"The authorsahave analyzed the television problem brilliantly. They had come up with a whole set of new insights, and their backup research always is fascinating to read."-Saturday Review "A cautious, research-based bookahopefully it will set a trend."-Ithiel de Sola Pool, Public Opinion Quarterly After more than forty years of studying its political implications, Kurt and Gladys Lang put the power of television into a unique perspective. Through carefully compiled case studies, they reveal surprising truths about TV's effect on American political life, and explode some popular myths. Their theme throughout is that television gives the viewer the illusion of being a favored spectator at some event-he "sees for himself," in other words. But, in fact, it conveys a reality different from that experienced by an eyewitness. Because the televised version of an event reaches more people, it has greater impact on the public memory and comes to overshadow what actually happened. The Langs tell in detail how television shapes events; how public figures and political institutions adjust their tactics to exploit the effects they-and millions of viewers-think television has. They examine such issues as whether or not network television projections influence election results. They consider the accuracy of the networks increasingly sophisticated techniques for "calling" election outcomes well before polls close. Such concerns have never been more at the forefront of the public consciousness than in the wake of the 2000 presidential election. The Langs assess the research to date and clarify the effects of early TV projections on voter turnout and election outcomes, and look at the implications for our system of government. A model of excellent policy analysis, this highly readable volume will interest decision-makers and analysts, as well as students of journalism, broadcasting, political behavior, and voters looking forward to the next election. Kurt Lang was a professor of sociology and political science at Stony Brook before becoming the Director of the School of Communications at the University of Washington. Gladys Engel Lang is a professor of communications with joint appointments in Political Science and Sociology at the University of Washington. In addition to Television and Politics, the Langs have also co-authored The Battle for Public Opinion: the President, the Press and the Polls during Watergate, Voting and Nonvoting, and Collective Dynamics.

American Ideal: How American Idol Constructs Celebrity, Collective Identity, and American Discourses by Amanda Scheiner McClain provides an insightful analysis of the popular television show American Idol and explores contemporary notions of celebrity, American collective identity, and other American themes. American Idol depicts how a new star is constructed, supports American ideals such as individualism and archetypes, and reinforces an idealized American identity through verbal and visual discourse. The monstrous popularity of American Idol demands study of the program and the ideals contained within. This book consists of discourse analyses of the first seven seasons of the program, contextual press coverage, and of the official message boards. By amalgamating this research, it becomes clear that American Idol presents an idealistic vision of American life, where everyone is equal, democracy chooses the right winner, power is shared, and celebrity and success can be attained simply by "being yourself." In American Idol's rendering of America, racism, homophobia, xenophobia, and sexism do not exist. This idealized America consists of perfected extant ideological systems and apparatus. Through American Idol's American themes, representations of celebrity, and facilitation of collective identities, the show provides an idealized version of American culture. These idealized versions of America, national identity, and celebrity support contemporary economic and cultural norms: capitalistic ideology and concomitant materialism, beauty, race, gender, and sexuality standards, and ostensible equality epitomized by possibility for success. This book is an indispensable reference for not only scholars, undergraduate and graduate students, but anyone with an interest in American Idol and popular culture.

This edited collection offers an interdisciplinary study of Twin Peaks: The Return, the third season of a TV program that has attracted the attention (and appreciation) of spectators, fans, and critics for over two decades. The book takes readers into several distinct areas and addresses the different approaches and the range of topics invited by the multidimensionality of the subject itself: the philosophical, the artistic, the socio-cultural, and the personal. The eighteen chapters constituting the volume are academic in their approach to the subject and in their methodology, whether they apply a historical, psychoanalytical, film studies, or gender studies perspective to the text under examination. The variety and range of perspectives in these aforementioned chapters reflect the belief that a study of the full complexity of Twin Peaks: The Return, as well as a timely assessment of the critical importance of the program, requires both an interdisciplinary perspective and the fusion of different intellectual approaches across genres. The chapters demonstrate a collective awareness of the TV series as a fundamental milestone in contemporary culture.

