For sociologists looking for a unique way to introduce their students to the field, for high school students or undergraduates taking their first sociology course, and for every Seinfeld fan, "Seinology" is both educational and a fun read.

Dear Angela includes fourteen critical essays that examine the brief-lived but landmark television series, My So-Called Life (1994-1995). Though certainly not the first young woman to be the center of a television series, Angela Chase and the show about her life were doing something new on television and influenced many of the shows about young people that followed. Michele Byers and David Lavery bring together enthusiastic and engaging voices that bear on a series that continues to be hailed as a breakthrough moment in television, even though more than a decade has passed since its cancellation. Tackling a broad range of topics_from identity politics, to music, to infidelity, and death_each essay builds upon a belief that My So-Called Life is a particularly rich text worth studying for the clues it offers about a particular moment in cultural and television history. Dear Angela offers a sophisticated analysis of the show's legacy and cultural relevance that will appeal to media studies scholars and fans alike.

This work offers a complete episode guide and comprehensive history of Second City Television. The influential Canadian sketch comedy series created dozens of memorable characters (i.e. station president Guy Caballero and showbiz mogul Johnny LaRue) and featured well-known performers such as John Candy, Catherine O'Hara, and Martin Short, at the height of their comedic careers. Presenting a thorough summary and review for each of SCTV's 135 episodes, the author traces the initial appearance and evolution of some of comedy's best known television characters and sketches. Two appendices provide guides to the program's compilation shows and recently released boxed sets on DVD.

- This is an all-inclusive playbook that offers readers a real world based "how-to" manual to create factual television programming. - Includes exclusive industry interviews with top television executives including Matt Taylor (Disney, National Geographic International), Winona Meringolo (Investigation Discovery), Babette Perry (innovative Artists), and more. - Breaks down different areas of factual television that are not explored elsewhere.

Rod Serling's anthology series ""The Twilight Zone"" is recognized as one of the greatest shows of all time. Ostensibly science fiction, the show was that and much more; always intelligent and thought-provoking, it used conventions and techniques of several genres - science fiction, fantasy, Westerns, horror, and film noir, among others - to explore such universal human issues as violence, fear, prejudice, love, death, and individual identity.This comprehensive reference work first gives a complete history of the show, from its beginning in 1959 to its final 1964 season. The authors then provide critical commentaries and incisive analyses of all 156 episodes, along with the most complete listing of casts and credits ever published. Biographical profiles of writers and contributors comprise the book's third main section. Detailed appendices - writers, directors, actors, genres, and a listing of all episodes in order of original airdate - are also included. An extensive bibliography and an exhaustive index conclude the work.

FINALLY IN ONE BONE-CHILLING VOLUME, TV'S GHOST HUNTERS SHARE ALL OF THEIR CREEPY TRUE STORIES OF UNEXPLAINED PHENOMENA
"What did a paranormal investigation uncover at the Stanley Hotel in Colorado, the hotel built in 1903 that inspired Stephen King's "The Shining"?"
"What is the chilling history behind the Rolling Hills Asylum in Batavia, New York?"
"What happened when a man was overcome by an evil entity as Jason and Grant surveyed his home?"
"How can a Connecticut woman seem to exist in two places at once?"
In this hair-raising omnibus, Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson, founders of The Atlantic Paranormal Society (T.A.P.S.), reveal the memorable and spine-tingling cases featured in their smash-hit collections, "Ghost Hunting "and "Seeking Spirits. "From their never-seen-on-television adventures as budding paranormal investigators to the behind-the-scenes accounts of heart-pounding supernatural encounters featured on their popular show, these fascinating and frightening real life tales will keep you up at night

In 2005, Scarecrow published Movies Made for Television, 1964-2004, a five-volume reference set commemorating 40 years of every made for TV film since See How They Run debuted in 1964. These books provided a comprehensive listing of every television film and mini-series, detailing each film's original network, airdate, and length of broadcast. In this latest volume, Marill adds another five years of television films, providing information for an additional 400 works produced between 2005 and 2009. Along with a brief summary, entries also include extensive production credits (director, writer, producer, composer, director of photography, and editor) and a complete cast and character listing. With a chronology of the films, an appendix of movies adapted from other sources, and separate indexes for actors and directors, Movies Made for Television, 2005-2009 is a welcome addition to a resource highly regarded by scholars and historians of television and popular culture.

