has also regularly appeared on British television quiz shows such as Fifteen-To-One, The Weakest Link, Greed, and Are You an Egghead?. Shaun catapulted to national prominence and recognition when, on the 5th December 2004, he became the first black person to win the BBC's renowned Mastermind. Since 2009, he has become a household name, regularly appearing as The Dark Destroyer on the smash ITV hit teatime quiz show, The Chase. Read how Shaun's passions have helped turn him into the man he is today: staunchly just and fair, ruthless when he needs to be, kind, fun, and a fiercely loyal friend.

Over the course of his five-decade career in television, John Stephens produced many hit shows, including My Three Sons, Family Affair, Gunsmoke, How the West Was Won, and Simon & Simon. He also produced a number of failures, including The Smith Family (starring Henry Fonda and Ron Howard) and arguably the worst Movie of the Week, the pilot to Wonder Woman (starring Cathy Lee Crosby). Along the way, Stephens encountered the usual and not so usual difficulties that accompany work on such projects. While others may have seen these events as obstacles, Stephens regarded them as opportunities. And when an opportunity did not yield the most favorable outcome, he made the most of it by rendering the experience into an amusing anecdote. It is with this lighthearted approach that Stephens recounts his lengthy career in From My Three Sons to Major Dad: My Life as a TV Producer. From Arness to Zsa Zsa, the author reveals everything about the making of episodic television: casting stars and guest stars, handling actors in various states of inebriation, fixing scripts, hiring and firing directors, and filming on location. From Brian Keith's colorful vocabulary to Fred MacMurray's well-known frugality; from Jimmy Stewart's guest appearance at scale to the rising egos and subsequent demands of Simon and Simon's pair of stars, it's all here. Beginning in the 1950s, Stephens chronicles five decades of work in the television industry from his early days as a casting director to his triumphant swan song, creating and producing the hit series Major Dad. Whether you're an industry professional or one of the many millions of Americans glued to their TV sets every night, you'll enjoy this informative and entertaining memoir.

Superheroes have been an integral part of popular society for decades. Over time, superheroes have developed their own mythology. Though scholars and fans have recognized and commented on this myth, the structure of the mythology has gone largely unexplored until now. The lexicon at the heart of this book gives a structure that can be used to identify the mythology as it applies to characters, stories, and other forms of narrative. The lexicon is the first effort to codify the mythology and how it works. Included are specific and detailed examinations of the myth in several narratives, including Buffy the Vampire Slayer; Green Arrow, especially in the CW series Arrow; and Beowulf. It also draws on examples from characters as diverse as Batman, Wolverine, Invincible, and John Constantine. This book is a first step toward recognizing the structure of the superhero and helps explain why the myth matters so much in current popular society, not only in America, but worldwide.

American actress Mercedes McCambridge was an Academy Award-winning star of radio, television, film, and the stage, active in all four entertainment mediums between 1936 and 1991. Publicly, she was active in politics, a lecturer at several colleges, and an important activist in the fight against alcoholism. Privately, she suffered from divorces, miscarriages, suicide attempts, the death of her only child, and a hard-won battle with her own alcoholism. From her part on radio show Lights Out! at 17 to her starring role in Neil Simon's play Lost in Yonkers at 73, this biography both reveals her personal life and career and gives insight into an important period of show business history. Part I is a full biography from McCambridge's birth in Illinois in 1918 to her 1998 appearance at the Academy Awards. Part II gives McCambridge's radio, television, film, and theatre performances, each entry listing the name of the show, name of the character, dates, other performers, directors, and an indication of which were sustained short- or long-running roles and which single performances on a radio or television series. Research is drawn from books, periodicals, and personal interviews with McCambridge's peers.

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.

Anne Bancroft (1931-2005) was an American film, television and stage actress, stage producer and film director. Respected for her acting prowess and versatility, she won the ""Triple Crown""-an Oscar, a Tony and an Emmy. Her stage portrayal of Annie Sullivan in The Miracle Worker won the Tony Award for Best Lead Actress in 1959. She reprised the role for the 1962 film of the same name, winning the Oscar for Best Actress, but was perhaps best known as Mrs. Robinson in The Graduate (1967). Her extensive television work included numerous roles in movies and series, including Deep in My Heart (1999), for which she won an Emmy for Best Supporting Actress. A filmography/videography and information about DVD availability are included.

