The election of President Barack Obama signaled for many the realization of a post-racial America, a nation in which racism was no longer a defining social, cultural, and political issue. While many Americans espouse a "colorblind" racial ideology and publicly endorse the broad goals of integration and equal treatment without regard to race, in actuality this attitude serves to reify and legitimize racism and protects racial privileges by denying and minimizing the effects of systematic and institutionalized racism.

In The Colorblind Screen, the contributors examine television's role as the major discursive medium in the articulation and contestation of racialized identities in the United States. While the dominant mode of televisual racialization has shifted to a "colorblind" ideology that foregrounds racial differences in order to celebrate multicultural assimilation, the volume investigates how this practice denies the significant social, economic, and political realities and inequalities that continue to define race relations today. Focusing on such iconic figures as President Obama, LeBron James, and Oprah Winfrey, many chapters examine the ways in which race is read by television audiences and fans. Other essays focus on how visual constructions of race in dramas like 24, Sleeper Cell, and The Wanted continue to conflate Arab and Muslim identities in post-9/11 television. The volume offers an important intervention in the study of the televisual representation of race, engaging with multiple aspects of the mythologies developing around notions of a "post-racial" America and the duplicitous discursive rationale offered by the ideology of colorblindness.

Now that television shows can live forever as DVD sets, the stories they can tell have changed; television episodes are now crafted as chapters in a season-long novel instead of free-standing stories. This book examines how this significant shift in storytelling occurred. In 1981, NBC's Hill Street Blues combined the cop show and the soap opera to set the model for primetime serial storytelling, which is evident in The Sopranos, The Wire, and Breaking Bad. In 1963, ABC's The Fugitive showed how an anthology series could tell a continuing tale, influencing The X-Files, House, and Fringe. In 1987, NBC's The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd changed the situation comedy into attitudinal comedy, leading to Weeds, Nurse Jackie, and Entourage. The DVD Novel: How the Way We Watch Television Changed the Television We Watch not only examines how American television shows changed, but also what television artists have been able to create. The book provides an alternate history of American television that compares it to British television, and explains the influence of Dennis Potter's The Singing Detective on the development of long-form television and the evolution of drama shows and sitcoms. The work considers a wide range of network and cable television shows, paying special attention to the work of Steven Bochco, David Milch, and David Simon, and spotlighting the influence of graphic novels and literary novels in changing television.

In Dining with Madmen: Fat, Food, and the Environment in 1980s Horror, author Thomas Fahy explores America's preoccupation with body weight, processed foods, and pollution through the lens of horror. Conspicuous consumption may have communicated success in the eighties, but only if it did not become visible on the body. American society had come to view fatness as a horrifying transformation-it exposed the potential harm of junk food, gave life to the promises of workout and diet culture, and represented the country's worst consumer impulses, inviting questions about the personal and environmental consequences of excess. While changing into a vampire or a zombie often represented widespread fears about addiction and overeating, it also played into concerns about pollution. Ozone depletion, acid rain, and toxic waste already demonstrated the irrevocable harm being done to the planet. The horror genre-from A Nightmare on Elm Street to American Psycho-responded by presenting this damage as an urgent problem, and, through the sudden violence of killers, vampires, and zombies, it depicted the consequences of inaction as terrifying. Whether through Hannibal Lecter's cannibalism, a vampire's thirst for blood in The Queen of the Damned and The Lost Boys, or an overwhelming number of zombies in George Romero's Day of the Dead, 1980s horror uses out-of-control hunger to capture deep-seated concerns about the physical and material consequences of unchecked consumption. Its presentation of American appetites resonated powerfully for audiences preoccupied with body size, food choices, and pollution. And its use of bodily change, alongside the bloodlust of killers and the desolate landscapes of apocalyptic fiction, demanded a recognition of the potentially horrifying impact of consumerism on nature, society, and the self.

