This critical anthology sets out to explore the boom that horror cinema and TV productions have experienced in Spain in the past two decades. It uses a range of critical and theoretical perspectives to examine a broad variety of films and filmmakers, such as works by Alejandro Amenabar, Alex de la Iglesia, Pedro Almodovar, Guillermo del Toro, Juan Antonio Bayona, and Jaume Balaguero and Paco Plaza. The volume revolves around a set of fundamental questions: What are the causes for this new Spanish horror-mania? What cultural anxieties and desires, ideological motives and practical interests may be behind such boom? Is there anything specifically "Spanish" about the Spanish horror film and TV productions, any distinctive traits different from Hollywood and other European models that may be associated to the particular political, social, economic or cultural circumstances of contemporary Spain?

Often disguised in public discourse by terms like "gay," "homoerotic," "homosocial," or "queer," bisexuality is strangely absent from queer studies and virtually untreated in film and media criticism. Maria San Filippo aims to explore the central role bisexuality plays in contemporary screen culture, establishing its importance in representation, marketing, and spectatorship. By examining a variety of media genres including art cinema, sexploitation cinema and vampire films, "bromances," and series television, San Filippo discovers "missed moments" where bisexual readings of these texts reveal a more malleable notion of subjectivity and eroticism. San Filippo's work moves beyond the subject of heteronormativity and responds to "compulsory monosexuality," where it's not necessarily a couple's gender that is at issue, but rather that an individual chooses one or the other. The B Word transcends dominant relational formation (gay, straight, or otherwise) and brings a discursive voice to the field of queer and film studies.

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.

The study of television and music has expanded greatly in recent years, yet to date no book has focused on the genre of comedy television as it relates to music. Music in Comedy Television: Notes on Laughs fills that gap, breaking new critical ground. With contributions from an array of established and emerging scholars representing a range of disciplines, the twelve essays included cover a wide variety of topics and television shows, spanning nearly fifty years across network, cable, and online structures and capturing the latest research in this growing area of study. From Sesame Street to Saturday Night Live, from Monty Python to Flight of the Conchords, this book offers the perfect introduction for students and scholars in music and media studies seeking to understand the role of music in comedy onscreen and how it relates to the wider culture.

On September 23, 1969, five years after the first made-for-television movie premiered, the ABC network broadcast Seven in Darkness. This was the first television film for an anthology show called the Tuesday Night Movie of the Week. Dedicating ninety minutes of weekly airtime to a still-emerging genre was a financial risk for the third-place network-a risk that paid off. The films were so successful that in 1972 the network debuted The Wednesday Movie of the Week. Although most of the movies are no longer remembered, a handful are still fondly recalled by viewers today, including Duel, Brian's Song, and The Night Stalker. The series also showcased pilot films for many eventual series, such as Alias Smith and Jones, The Six Million Dollar Man, and Starsky and Hutch. By the end of both shows' regular runs in the spring of 1975, the network had broadcast more than 200 made-for-television films. In The ABC Movie of the Week: Big Movies for the Small Screen, Michael McKenna examines this programming experiment that transformed the television landscape and became a staple of broadcast programming for several years. The author looks at how the revolving films showcased the right mixture of romantic comedy, action, horror, and social relevance to keep viewers interested week after week. McKenna also chronicles how the ratings success led to imitations from the other networks, resulting in a saturation of television movies. As a cultural touchstone for millions who experienced the first run and syndicated versions of these films, The ABC Movie of the Week is a worthy subject of study. Featuring a complete filmography of all 240 movies with credit information and plot summaries, a chronology, and a list of pilots-both failed and successful-this volume will be valuable to television historians and scholars, as well as to anyone interested in one of the great triumphs of network programming.

