"The Dynasty Years" documents and analyses in detail the "Dynasty phenomenon", an event in 1980s television which heralded a profound transformation of European television. From the operatic camp of Krystle and Alexis' fight in the lily-pond or the Moldavian wedding massacre to the unprecedented gay sub-plot, "Dynasty" represented, in the words of co-producer Esther Shapiro, "the ultimate dollhouse fantasy for middle-aged women". Using evidence from audience survey results, newspaper and magazine clippings and letters to broadcasters and drawing on semiotics, psychoanalysis, feminism and critical social theories, Jostein Gripsrud examines every aspect of "Dynasty's" production, reception and context. The result is a groundbreaking critical approach to the study of media communication, integrating political economy, textual analysis and audience studies. Jostein Gripsrud offers a theoretical but empirically grounded critique of many central positions in media studies, including notions of "audience resistance" and the "sovereign" audience and its freedom in meaning-making, arguing against what he perceives as the uncritical celebrations of the soap-opera genre.

Insult your enemies in magnificent style and learn brand new declarations of love! This comprehensive Firefly dictionary and phrasebook takes in both the history of language in the 'Verse and modern usage. Explore all the terminology used in the show, be it spacefaring-speak, medical jargon or frontier phrases. Plus, get the inside scoop from the show's language consultant. A must-have for all Browncoats.

Toughened by both her criminal ties and her dedication to her family, Ruth Langmore is guided by one principal: She doesn't know sh*t about f*ck. Far from being wilfully ignorant, Ruth admits that she has much to learn, forming a personal philosophy based on a positive attitude toward lifelong learning. A born survivor, Ruth knows a thing or two about persevering through life's most difficult situations. In this blunt but profound guide to life, Ruth shows you how to navigate your own personal blind sides, while simultaneously learning the skills you need to thrive. So, listen motherfu*kers, and forget everything you think you know.

This fascinating text offers the first in-depth exploration of acting processes in British television. Focused around 16 new interviews with celebrated British actors, including Rebecca Front, Julie Hesmondhalgh, Ken Stott, Penelope Wilton and John Hannah, this rich resource delves behind the scenes of a range of British television programmes in order to find out how actors build their characters for television, how they work on set and location, and how they create their critically acclaimed portrayals. The book looks at actors' work across four diverse but popular genres: soap opera; police and medical drama; comedy; and period drama. Its insightful discussion of hit programmes and its critical and contextual post-interview analysis, makes the text an essential read for students across television and film studies, theatre, performance and acting, and cultural and media studies, as well as academics and anyone interested in acting and British television.

Paranoid visions explores the history of the spy and conspiracy genres on British television, from 1960s Cold War series through 1980s conspiracy dramas to contemporary 'war on terror' thrillers. It analyses classic dramas including Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Edge of Darkness, A Very British Coup and Spooks. This book will be an invaluable resource for television scholars interested in a new perspective on the history of television drama and intelligence scholars seeking an analysis of the popular representation of espionage with a strong political focus, as well as fans of cult British television and general readers interested in British cultural history. -- .

As a young kid growing up in a farm town, Ross Mathews might as well have wished for a pet unicorn or a calorie-free cookie tree to grow in his front yard. Either of those far-fetched fantasies would have been more likely to come true than his real dream: working in television in Hollywood, California. Seriously, that stuff just doesn't happen to people like Ross. But guess what. It totally did. Now, with his first book, Ross takes us inside his journey as a super-fan, revealing the most embarrassing and hilarious moments of his small-town life and big-city adventures. From learning to swear like a hardened trucker to that time in high school when had to face down the most frightening opponent of all (his girlfriend's lady bits), Ross holds nothing back. Oh, then there's his surprisingly shady past involving the cutest pair of plus-sized women's pajama bottoms, deliciously dangerous pot butter, and embezzled sandwiches. And, of course, how he's managed to turn an obsession with pop-culture into one-on-one interactions with celebrities like Gwyneth Paltrow, Tiffani-Amber Theissen, Madonna, Michelle Kwan, and countless more without ever having a single restraining order issued against him. Infused with Ross's trademark humor, unique voice, and total honesty, MAN UP! is a mission statement for anyone who doesn't fit the mold. His hasn't been the most traditional way to build a career in Hollywood, but Ross has somehow managed to make his mark without ever compromising who he is. He is as serious about this as he is about Golden Girls trivia: You don't need to change who you are to achieve your dreams (although there's nothing wrong with a makeover every now and then). You just need to Man Up!

Vampires are back - and this time they want to be us, not drain us. This collection considers the recent phenomena of 'Twilight' and 'True Blood', as well as authors such as Kim Newman and Matt Haig, films such as 'The Breed' and 'Interview with the Vampire', and television programmes such as 'Being Human' and 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer'.