This book explores the theological voice of The Simpsons.Initially shunned by many in the Christian community when it made its television debut almost twenty years ago, after four hundred (and counting) episodes, and a feature-length film, few can deny that The Simpsons exhibits an astute understanding of Christianity in American culture. Its critiques of that culture are worth studying in detail. Jamey Heit's "The Springfield Reformation" investigates how The Simpsons blends important elements of contemporary American religious culture with a clear critique of the institutions and individuals that participate in and uphold that culture. Though The Simpsons is clearly a product of American popular culture, its writers offer up a well-planned, theologically informed religious climate in the cartoon world of Springfield. This world mirrors America in a way that allows the show's viewers to recognize that Christianity can hold together a family and a town that is rife with "sin," while at the same time exposing these very shortcomings.Heit focuses on distinct topics such as: god, the soul/the afterlife, prayer, the Christian ethic, evangelism, science versus religion, and faith (particularly in response to the question of why bad things happen to good people). He also explores the connections between various episodes, discussing how these connections, manifest an honest critique of Christianity in America. Engagingly written and guaranteed to appeal to smart, religiously curious fans of the show, Heit maintains that The Simpsons is not only a legitimate theological voice, but also that this voice offers a valuable addition to discussions about Christianity in America.

In this book, Monika Bednarek addresses the need for a systemic analysis of television discourse and characterization within linguistics and media studies. She presents both corpus stylistics and manual analysis of linguistic and multimodal features of fictional television. The first part focuses on communicative context, multimodality, genre, audience and scripted television dialogue while the second part focuses on televisual characterization, introducing and illustrating the novel concept of expressive character identity. Aside from the study of television dialogue, which informs it throughout, this book is a contribution to studying characterization, to narrative analysis and to corpus stylistics. With its combination of quantitative and qualitative analysis, the book represents a wealth of exploratory, innovative and challenging perspectives, and is a key contribution to the analysis of television dialogue and character identity. The volume will be of interest to researchers and students in linguistics, stylistics and media/television studies, as well as to corpus linguists and communication theorists. The book will be a useful resource for lecturers teaching at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels in media discourse and related areas.

Beginning with the new millennium, reality television exploded both in number of shows and in popularity. The scholarship on reality TV is beginning to catch up, but one of the most enduring questions about the genre--Is it ethical?--has yet to be addressed in any systematic and comprehensive way. Through investigating issues ranging from deception and privacy breeches to community building and democratization of TV, The Ethics of Reality TV explores the ways in which reality TV may create both benefits and harms to society. The edited collection features the work of leading scholars in the field of media ethics and provides a comprehensive assessment of the ethical effects of the genre.

Can a television show provide insight into the meaning of our lives? "The Myth of Lost" explores a fascinating solution to the mysterious television series and reveals how the show contains startling hidden wisdom that can be used in real life.

From haunting whispers and tropical polar bears, to a shapeless monster and an omnipresent set of numbers, "Lost" has provided a never-ending supply of questions and few answers. Using the characters and themes from the show, Marc Oromaner delves into its complexities while uncovering a simple, yet fulfilling, resolution that can provide meaning for everyone. According to the myth of "Lost," the world we live in is an illusionary wonderland created to challenge us to reach new heights. Through intriguing examples, Oromaner explains how this myth can help us find the clues in our own lives, and ultimately, solve them.

Many of us have been lost at one time or another, yet Oromaner illustrates that we are all connected, and are here to improve ourselves and help others do the same. By deciphering the mysteries of a groundbreaking series, "The Myth of Lost" introduces us to a new way of thinking and shows how we play an integral part in determining our own fate.

Bollywood in Britain provides the most extensive survey to date of the various manifestations and facets of the Bollywood phenomenon in Britain. The book analyzes the role of Hindi films in the British film market, it shows how audiences engage with Bollywood cinema and it discusses the ways the image of Bollywood in Britain has been shaped. In contrast to most of the existing books on the subject, which tend to approach Bollywood as something that is made by Asians for Asians, the book also focuses on how Bollywood has been adapted for non-Asian Britons. An analysis of Bollywood as an unofficial brand is combined with in-depth readings of texts like film reviews, the TV show Bollywood Star (2004) and novels and plays with references to the Bombay film industry. On this basis Bollywood in Britain demonstrates that the presentation of Bollywood for British mainstream culture oscillates between moments of approximation and distancing, with a clear dominance of the latter. Despite its alleged transculturality, Bollywood in Britain thus emerges as a phenomenon of difference, distance and Othering.