In Media in Postapartheid South Africa, author Sean Jacobs turns to media politics and the consumption of media as a way to understand recent political developments in South Africa and their relations with the African continent and the world. Jacobs looks at how mass media define the physical and human geography of the society and what it means for comprehending changing notions of citizenship in postapartheid South Africa. Jacobs claims that the media have unprecedented control over the distribution of public goods, rights claims, and South Africa's integration into the global political economy in ways that were impossible under the state-controlled media that dominated the apartheid years. Jacobs takes a probing look at television commercials and the representation of South Africans, reality television shows and South African continental expansion, soap operas and postapartheid identity politics, and the internet as a space for reassertions and reconfigurations of identity. As South Africa becomes more integrated into the global economy, Jacobs argues that local media have more weight in shaping how consumers view these products in unexpected and consequential ways.

Widely hailed as one of the best feminist-oriented series on television, NBC's Parks and Recreation (2009-2015) presents a multifaceted text for examining the incorporation of feminist ideology into its storylines. This book analyzes the various ways the series presented feminism as a positive force, such as the satirical portrayal of patriarchy; alternative depictions of masculinity; the feminist ideology and political career of main character Leslie Knope; the inclusion of actual political figures; and depictions of love and romance as related to feminist thinking. A much-needed treatment that adds to the literature on feminism in media and popular culture, this book serves as an ideal resource for instructors and scholars of gender and mass media, women's studies, and media criticism by investigating Parks and Recreation's place in the continuum of other feminist-leaning television programs.

The New York Times chief television critic James Poniewozik traces the history of television and mass media from the early 1980s to today and demonstrates how a "volcanic, camera-hogging antihero" merged with America's most powerful medium to become the forty-fifth president. He charts the seismic evolution of television from a monolithic mass medium of mainstream networks into today's fractious media subculture. He then examines Donald Trump, who took advantage of these changes to reinvent himself: from boastful cartoon zillionaire; to 1990s self-parodic sitcom fixture; to The Apprentice-reality-TV star to Twitter-mad, culture-warring demagogue. A trenchant, often hilarious work, Audience of One provides an eye-opening history of American media and a reflection of a raucous, "gorillas-are always-fighting" culture.

Single Season Sitcoms of the 1980s is the logical sequel to an earlier work also by Bob Leszczak titled Single Season Sitcoms 1948-1979, A Complete Guide. The decade of the 80s is presently being viewed with much reverence, and television programs, especially the situation comedies from that era, are enjoying renewed interest. Because of the increase in the number of available channels as a result of the exploding cable television industry at that time in history, the number of failed programs was also on the rise. For every successful sitcom from this period, such as The Golden Girls, Family Ties and Newhart, there were dozens upon dozens of almost forgotten flops such as Take Five with George Segal, Annie McGuire with Mary Tyler Moore, One Big Family starring Danny Thomas, and Life with Lucy starring Lucille Ball. A big name star didn't always equate with long-running TV success. Many of the short-lived shows addressed in this volume were mere springboards to bigger and better things for future stars such as Julia Louis-Dreyfuss, George Clooney, Jim Carrey, Brian Cranston, and Sarah Jessica Parker. A player's short stay with a major league baseball team is referred to as ""a cup of coffee."" The programs written about in Single Season Sitcoms of the 1980s drank from the very same mug, and the behind-the-scenes stories from cast members, guest stars, writers, producers, directors and musicians affiliated with these short-lived shows are the cream and sugar. Turn back the hands of your Swatch Watch and relive those Single Season Sitcoms of the 1980s.