This book outlines how the protagonists in The Nibelung's Ring, The Lord of the Rings, and Game of Thrones attempt to construct identities and expand their consciousness manifestations. As the characters in the three works face the ends of their respective worlds, they must find answers to their mortality, and to the threat it implies: the loss of identity and consciousness. Moreover, it details how this process is depicted performatively. In a hands-on and interdisciplinary approach, this book seeks to unveil the underlying philosophical concepts of identity and consciousness in the three works as they are represented audio-visually on stage and screen. Through the use of many practical examples, this book offers both academic scholars and any interested readers a completely new perspective on three enduringly popular and interrelated works.

Despite the powerful anti-political impulses that have pervaded Italian society in recent years, Italian cinema has sustained and renewed its longstanding engagement with questions of politics, both in the narrow definition of the term, and in a wider understanding that takes in reflections on public life, imaginary, and national identity. This book explores these political dimensions of contemporary Italian cinema by looking at three complementary strands: the thematics of contemporary political film from a variety of perspectives; the most prominent directors currently engaged in this filone; and case studies of the films that best represent this engagement. Conceived and edited by two Italian film scholars working in radically different academic settings, Italian Political Cinema brings together a wide array of critical positions and research from Italy, France, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States. The tripartite structure and international perspective create a volume that is an accessible entry-point into a subject that continues to attract critical and cultural attention, both inside and outside of academia.

In recent years, there has been a rise in diverse racial representation on television. In particular, Black characters have become more actualized and have started extending beyond racial stereotypes. In this collection of essays, the representation of Black characters in professionally defined careers is examined. Commentary is also provided on the portrayal of Black people in relation to stereotypes alongside the importance of Black representation on screen. This work also introduces the idea of Black-collar, a category which highlights the Black experience in white-collar jobs. The essays are divided into six parts based on themes, including profession, and focuses on a select number of Black characters on TV since the 1990s.

TV shows that retain their popularity over the years do so for obvious reasons: good production values, good acting, and compelling storylines. But detective stories in particular also endure because they appeal to the gumshoe in all of us. America is obsessed with crime solving. Nancy Grace on "CNN Headline News," Greta Van Susteren on Fox, and the seemingly annual recurrence of the courtroom sensation all testify to this fact. And these people and cases are able to reach their phenomenal status not simply because of the media-the media only demonstrates the enormous national appetite for this material. Rather, "Cold Case, CSI," and "Law & Order" have achieved their current popularity because they all respond to the same national craving for crime, and do so with great skill and creativity. "Round Up the Usual Suspects" provides a comparison of the crime fighting models and justice proceedings of each of these TV series.

Each series has its own special crime-fighting niche, and each approaches its job with a different set of values and different paradigms of discovery and proof. Their separate approaches are each firmly grounded in different components of human nature -- analytical reasoning, for instance, in "CSI," memory in "Cold Case," and teamwork in "Law & Order." After examining each of the individual series in depth, Ruble goes on to investigate some of the historical antecedents in classical TV detective series such as "The FBI "and "Dragnet." It is interesting to note that these crime fighting methodologies are extensions of the way we all process information about the world. Ray Ruble here aims to increase our appreciation for the ingenious manner in which fictional cases are broken and convictions convincingly secured, and also illuminates the deeper human elements that lie under a more implicit spotlight in these runaway hits.

The Time Tunnel was by no means a superb product of Friday night entertainment. If the plot holes were not as large as the tunnel itself, viewers noticed the same props from Allen's other television programs popping up on the show. Fan boys to this day still debate whether the futuristic episodes involving space aliens were better than the historic adventures, but few would deny that Lee Meriwether made a lab coat look sexy. Meriwether herself recalled how the cast received letters from school teachers who used The Time Tunnel to stimulate interest in history in the classroom. This 546 page book documents the entire history of the program, the origin and conception of the series, why it never ran a second season, almost 200 never-before-published behind-the-scenes photographs, and a detailed episode guide including dates of production, music cues, episode budgets, salary costs, deleted scenes that were filmed, memories from cast and crew, bloopers, trivia and much more

Dreams in Television Narratives is the first comprehensive analysis of one of American television's most frequently utilized tropes, the dream. From its beginning, television has been a storytelling medium. Whether delivered to a live audience or played out on a sound stage, narratives and those who write them have always been the crux of the television program. While film can claim a long history of scholarly inquiry into the connection between film and dreams, no comprehensive research exists on the subject of television dreams. Locating its primary function as narrative, the author uses examples from American sitcoms and dramatic programs, analyzing the narrative functions of dreams using, as its frame, Carl Jung's narrative stages of the dream: exposition, development, culmination, and conclusion. While television dreams are analyzed throughout, case studies of the television programs The Sopranos and Buffy the Vampire Slayer are included to show in detail how dreams function throughout a television series. Includes a compendium of over 1000 television episodes that include dreams, a valuable tool for any television scholar or enthusiast.