In the year that Europe commemorates the centenary of the outbreak of World War I and the European Union faces a crisis of legitimacy, the national question is once again being posed across the Continent. This volume assesses how contemporary German-language writers and filmmakers have approached this troubled question over the last decade. It addresses whether the collective entity known as Germany should more properly be conflated with the Federal Republic, with its successful sixty-five-year history ('the best Germany we have ever had'), rather than the 'nation' with all its tainted connotations and corrupted concepts such as 'Vaterland'. Contemporary Germany is a product not only of its history up to 1945 but also of the process of understanding that history and acting upon that understanding since the defeat of National Socialism. Each of the sixteen essays collected here illuminates a different segment of a bigger picture, whose shape and shades are themselves evolving. Presented as a whole their purpose is to provoke further discussion among observers of the contemporary German-speaking scene. In dem Jahr, in dem Europa den 100. Jahrestag des Ausbruchs des Ersten Weltkriegs begeht, und die Europaische Union eine Legitimitatskrise durchmacht, stellt sich in ganz Europa wieder einmal die 'nationale Frage'. Dieser Band zeigt Antworten von deutschsprachigen Autoren und Filmemachern aus den letzten zehn Jahren. Es wird gefragt, ob es nicht passender ware, das unter dem Namen 'Deutschland' firmierende Kollektiv als 'Bundesrepublik' zu erfassen, und somit die Idee der 'Nation' mit all seinen Bruchen - bis hin zum verpoenten 'Vaterland' - zu verabschieden. 'Das beste Deutschland, das es je gegeben hat' zeichnet immerhin eine Erfolgsgeschichte seit 65 Jahren. Das heutige Deutschland ist ohne Zweifel ein Produkt seiner Geschichte bis 1945, aber auch von Prozessen des Verstehens und der Verstandigung uber diese Geschichte seit dem Ende des Nationalsozialismus. Jeder der sechzehn Beitrage in diesem Band beleuchtet ein Fragment eines groesseren Bilds, das selbst standig im Umbruch ist. Als Ganzes sollen diese Beitrage die Debatte unter Beobachtern der heutigen deutschsprachigen Welt anregen.

From re-runs of 'TV classics' like The Avengers or Starsky and Hutch, to soundtracks, club nights and film remakes such as Mission Impossible II, the action series is enjoying a popular revival. Yet little attention has been paid to the history, nature and enduring appeal of the action series, and its place in popular culture, past and present.
Action TV traces the development of the action series from its genesis in the 1950s. From The Saint to Knight Rider, contributors explore the key shows which defined the genre, addressing issues of audiences and consumption, gender and sexuality, fashion and popular culture. They examine the institutional and cultural factors influencing the action series, and relate shifts in the genre to other forms of popular culture including film, pop music, fashion and popular literature.
Articles include:
* Of Leather Suits and Kinky Boots: The Avengers, Style and Popular Culture
* 'Who Loves Ya, Baby?': Kojak, Action and the Great Society
* 'A Lone Crusader in a Dangerous World': Heroics of Science and Technology in Knight Rider
* Angels in Chains? Feminism, Femininity and Consumer Culture in Charlie's Angels
* 'Who's the Cat that Won't Cop Out?' Black Masculinity in American Action Shows of the Sixties and Seventies

Now in its second edition, Seeing the Bigger Picture examines the ways movies and popular culture can foster a deeper awareness of the political dilemmas and debates shaping our world. Reviewing commercial films and documentaries, the text illustrates the myriad ways that film and popular culture shape our understanding of capitalism and democracy, war and terrorism, civil rights and social justice, campaigns and elections and the presidency. This updated edition includes new chapters on media, human rights and the environment. In the aftermath of the American invasion of Iraq, the book discusses the broad new spectrum of films about war; it also looks at capitalism and financial markets in popular culture in light of the financial crisis of 2008. Examining a range of vital issues that dot the political landscape, this is an excellent comprehensive text for students of film and politics, and a creative resource for courses in American government, international relations, popular culture and media studies. This edition is accompanied by a website with links to additional material and film clips that will help facilitate the study of film and politics.