Cue & Cut is a 'practical approach to working in television studios' for anyone who might want to work in that medium. It's full of useful information about kit, and how you would use it to create multi-camera content. Written by a multi-camera producer-director with years of drama and teaching experience, it presents both a way of handling studios and a source of information about how things have changed from the days of monochrome to HD tapeless modes - with some thoughts on 3D HDTV The book is firmly based in first-hand teaching experience and experience of producing, direction, floor managing (and so on) and on working with top flight Actors, Writers, Musicians, Designers of all disciplines and Sound and Camera crews, both at the BBC and in ITV. The book will certainly cover multi-camera aspects of Undergraduate, HND and B.Tech courses and should be useful to those on short courses, whether practical or post-graduate. -- .

This guided tour of the American situation comedy is given by one of the most prolific directors of the genre. Brooklyn native Joel Zwick began his career in the late 1960s at La Mama, a New York experimental theater club, before moving to Hollywood to become a successful director during the sitcom's golden age. He describes the 10 steps of sitcom production and outlines the five-day process, from the early table draft to the final shooting in front of a live audience. Behind-the-scenes anecdotes include personal and professional experiences with actors Tom Hanks, Penny Marshall, Robin Williams, Jamie Foxx, the cast of Full House and many more.

This lively introduction to television documentaries spotlights their history, production and reception, principal forms and functions and their adaptation to today’s programming needs. What impact has television's growing commercialisation had on the type of documentary broadcast? What has led to the introduction of an increasing number of hybridised forms? These questions are addressed within an examination of the role of institutions, documentary’s 'special relationship' with the real, and an insight into how audiences interpret the documentaries they view. Confronting reality has been written with the requirements of media studies students in mind, yet it is a must for everyone concerned with recording reality in the fast-changing world of television today.

The Kardashian family is a contemporary cultural touchstone, recognizable throughout the world connoting warrantless celebrity, voluptuous beauty, and social media savviness. Amanda Scheiner McClain explores the Kardashians' brand and celebrity via narrative discourse analyses of their hit reality television series, Keeping Up with the Kardashians, social media utilization, and popular press coverage. This triangulated study allows insight into contemporaneous American culture: societal norms, values, and ideologies, as well as structural and cultural aspects of cross-platform brand creation. The television series examination finds intrinsic paradoxes of sexuality/conservatism, family/business, beauty/unhappiness, narcissism/celebrity, intimate/transgressiveness, and traditional/nontraditional gender roles, as well as materialism and public vs. private spheres themes. In addition, a study of the Kardashian blogs and Twitter use finds that their careful participation amplifies celebrity and unifies the overall brand into a single, sellable image across media. Through interactive media and just being themselves, the Kardashians renovate banal status updates and hackneyed reality television into character-constructing building blocks of brand, celebrity, and profits.

This book is about men I have known, in both the Platonic and Biblical senses. Some I knew only slightly, some quite well. Some I'll love always, some I no longer like very much, and there are a few I'd like to strip naked, tie to a Maypole, smear with sweet syrup near a beehive, then stand back and watch. I'll describe a goodly number of these hot dudes--and duds--keeping the nicest man for last because--if for nothing else--I'd like to leave you, dear reader, with a good taste in your mouth, and Hubbies #3 and #4 might make you want to rush to gargle. There were times I truly wondered, Lord, will I EVER get it right? Thank God I thrive on variety. --From My First Five Husbands . . . And the Ones Who Got Away People always ask me if I'm like Blanche. And I say, 'Well, Blanche was an oversexed, self-involved, man-crazy, vain Southern Belle from Atlanta -- and I'm not from Atlanta ' -- Rue McClanahan Who can forget Rue McClanahan as the sexy Southern vixen, Blanche Devereaux, on the Emmy-award winning series The Golden Girls? With her breezy sex appeal and sharp comedic timing, Rue infused her character with a sassy joie de vivre that captured the hearts of women everywhere. Now, the actress behind the magic reveals her life in and out of the spotlight in a laugh-out-loud funny memoir about love, marriage, men, and getting older that is every bit as colorful as the characters she plays. Raised in small-town Oklahoma in a house thirteen telephone poles past the standpipe north of town, Rue developed her two great passions--theater and men--at an early age. She arrived in New York City in 1957 with two-weeks worth of money in her pocket, hustledher way into a class with the legendary Uta Hagen, and began working her way up in the acting world against the vibrant, free-spirited backdrop of the sixties. That's when she met and married Husband #1--a handsome rogue of an aspiring actor who quickly left her with a young son. Still, she was determined to make it on the stage and screen--and in the years that followed, rose to the top of the entertainment world with a host of adventures (and husbands) along the way. From her roles on Broadway opposite Dustin Hoffman and Brad Davis, to her first television appearances on Maude and All in the Family, to the Golden Girls era and beyond, My First Five Husbands is the irresistible story of one woman's quest to find herself. Now happily married to her soul mate, Husband #6, Rue is proof that many things can and do get better with age--and that, if she keeps her wits about her, even a small-town girl can make it big. Told with Rue's saucy wit and Southern charm, My First Five husbands is a deliciously entertaining take on life and love from an irrepressible star.