Though one of the most popular genres for decades, the western started to lose its relevance in the 1960s and 1970s, and by the early 1980s it had ridden into the sunset on screens both big and small. The genre has enjoyed a resurgence, however, and in the past few decades some remarkable westerns have appeared on television and in movie theaters. From independent films to critically acclaimed Hollywood productions and television series, the western remains an important part of American popular culture. Running the gamut from traditional to revisionist, with settings ranging from the old West to the "new Wests" of the present day and distant future, contemporary westerns continue to explore the history, geography, myths, and legends of the American frontier. In Contemporary Westerns: Film and Television since 1990, Andrew P. Nelson has collected essays that examine the trends and transformations in this underexplored period in Western film and television history. Addressing the new Western, they argue for the continued relevance and vibrancy of the genre as a narrative form. The book is organized into two sections: "Old West, New Stories" examines Westerns with common frontier locales, such as Dances with Wolves, Unforgiven, Deadwood, and True Grit. "New Wests, Old Stories" explores works in which familiar Western narratives, characters, and values are represented in more modern-and in one case futuristic-settings. Included are the films No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood, as well as the shows Firefly and Justified. With a foreword by Edward Buscombe, as well as an introduction that provides a comprehensive overview, this volume offers readers a compelling argument for the healthy survival of the Western. Written for scholars as well as educated viewers, Contemporary Westerns explores the genre's evolving relationship with American culture, history, and politics.

Starring internationally renowned actors Martin Landau, Barbara Bain, Barry Morse and Catherine Schell, the British-made Space: 1999 was the only truly original space adventure of the mid-1970s. Sandwiched between the demise of the original Star Trek and the opening of the Stars Wars series on the big screen, Space: 1999 featured a richly-visualized world where space was terrifying and mysterious, where not all problems were solvable by technology and the space travelers were very human. From the science fiction show's conception in 1973 to its cancellation in 1977, this reference work covers each of the 48 episodes in depth, including a full plot synopsis, writer, director, guest star credits, and critical commentary that examines both the episode and other shows that have used similar plotlines. The popularity of Space: 1999 memorabilia and its many fan clubs are fully discussed, along with the possibility of a future movie or reunion show that would tie up the loose ends caused by the show's abrupt cancellation.

The study of television and music has expanded greatly in recent years, yet to date no book has focused on the genre of comedy television as it relates to music. Music in Comedy Television: Notes on Laughs fills that gap, breaking new critical ground. With contributions from an array of established and emerging scholars representing a range of disciplines, the twelve essays included cover a wide variety of topics and television shows, spanning nearly fifty years across network, cable, and online structures and capturing the latest research in this growing area of study. From Sesame Street to Saturday Night Live, from Monty Python to Flight of the Conchords, this book offers the perfect introduction for students and scholars in music and media studies seeking to understand the role of music in comedy onscreen and how it relates to the wider culture.

- A concise and engaging textbook for students offering an original perspective on a concept that is a site of much industry and scholarly debate. - Combining work on both political media and entertainment, with an emphasis on social media, this is ideal for a range of undergraduate courses, particularly those exploring media audiences, media industries, social media and society and political engagement. - Each chapter includes a brief introduction, a conclusion with key points, sub headings, and a broad range of international case studies that show how the points of the chapter can work in practice for media engagement analysis.

Since the early 2000s, Disney Channel has been dominated by original live-action programming popular among tween girls. The shows' successes rely not only on their popularity among girl audiences, but also on the development of star personae by girl performers, such as Raven-Symone, Miley Cyrus, and Selena Gomez. In addition, these programs and their performers have spawned lucrative media and merchandising franchises for the Walt Disney Company. This book includes analyses of this Disney Channel programming, as well as Disney corporate reports and executive statements, together with Disney Channel stars' performances, promotional appearances, media production, philanthropic efforts, and entrepreneurism. Analyzing these texts, performances, activities, and personae, it considers the ways in which they reproduce celebrity, visibility, and feminine performativity as central to successful twenty-first century girlhood.

Fame, the hugely popular 1980 musical film inspired by New York's High School of the Performing Arts, was adapted as a weekly NBC television series in 1982. Though cancelled by the network after two seasons, the TV version of Fame rose from the ashes to enjoy a long and successful run in syndication. Among the series' cast members were such gifted performers as Debbie Allen and Janet Jackson.