Birth of the Binge: Serial TV and the End of Leisure describes and details serial television and ""binge watching,"" the exceedingly popular form of contemporary television viewing that has come to dominance over the past decade. Author Dennis Broe looks at this practice of media consumption by suggesting that the history of seriality itself is a continual battleground between a more unified version of truth-telling and a more fractured form of diversion and addiction. Serial television is examined for the ways its elements (multiple characters, defined social location, and season and series arcs) are used alternately to illustrate a totality or to fragment social meaning. Broe follows his theoretical points with detailed illustrations and readings of several TV series in a variety of genres, including the systemization of work in Big Bang Theory and Silicon Valley; the social imbrications of Justified; and the contesting of masculinity in Joss Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly, and Dollhouse. In this monograph, Broe uses the work of Bernard Stiegler to relate the growth of digital media to a new phase of capitalism called ""hyperindustrialism,"" analyzing the show Lost as suggestive of the potential as well as the poverty and limitations of digital life. The author questions whether, in terms of mode of delivery, commercial studio structure, and narrative patterns, viewers are experiencing an entirely new moment or a (hyper)extension of the earlier network era. The Office, The Larry Sanders Show, and Orange Is the New Black are examined as examples of, respectively, network, cable, and online series with structure that is more consistent than disruptive. Finally, Broe examines three miniseries by J. J. Abrams - Revolution, Believe, and 11.22.63 - which employ the techniques and devices of serial television to criticize a rightward, neo-conservative drift in the American empire, noting that none of the series were able to endure in an increasingly conservative climate. The book also functions as a reference work, featuring an appendix of ""100 Seminal Serial Series"" and a supplementary index that television fans and media students and scholars will utilize in and out of the classroom.

The "talk show" has become a ubiquitous feature of American and European television. The various examples have been frequently discussed by academic commentators, as well as journalists in an attempt to place them in a cultural setting. Ultimately, the conclusion is reached by both academics and non-academics that talk shows matter because they are a focus for considerable public debate and are crucial to the landscape of popular television.
All the variations of talk shows, from chat shows to celebrity interviews, have key elements in common: They all feature groups of guests, not individual interviewees, and they all involve audience participation. The studio audience is not only visible, but is given the opportunity to comment and intervene.
Other books have applied academic analysis to the phenomenon of these shows, but this is the first to analyze the actual "talk" of the talk shows, and in that sense it is closer to discourse analysis than to other forms of analysis. This book provides a systematic empirical study of the broadcast talk in talk shows and maps out the range of formats that appear in the major American and British television shows. The contributors are members of an international network of researchers interested in the study of broadcast talk.

Before the unprecedented televised presidential debates of 1960, most Americans were able to relate to their leaders in little more than an historical context. In the era of televised elections, however, the media have allowed Americans to witness the paternal, moral and intellectual qualities of their president up close. Television has been so critical to this process of political socialization that, for many Americans, the televised image of the president is the president. As the acclaimed television drama ""The West Wing"" demonstrates, fictional representations of the presidency can also be significant civic forces. This book examines how film and television drama contribute to shaping the presidency and the way most Americans understand it, and particularly the processes of political education. The text discusses ""The West Wing's"" didactic potential, its representation of White House politics, and its depiction of race and gender, with commentary on how fictional representations of the presidency become important elements of American political consciousness.

Branding the Teleself is a discourse on the standard history social scientific study of media effects with the purpose of revealing changes in how our selves have been reconceived in its study and how the discourse generated further important changes in the self, and how our everyday selves shape and are shaped by social, economic, and political structures. It uncovers a self that has developed through various stages to become a new self that Ernest A. Hakanen dubs the teleself, one that knowingly delivers itself to the media for the sake of the global market place. The teleself is a brand, and this identity is a product that could be differentiated to a degree from other products, and the self is mere packaging that gives the illusion of product differentiation. This is the illusory power of names and naming.