This book explores the cycle of horror on US television in the decade following the launch of The Walking Dead, considering the horror genre from an industrial perspective. Examining TV horror through rich industrial and textual analysis, this book reveals the strategies and ambitions of cable and network channels, as well as Netflix and Shudder, with regards to horror serialization. Selected case studies; including American Horror Story, The Haunting of Hill House, Creepshow, Ash vs Evil Dead, and Hannibal; explore horror drama and the utilization of genre, cult and classic horror texts, as well as the exploitation of fan practice, in the changing economic landscape of contemporary US television. In the first detailed exploration of graphic horror special effects as a marker of technical excellence, and how these skills are used for the promotion of TV horror drama, Gaynor makes the case that horror has become a cornerstone of US television.

Screen plays is a ground-breaking collection that chronicles the rich and surprising history of stage plays produced for the small screen between 1930 and the present. The volume opens with a substantial historical outline of how plays originally written for the theatre have been presented by the BBC and ITV, as well as independent producers and cultural organisations. Subsequent chapters utilise a variety of critical methodologies to analyse a wide range of outside broadcasts from theatres, screen adaptations of existing stage productions, along with original television productions of classic and contemporary drama. Making a compelling case for the centrality of the theatre to British television's past and present, Screen plays opens up new areas of research for all those engaged in theatre, media and adaptation studies. -- .

This timely collection examines representations of medicine and medical practices in international period drama television. A preoccupation with medical plots and settings can be found across a range of important historical series, including Outlander, Poldark, The Knick, Call the Midwife, La Peste and A Place to Call Home. Such shows offer a critique of medical history while demonstrating how contemporary viewers access and understand the past. Topics covered in this collection include the innovations and horrors of surgery; the intersection of gender, class, race and medicine on the American frontier; psychiatry and the trauma of war; and the connections between past and present pandemics. Featuring original chapters on period television from the UK, the US, Spain and Australia, Diagnosing history offers an accessible, global and multidisciplinary contribution to both televisual and medical history. -- .

This volume examines the shift toward positive and more accurate portrayals of mental illness in entertainment media, asking where these succeed and considering where more needs to be done. With studies that identify and analyze the characters, viewpoints, and experiences of mental illness across film and television, it considers the messages conveyed about mental illness and reflects on how the different texts reflect, reinforce, or challenge sociocultural notions regarding mental illness. Presenting chapters that explore a range of texts from film and television, covering a variety of mental health conditions, including autism, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and more, this book will appeal to scholars of sociology, cultural and media studies, and mental health.

This is an exciting inside look at the professional careers of America's leading cultural TV directors. Merrill Brockway, Kirk Browning, and Roger Englander have directed some of television's most memorable programming, including Dance in America, the Arturo Toscanini concerts, Amahl and the Night Visitors, Live from Lincoln Center, and the Young People's Concerts with Leonard Bernstein. Together, they revolutionized the way television covers music, dance, opera, and theater. In interviews with TV historian Brian Rose, they offer an engaging survey of five decades of American television. The challenges they faced as cultural directors are brought vividly to life, particularly the difficult task of translating works created for one medium to another. They discuss what it was like to make concert music resonate for the home viewer, how to squeeze grand opera onto the small screen, and what steps to take in choreographing cameras to film ballet. The interviews in Televising the Performing Arts reveal the complexities of television production as seen from the vantage point of the director. In detailed examples, Merrill Brockway, Kirk Browning, and Roger Englander illustrate the formidable operations involved in shooting large-scale events like a live concert or staging an opera in the narrow confines of a TV studio. They also explore their collaborations with some of the great artists of our time, including George Balanchine, Martha Graham, Leonard Bernstein, and Gian Carlo Menotti. In addition to its analysis of the production process, Televising the Performing Arts also documents the pressures--both economic and creative--in network television and the significant changes over the years at CBS, NBC, PBS, and the cable networks. Through his critical introductions, Brian Rose provides a historical context to understanding the evolution of cultural programming and the lasting achievements of each of the three directors.

An entertaining yet candid examination of the popular sketch show In Living Color. When the pilot for In Living Color aired for the first time on April 15, 1990, America had never seen anything like it. And they loved it. Over five seasons, the show broke racial, cultural, and comedy boundaries, creating unforgettable sketches that dealt almost exclusively with Black subject matter. In Living Color: A Cultural History celebrates the iconic show and its creators, while also providing a conscientious examination of the sketches themselves. Bernadette Giacomazzo reveals how the show successfully tackled topics that are still salient today, from diversity in Hollywood and workplace racism to mass incarceration and "blackfishing," while other sketches have not aged quite so well. Giacomazzo also looks at how the show helped break the careers of Jamie Foxx, Jim Carrey, and David Alan Grier, amongst others, and how its most infamous sketches-such as Fire Marshall Bill, Homey the Clown, East Hollywood Squares, and Men on Film-helped shape comedy in the twenty-first century. In Living Color was one of the few sketch shows of the 1990s that effectively tackled racial and social issues with humor. It did so more successfully than Saturday Night Live ever did, because, unlike the long-standing late-night show, In Living Color had a largely Black writer's room. This cultural history finally gives the influential show and its creators the recognition they deserve for their role in changing the face of television.