For five of the six years that Fame flourished on television, Michael A. Hoey was closely involved in the series' production. He has written a compelling behind-the-scenes history of the trials, tribulations and triumphs surrounding the filming of the hit series, interviewing a number of the creative principals as well as recounting his own experiences.

The years following the Cultural Revolution saw the arrival of television as part of China's effort to 'modernize' and open up to the West. Endorsed by the Deng Xiaoping regime as a 'bridge' between government and the people, television became at once the official mouthpiece of the Communist Party and the most popular form of entertainment for Chinese people living in the cities. But the authorities failed to realize the unmatched cultural power of television to inspire resistance to official ideologies, expectations, and lifestyles. The presence of television in the homes of the urban Chinese strikingly broadened the cultural and political awareness of its audience and provoked the people to imagine better ways of living as individuals, families, and as a nation. Originally published in 1991, set within the framework of China's political and economic environment in the modernization period, this insightful analysis is based on ethnographic data collected in China before and after the Tiananmen Square disaster. From interviews with leading Chinese television executives and nearly one hundred families in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Xian, the author outlays how Chinese television fosters opposition to the government through the work routines of media professionals, television imagery, and the role of critical, active audience members.

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.

John Frankenheimer's career as a professional director began and ended in television. In the mid-1950s, he won acclaim working on live productions for anthology series like Playhouse 90, and from the mid-1990s until his death in 2002 he helmed a string of Emmy-winning features for cable TV, including The Burning Season (1994) and Andersonville (1996). Despite these successes, Frankenheimer's reputation rests primarily upon the nearly thirty feature films he directed, which range from bona fide classics like Birdman of Alcatraz (1962) and The Manchurian Candidate (1962) to such lesser achievements as Prophecy (1979) and Dead Bang (1989). Unfortunately for Frankenheimer, the discrepancy between his best films and his worst led many critics during his lifetime to dismiss him as someone whose talent dissipated in the late 1960s. In the decade since his death, however, several critics have emerged who reject the assertion that the quality of Frankenheimer's output faded after an impressive start. In John Frankenheimer: Interviews, Essays, and Profiles, Stephen B. Armstrong has collected the most interesting and insightful articles and features published on this underrated director. While question-and-answer exchanges make up the bulk of the items featured here, also included are journalistic profiles of the director at work and essays Frankenheimer himself wrote for magazine audiences. In addition, readers will find a series of interviews of people who worked with Frankenheimer, including actors Roy Scheider, Tim Reid, and the director's wife of 40 years, Evans Frankenheimer. In this volume, the director and others look back on a career that included such films as Seven Days in May, The Train, Grand Prix, The Iceman Cometh, Black Sunday, and Ronin. The first collection of its kind, John Frankenheimer: Interviews, Essays, and Profiles enables those who value the director's work to develop a better understanding of the man through his own words and the words of others.

Gather your best girlfriends and celebrate Galentine's Day with this delightful entertaining guide inspired by Parks and Recreation! Join America's most upbeat public servant, Leslie Knope, in the year's best tradition-ladies celebrating ladies! Made popular by Parks and Recreation, before growing into an international phenomenon, this special day for embracing female friendship is the perfect excuse to pull out all the stops, just like Leslie. Complete with food and drink recipes, DIY decorations, ideas for party activities, and more, this official guide will help you throw an inspired Galentine's Day party for the women in your life. Fun and comprehensive, this is a must-have event-planning guide for every Parks and Recreation fan.

This essential text provides a detailed account of the complex character of modern television. Covering issues ranging from television's historical development to its impact on culture and society in general, the text provides an insightful analysis of television's strengths and limitations. The book's scope and clarity make it an ideal text for all media students as well as others interested in the historical, cultural and social contexts of broadcasting.