"Tim Tialdo really knows his stuff. Host Your Own TV Show is a wonderful resource to help you both get started and stay ahead of the game. I wish there would have been a resource like this when I got started in the business." -Nikki Boyer, host of Yahoo's Daytime in No Time

"Host Your Own TV Show is about getting hired as a host. Tim's book will get you on the air " -Paul Cook, radio DJ and author of Cooked in LA: I Shot for the Stars and Hit Bottom

"The Tim Tialdo I know and admire is the definition of a go-getter. In these pages you'll learn much from his passion for TV hosting." -Todd Newton, Emmy Award-winning host of Family Game Night

"I'm so glad Tim wrote Host Your Own TV Show to guide aspiring hosts. Hosting is a totally different path to acting, and Tim is helping to enlighten you on your journey." -Maureen Browne, Hollywood host coach and casting director

"No sugar coating here; Tim tells it like it is. Host Your Own TV Show will take you on an incredible journey. You'll learn the skills it takes, the confidence you need, and the preparation required when the opportunity shows up." -Kristi Capel, host of New Day Cleveland

"Tim Tialdo really created an incredible resource Host Your Own TV Show is for anyone trying to get a foot in the door and perfect themselves as a TV host. Awesome information inside " -Brian Rose, creator of B. Rose Productions

"Being in the industry for the past twelve years, I haven't worked with anyone who has taught me more about on camera personality, voice/articulation, audience-host connection, and ...the needed tools to solidify jobs than Tim Tialdo." -Shanna Hilt, host of the Kansas City Chiefs' (NFL) Red & Gold Show

This is the HARDBACK version.
Fistfights. Cars careening off cliffs and exploding. Running on a bridge. Dodging a helicopter. The dune buggy roll. Iconic convertibles. Signature sports jackets. 17 Paseo Verde. L.A. at its coolest-and then there was Peggy.
For generations, throughout the world these have brought a smile to the face and a single word to mind-Mannix. With such style up-front, the substance behind the character of Joe Mannix has been overlooked-until now.
Mannix ran on CBS-TV from 1967-1975 during the Golden Age of Television, the last production of Desilu (the legendary studio owned by Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz) following Star Trek and Mission: Impossible. It was syndicated in over 70 countries during its first run, won Golden Globe and Emmy awards, and innovated the concept of the personalized crime-fighter. Star Mike Connors, who embodied his alter ego, wanted Joe Mannix to have emotion, a departure from type.
And now, back to mannix is not a TV log book, or even a behind the scenes book, but a behind the myth book, making the case that some TV characters have singular power to make societies and individuals better, interspersed with discussion of the richness of character, symbolism, and scenes in the series. The book includes a Foreword by Mike Connors and a Prologue by David Breckman, writer and co-executive producer of the highly successful USA series, Monk.
JoAnn M. Paul, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Computer Engineering at Virginia Tech. Her childhood hero was shot, drugged, poisoned, beaten, tortured, and dumped down hillsides to be left for dead. Nothing could have prepared her better for life.

Providing a detailed historical overview of animated film and television in the United States over more than a century, this book examines animation within the U.S. film and television industry as well as in the broader sociocultural context. From the early 1900s onwards, animated cartoons have always had a wide, enthusiastic audience. Not only did viewers delight in seeing drawn images come to life, tell fantastic stories, and depict impossible gags, but animation artists also relished working in a visual art form largely free from the constraints of the real world. This book takes a fresh look at the big picture of U.S. animation, both on and behind the screen. It reveals a range of fascinating animated cartoons and the colorful personalities, technological innovations, cultural influences and political agendas, and shifting audience expectations that shaped not only what appeared on screen but also how audiences reacted to thousands of productions. Animation and the American Imagination: A Brief History presents a concise, unified picture that brings together divergent strands of the story so readers can make sense of the flow of animation history in the United States. The book emphasizes the overall shape of animation history by identifying how key developments emerged from what came before and from the culture at large. It covers the major persons and studios of the various eras; identifies important social factors, including the Great Depression, World War II, the counterculture of the 1960s and 1970s, and the struggles for civil rights and women's rights; addresses the critical role of technological and aesthetic changes; and discusses major works of animation and the responses to them. Documents the evolution of U.S. animation, from its origins in newspaper cartooning at the beginning of the 20th century to the digital creations of the late 20th century and beyond Reveals social influence on animation across history, including issues of race and gender Identifies a new preoccupation of the American public with animation and reconsiders popular animated films and TV shows in this light Discusses major figures, themes, and studios involved in the production of American animated film and television Identifies major achievements and controversies in the history of animation in the United States