This text is a real-time look at what happens on television, giving a behind-the-scenes look at the news broadcasts that provide information to millions of Americans. You've been watching television news forever. You're intimately familiar with the friendly faces and soothing voices that nightly tell you whats wrong with the world. You think you know everything there is to know about them. You're wrong. This volume shows you why. It takes you minute-by-minute through two-and-a-half riveting hours of syndicated, local, and network information programming to uncover the truth behind what passes as news. Why is the only real difference between Jerry Springer and Dan Rather that Dan's guests usually don't need medical attention? How did a load of baking powder spark two minutes of high-strung local news coverage? Its all here: the personal revelations of talk show guests; the dangers lurking in your neighbourhood; sports; sex; celebrity; power; and weather updates every ten minutes - all real material taken from real broadcasts combined into 150 minutes of the most electrifying newscast you've ever seen.

This volume--a collection and synthesis of key research studies since the program's inception over three decades ago--serves as a marker of the significant role that "Sesame Street" plays in the education and socialization of young children. Editors Shalom M. Fisch and Rosemarie T. Truglio have included contributions from both academics and researchers directly associated with "Sesame Street, " creating a resource that describes the processes by which educational content and research are integrated into production, reviews major studies on the impact of "Sesame Street" on children, and examines the extension of "Sesame Street" into other cultures and media. In the course of this discussion, the volume also explores broader topics, including methodological issues in conducting media-based research with young children, the longitudinal impact of preschoolers' viewing of educational versus non-educational television, and crosscultural differences in the treatment of educational content.
As the first substantive book on "Sesame Street" research in more than two decades, ""G" is for Growing" provides insight into the research process that has informed the development of the program and offers valuable guidelines for the integration of research into future educational endeavors. Intended for readers in media studies, children and the media, developmental studies, and education, this work is an exceptional chronicle of the growth and processes behind what is arguably the most influential program in children's educational television.

Often overlooked in the history of broadcast television, The CW became a top-rated cable network in primetime during the mid-2000s, at a moment when many critics predicted the death of the medium. Launched as a joint venture and successor to The WB and UPN, The CW focused programming on an 18 to 34-year-old, predominantly female audience and soon won over viewers with shows like Gossip Girl, Jane the Virgin and the DC Arrowverse franchise. Nimbly adapting to the streaming services era, the network has strengthened new series development and its innovative distribution system. This collection of new essays examines The CW's business model, marketing strategies and most popular series.

Written by television trainers who run their own courses on Multiskilling, this book offers a comprehensive introduction to the broad range of skills and technical knowledge required in this industry. It details all the essential information you need to know, acting as an on-the-job reference source for everyday use.
For many broadcasting technicians, one of the biggest challenges in recent years has been the transition from a career working in a solo core skill such as camerawork or audio, to acquiring the experience and expertise of a range of production jobs. Many people are expected to work in a number of crafts and to equip themselves with a much wider range of television techniques than had been customary in the past.
Multiskilling has become an integral part of television culture, requiring that new entrants are competent in several specialist production skills. Multiskilling for Television Production concentrates on the techniques associated with news and magazine programme production, where most tecnhical operators are usually employed, but most techniques are shared across the whole spectrum of television and film making.
Anyone baffled by the range and scope of skills to be mastered will find this book invaluable.
*A complete guide to the skills, techniques and operational procedures for today's television environment
*A quick and easy reference for on the job use
*Covers the latest digital technology

Eastman has assembled this exemplary volume to spotlight media promotion and to examine current research on the promotion of television and radio programs. The studies included here explore various types of promotion and use widely differing methods and approaches, providing a comprehensive overview of promotion research activities. Chapters include extensive literature reviews, original research, and discussion of research questions for subsequent study.
"Research in Media Promotion" serves as a benchmark for the current state of promotion research and theory, and establishes the role of promotion as a primary factor affecting audience size. Appropriate for coursework and study in programming, marketing, research methods, management, and industry processes and practices, this volume offers agenda items for future study and is certain to stimulate new research ideas.