Baroness Floella Benjamin is an inspiration, an actress and much-loved children's television presenter who is a member of the House of Lords. But how did the girl from Trinidad end up lunching with the Queen? In What Are You Doing Here? Floella describes arriving in London as a child, part of the Windrush generation, and the pain caused by the racism she encountered every day. It was offset by the love of her parents, who gave her the pride in her heritage, self-belief and confidence that have carried her through life. From winning a role in groundbreaking musical Hair (while clearly stating she would not take her clothes off) to breaking down barriers on Play School, from refusing to be typecast in roles to speaking out for diversity at the BBC and BAFTA, she has remained true to herself. She also reveals how she met husband Keith, became a mother of two, was befriended by Kenneth Williams, hugged President Obama, and found a purpose that would underpin everything she did - campaigning for the needs of children. Sharing the lessons she has learned, imbued with her joy and positivity, this autobiography is the moving testimony of a remarkable woman.

An avalanche of acronyms, terms-of-art, buzz words, and short-hand phraseology confronts today's busy communications professionals. Now in its 3rd edition, Tech Terms is an invaluable learning tool to help grasp key aspects of the television and video, PC hardware and software markets, multimedia authoring tools, and the exploding wireless Internet and mobile telecomputing worlds. With more than 1000 terms described in four sentences or less, Tech Terms is perfect the perfect desk reference.

Over the last 30 years 24-hour television news channels have reshaped the practice and culture of journalism. But the arrival of new content and social media platforms over recent years has challenged their power and authority, with fast-changing technologies accelerating the speed of news delivery and reshaping audience behaviour. Following on from The Rise of 24-Hour News Television: Global Perspectives (Cushion and Lewis, 2010), this volume explores new challenges and pressures facing television news channels, and considers the future of 24-hour news. Featuring a wide range of industry and academic perspectives, including the heads of some of the major international news channels (BBC Global News, Al Jazeera and Sky News, among others) as well as leading academics from around the world, contributors reflect on how well rolling television news is reinventing itself for digital platforms and the rapidly changing expectations of audiences. Overall, the 24 chapters in this volume deliver fresh insights into how 24-hour news channels have redefined rolling news journalism - or potentially could do - in order to remain relevant and effective in supplying continuous news for 21st-century audiences.

This book explores the collaborative sitcoms of two of British television's most well-known comedy writers. Written over a period of twenty-five years, the four series 'Dad's Army', 'It Ain't Half Hot, Mum', 'Hi-de-Hi!' and 'You Rang M'Lord?' have endured as much-loved and often-repeated classics. The book explores the themes of Perry and Croft's writing in terms of their own biography, and as articulations of British cultural and televisual history. Focusing on issues central to the concept of identity in British culture, class, gender, sexuality and race and analysing individual episodes and scenes in the four series, 'Jimmy Perry and David Croft' evaluates the contributions made by these two writers to the genre of situation comedy, and locates the programmes in the immediate contexts of their production. Including new interview material from David Croft, this book will be invaluable to students and lecturers of television studies and cultural studies. -- .

Yoga gurus on lifestyle cable channels targeting time-pressured Indian urbanites; Chinese dating shows promoting competitive individualism; Taiwanese domestic makeover formats combining feng shui with life planning advice: Asian TV screens are increasingly home to a wild proliferation of popular factual programs providing lifestyle guidance to viewers. In Telemodernities Tania Lewis, Fran Martin, and Wanning Sun demonstrate how lifestyle-oriented popular factual television illuminates key aspects of late modernities in South and East Asia, offering insights not only into early twenty-first-century media cultures but also into wider developments in the nature of public and private life, identity, citizenship, and social engagement. Drawing on extensive interviews with television industry professionals and audiences across China, India, Taiwan, and Singapore, Telemodernities uses popular lifestyle television as a tool to help us understand emergent forms of identity, sociality, and capitalist modernity in Asia.

As The Walking Dead returns for its highly anticipated 7th season, fans of the show can celebrate all things The Walking Dead with this special collection of features, interviews and more pulled from the magazine, which has been keeping fans up to date with the show for five years. Includes interviews with Robert Kirkman, Charlie Adlard and others features on characters and locations, various bad guys and much, much more.