Cuteness is one of the most culturally pervasive aesthetics of the new millennium and its rapid social proliferation suggests that the affective responses it provokes find particular purchase in a contemporary era marked by intensive media saturation and spreading economic precarity. Rejecting superficial assessments that would deem the ever-expanding plethora of cute texts trivial, The Aesthetics and Affects of Cuteness directs serious scholarly attention from a variety of academic disciplines to this ubiquitous phenomenon. The sheer plasticity of this minor aesthetic is vividly on display in this collection which draws together analyses from around the world examining cuteness's fundamental role in cultural expressions stemming from such diverse sources as military cultures, high-end contemporary art worlds, and animal shelters. Pushing beyond prevailing understandings that associate cuteness solely with childhood or which posit an interpolated parental bond as its primary affective attachment, the essays in this collection variously draw connections between cuteness and the social, political, economic, and technological conditions of the early twenty-first century and in doing so generate fresh understandings of the central role cuteness plays in the recalibration of contemporary subjectivities.

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.

This thought-provoking book examines the philosophical issues arising from the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica
television series, revealing how the ragtag fleet's outward journey to Earth is also an inward exploration for the human survivors and their Cylon pursuers.

Humor and Latina/o Camp in Ugly Betty: Funny Looking expands the vista of critical approaches to comedy and representational politics on mainstream television from an interdisciplinary Latina/o studies approach. Gonzalez and Rodriguez y Gibson examine how Ugly Betty uses humor and Latina/o camp to reframe socially charged issues on the show: representations of masculinity and familia, immigration, drag and queer subjectivities, Latina sexuality, and finally, a Latina feminist critique of the American Dream. Ugly Betty moves beyond the binaries of traditional representational politics and opens a vista of critical possibility applicable to all mainstream texts that portray people of color through comedy. This work will be of interest to scholars in media studies, Latina/o studies, and communication studies.

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.

Television and the Embodied Viewer appraises the medium's capacity to evoke sensations and bodily feelings in the viewer. Presenting a fresh approach to television studies, the book examines the sensate force of onscreen bodies and illustrates how TV's multisensory appeal builds viewer empathy and animates meaning. The book draws extensively upon interpretive viewpoints in the humanities to shed light on a range of provocative television works, notably The Americans, Mad Men, Little Women: LA, and Six Feet Under, with emphasis on the dramatization of gender, disability, sex, childbearing, and death. Advocating a biocultural approach that takes into account the mind sciences, Cassidy argues that interpretive meanings, shaped within today's dynamic cultural matrix, are amplified by somatic experience. At a time when questions of embodiment and affect are crossing disciplines, this book will appeal to scholars and students working in the fields of television, film, and media studies, both in the humanities and cognitive traditions.

Television for Women brings together emerging and established scholars to reconsider the question of 'television for women'. In the context of the 2000s, when the potential meanings of both terms have expanded and changed so significantly, in what ways might the concept of programming, addressed explicitly to a group identified by gender still matter? The essays in this collection take the existing scholarship in this field in significant new directions. They expand its reach in terms of territory (looking beyond, for example, the paradigmatic Anglo-American axis) and also historical span. Additionally, whilst the influential methodological formation of production, text and audience is still visible here, the new research in Television for Women frequently reconfigures that relationship. The topics included here are far-reaching; from television as material culture at the British exhibition in the first half of the twentieth century, women's roles in television production past and present, to popular 1960s television such as The Liver Birds and, in the twenty-first century, highly successful programmes including Orange is the New Black, Call the Midwife, One Born Every Minute and Wanted Down Under. This book presents ground-breaking research on historical and contemporary relationships between women and television around the world and is an ideal resource for students of television, media and gender studies.

Gothic television is the first full length study of the Gothic released on British and US television. An historical account, the book combines detailed archival research with analyses of key programmes, from Mystery and Imagination and Dark Shadows, to The Woman in White and Twin Peaks, and uncovers an aspect of television drama history which has, until now, remained critically unexplored. While some have seen television as too literal or homely a medium to successfully present Gothic fictions, Gothic television argues that the genre, in its many guises, is, and has always been, well-suited to television as a domestic medium, given the genre's obsessions with haunted houses and troubled families. This book will be of interest to lecturers and students across a number of disciplines including television studies, Gothic studies, and adaptation studies, as well as to the general reader with an interest in the Gothic, and in the history of television drama. -- .