How the internet transformed television Before HBO's hit show Insecure, Issa Rae's comedy about being a nerdy black woman debuted as a YouTube web series The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl, her response to the absence of diverse black characters on the small screen. Broad City, a feminist sitcom now on Comedy Central, originated as a web series on YouTube, developed directly out of funny women Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson's real-life friendship. These unconventional stories took advantage of the freedom afforded outside the traditional television system: online. Open TV shows how we have left "the network era" far behind and entered the networked era, with the web opening up new possibilities for independent producers, entrepreneurs, and media audiences. Based on interviews with writers, producers, show-runners, and network executives, visits to festivals and award shows, and the experience of producing his own series, Aymar Jean Christian argues that the web brought innovation to television by opening up series development to new producers, fans, and sponsors that had previously been excluded. Online access to distribution provides creative freedom for indie producers, allows for more diverse storytelling from marginalized communities, and introduces new ways of releasing and awarding shows. Open TV is essential reading for anyone interested in the changing environment of television and how the internet can inspire alternatives to what's on TV tonight.

TV Technical Operations is an introduction for new entrants to the broadcast industry and is designed to prepare them for working in mainstream television by discussing essential techniques, technologies and work attitudes.

The author explores:
* the need to develop a professional approach
* the occupational skills needed to meet deadlines, work under pressure and within budget
* the importance of understanding the potential of broadcast equipment in program making
* the need to keep up to date with the technique and technology
* the responsibility to ensure continuity of experience and training in all craft skills that technical operators are required to work with
* the need to maintain a critical appraisal of what and who influences working practices and how these influences affect production and viewers
* an introduction to the basic skills needed to work as a multi-skilling technical operator in television
* an introduction to broadcast equipment in general production use
Peter Ward is a freelance cameraman and camerawork trainer working with international training and television consultancy. He was formerly head of cameras at Television South West.
Basic reference providing all the essentials on tv operations
Benefit from the knowledge and experience of a highly experienced international cameraman
Provides step-by-step operational advice for ease of understanding

Trekkie popular culture responds to Star Trek as a myth that serves to forge a unifying social identity. Dr. Anijar explores this phenomena in light of the influences of television in children's lives, postmodern theories of teaching and learning, and the effects of utopian interpretations of Star Trek on teaching practice.

This book is the first monograph in English that comprehensively examines the ways in which Italian historical crime novels, TV series, and films have become a means to intervene in the social and political changes of the country. This study explores the ways in which fictional representations of the past mirror contemporaneous anxieties within Italian society in the work of writers such as Leonardo Sciascia, Andrea Camilleri, Carlo Lucarelli, Francesco Guccini, Loriano Macchiavelli, Marcello Fois, Maurizio De Giovanni, and Giancarlo De Cataldo; film directors such as Elio Petri, Pietro Germi, Michele Placido, and Damiano Damiani; and TV series such as the "Commissario De Luca" series, the "Commissario Nardone" series, and "Romanzo criminale-The series." Providing the most wide-ranging examination of this sub-genre in Italy, Barbara Pezzotti places works set in the Risorgimento, WWII, and the Years of Lead in the larger social and political context of contemporary Italy.

Writings on Media gathers more than twenty of Stuart Hall's media analyses, from scholarly essays such as "Encoding and Decoding in the Television Discourse" (1973) to other writings addressed to wider publics. Hall explores the practices of news photography, the development of media and cultural studies, the changing role of television, and how the nation imagines itself through popular media. He attends to Britain's imperial history and the politics of race and cultural identity as well as the media's relationship to the political project of the state. Testifying to the range and agility of Hall's critical and pedagogic engagement with contemporary media culture-and also to his collaborative mode of working-this volume reaffirms his stature as an innovative media theorist while demonstrating the continuing relevance of his methods of analysis.

