Stanley Baxter delighted over 20 million viewers at a time with his television specials. His pantos became legendary. His divas and dames were so good they were beyond description. Baxter was a most brilliant cowboy Coward, a smouldering Dietrich. He found immense laughs as Formby and Liberace. And his sex-starved Tarzan swung in a way Hollywood could never have imagined. But who is the real Stanley Baxter? The comedy actor's talents are matched only by his past reluctance to colour in the detail of his own character. Now, the man behind the mischievous grin, the twinkling eyes and the once- Brylcreemed coiffure is revealed. In a tale of triumphs and tragedies, of giant laughs and great falls from grace, we discover that while the enigmatic entertainer could play host to hundreds of different voices, the role he found most difficult to play was that of Stanley Baxter.

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.

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.

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.

The emergence of "male-centered serials" such as The Shield, Rescue Me, and Sons Of Anarchy and the challenges these characters face in negotiating modern masculinities. From the meth-dealing but devoted family man Walter White of AMC's Breaking Bad, to the part-time basketball coach, part-time gigolo Ray Drecker of HBO's Hung, depictions of male characters perplexed by societal expectations of men and anxious about changing American masculinity have become standard across the television landscape. Engaging with a wide variety of shows, including The League, Dexter, and Nip/Tuck, among many others, Amanda D. Lotz identifies the gradual incorporation of second-wave feminism into prevailing gender norms as the catalyst for the contested masculinities on display in contemporary cable dramas. Examining the emergence of "male-centered serials" such as The Shield, Rescue Me, and Sons of Anarchy and the challenges these characters face in negotiating modern masculinities, Lotz analyzes how these shows combine feminist approaches to fatherhood and marriage with more traditional constructions of masculine identity that emphasize men's role as providers. She explores the dynamics of close male friendships both in groups, as in Entourage and Men of a Certain Age, wherein characters test the boundaries between the homosocial and homosexual in their relationships with each other, and in the dyadic intimacy depicted in Boston Legal and Scrubs. Cable Guys provides a much needed look into the under-considered subject of how constructions of masculinity continue to evolve on television.

Even for the casual viewer, the Netflix series Stranger Things will likely feel familiar, reminiscent of popular 1980s coming-of-age movies such as The Goonies, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, and Stand by Me. Throughout the series, nods to each movie are abundant. While Stranger Things and these classic 1980s films are all tales of childhood friendship and shared adventures, they are also narratives that reflect and shape the burgeoning cynicism of the 1980s. In Ode to Gen X: Institutional Cynicism in ""Stranger Things"" and 1980s Film, author Melissa Vosen Callens explores the parallels between iconic films featuring children and teenagers and the first three seasons of Stranger Things, a series about a group of young friends set in 1980s Indiana. The text moves beyond the (at times) non-sequitur 1980s Easter eggs to a common underlying narrative: Generation X's growing distrust in American institutions. Despite Gen X's cynicism toward both informal and formal institutions, viewers also see a more positive characteristic of Gen X in these films and series: Gen X's fierce independence and ability to rebuild and redefine the family unit despite continued economic hardships. Vosen Callens demonstrates how Stranger Things draws on popular 1980s popular culture to pay tribute to Gen X's evolving outlook on three key and interwoven American institutions: family, economy, and government.

"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.

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.

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

Fandom is generally viewed as an integral part of everyday life which impacts upon how we form emotional bonds with ourselves and others in a modern, mediated world. Whilst it is inevitable for television series to draw to a close, the reactions of fans have rarely been considered. Williams explores this everyday occurence through close analysis of television fans to examine how they respond to, discuss, and work through their feelings when shows finish airing. Through a range of case studies, including The West Wing (NBC, 2000-2006), Lost (ABC 2004 -2010), Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003), Doctor Who (BBC 1963-1989; 2005-), The X-Files (FOX, 1993-2002), Firefly (FOX, 2002) and Sex and the City (HBO, 1998-2004), Williams considers how fans prepare for the final episodes of shows, how they talk about this experience with fellow fans, and how, through re-viewing, discussion and other fan practices, they seek to maintain their fandom after the show's cessation.

This up-to-date reference is the most complete dictionary covering this fast-paced field. It contains virtually all the terminology commonly used in modern global video and television technology, with thorough definitions aimed at the engineering level. It covers all international video standards, digital and analog video signals, data compression, video conferencing, encoding/decoding--indeed, every term associated with video/television technology. Compiled by two internationally recognized video/television experts, this dictionary promises to become a standard reference.
*Provides comprehensive and up-to-date information, including coverage of test and measurement procedures
*Electronic version of the book accompanies text
*Authors are both heavily experienced engineers and authors whose previous works are respected world wide