Teacher TV: Seventy Years of Teachers on Television, Second Edition examines some of the most influential teacher characters presented on television from the earliest sitcoms to contemporary dramas and comedies. Both topical and chronological, the book follows a general course across decades and focuses on dominant themes and representations. Although each chapter presents an overview of the all the teachers on television for each decade, the focus will link some of the most popular shows of the era to larger cultural themes. "1950s Gender Wars: Our Miss Brooks and Mr. Peepers" looks at acceptable behavior for men teachers and women teachers on television and offers a context for making links to how gender is socially constructed in popular culture and in society. The racial tensions of the 1960s take a more implicit form on two series and are examined in "1960s Race and Social Relevancy: The Bill Cosby Show and Room 222." In "1970s Ideology and Social Class: Welcome Back Kotter and The Paper Chase," both lower and upper ends of the class spectrum are blunted in favor of storylines that are personal and predictable instead of overtly political. Two popular television sitcoms validate educational privileges for elite students in "1980s Normalizing Meritocracy: The Facts of Life and Head of the Class." The 1980s reflect a return to conservatism, and two popular television sitcoms mark the transition by validating educational privileges for elite students. The 1990s mark a time of significant change for teachers on television. In "Gaining Ground From Margin to Center: Hangin' With Mr. Cooper and My So Called Life," the two featured shows, illustrate the mundane and the provocative in teacher depictions on television. In "Embracing Multiculturalism: Boston Public and The Wire" we use these dramas as exemplars of the 2000s to examine themes such as race, gender, and sexuality, but view them through a new lens. Chapter Eight is new to this edition and looks at the downward spiral in the depiction of educators in popular culture during 2010s and pays specific attention to Madam Secretary and Teachers. The Afterword, which is also new, explores these television texts in the larger socio-political context and makes important links between television narratives and issues of identity, the culture of testing, poverty, and dropping out. We must reestablish the importance of public education and consider its essential role in creating an informed citizenry, which is necessary for the future of democracy. Recent trends represent a dangerously skewed view of educators, and it is essential that we begin to "flip the script"-literally and figurative-to combat the cynicism of today's television narratives and stop the way those stories influence public perceptions of education in America.

The remarkable career of American actress Eve Arden (1908-1990) is thoroughly chronicled from her earliest stage work in 1926 (under her given name Eunice Quedens) to her final television role in a 1987 episode of Falcon Crest. Included are detailed descriptions and critical commentaries of the actress's 62 feature film appearances between 1929 and 1982, notably her Oscar-nominated performance as Joan Crawford's sardonic confidante in 1945's Mildred Pierce. Complete coverage is provided of Eve Arden's work in the popular radio and television series Our Miss Brooks, and her later costarring stint with Kaye Ballard in the two-season TV sitcom The Mothers-in-Law. Also listed are her many other radio and television appearances, as well as her theatrical roles in such Broadway productions as Ziegfeld Follies of 1936 and Let's Face It.

This edited collection brings together an introduction and 13 original scholarly essays on AMC's The Walking Dead. The first group of essays addresses the pervasive bloodletting of the series: What are the consequences of the series' unremitting violence? Essays explore violence committed in self-defence, racist violence, mass lawlessness, the violence of law enforcement, the violence of mourning, and the violence of history. The second half of the collection explores an equally urgent question: What does it mean to be human? Several of the essays argue that notions of the human must acknowledge the centrality of the body-the fact that we share a ""blind corporeality"" with the zombie. Other essays address how the human is closely aligned with language and time, the disappearance of which are represented by the aphasic, mindless zombie. Underlying each essay are the game-changing words of Walking Dead's protagonist Rick Grimes to the other survivors: ""We're all infected."" The violence of the zombie is also our violence; their blind drives are also ours. The human characters of The Walking Dead may try to define themselves against the zombies but in the end their bodies harbor the zombie virus: they are the walking dead.