From 1963 to 1989, the BBC television program Doctor Who followed a time-traveling human-like alien called ""The Doctor"" as he sought to help people, save civilizations, and right wrongs. Since its 2005 revival, Doctor Who has become a pop culture phenomenon surpassing its ""classic"" period popularity and reaching a larger, more diverse audience. Though created as a family program, the series has dramatized serious themes in philosophy, science, religion, and politics. Doctor Who's thoughtful presentation of a secular humanist view of the universe stands in stark contrast to the flashy special effects central to most science fiction on television. This examination of Doctor Who from the perspective of philosophical humanism assesses the show's careful exploration of such topics as justice, ethics, good and evil, mythology, and knowledge.

**Instant New York Times Bestseller, Los Angeles Times Bestseller, USA Today Bestseller, Publishers Weekly Bestseller** On Good Friday in 1953, at only 18 months old, 25 miles from the nearest hospital in Manhattan, Kansas, Cassandra Peterson reached for a pot on the stove and doused herself in boiling water. Third-degree burns covered 35% of her body, and the prognosis wasn't good. But she survived. Burned and scarred, the impact stayed with her and became an obstacle she was determined to overcome. Feeling like a misfit led to her love of horror. While her sisters played with Barbie dolls, Cassandra built model kits of Frankenstein and Dracula, and idolized Vincent Price. Due to a complicated relationship with her mother, Cassandra left home at 14, and by age 17 she was performing at the famed Dunes Hotel in Las Vegas. Run-ins with the likes of Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., and Tom Jones helped her grow up fast. Then a chance encounter with her idol Elvis Presley, changed the course of her life forever, and led her to Europe where she worked in film and traveled Italy as lead singer of an Italian pop band. She eventually made her way to Los Angeles, where she joined the famed comedy improv group, The Groundlings, and worked alongside Phil Hartman and Paul "Pee-wee" Reubens, honing her comedic skills. Nearing age 30, a struggling actress considered past her prime, she auditioned at local LA channel KHJ as hostess for the late night vintage horror movies. Cassandra improvised, made the role her own, and got the job on the spot. Yours Cruelly, Elvira is an unforgettably wild memoir. Cassandra doesn't shy away from revealing exactly who she is and how she overcame seemingly insurmountable odds. Always original and sometimes outrageous, her story is loaded with twists, travails, revelry, and downright shocking experiences. It is the candid, often funny, and sometimes heart-breaking tale of a Midwest farm girl's long strange trip to become the world's sexiest, sassiest Halloween icon.

In 2009, 16 and Pregnant premiered on MTV, closely followed by the spinoffs Teen Mom and Teen Mom 2. Because of their controversial portrayals of teenage mothers, the shows have received ongoing media attention. While some argue that the programs could play a factor in reducing the number of teen pregnancies, others claim the shows exploit young women and glamorize their situations. Among these debates, there have been surprisingly few in-depth discourses that discuss the roles such shows have on teenage audiences. In MTV and Teen Pregnancy: Critical Essays on 16 and Pregnant and Teen Mom, contributors from a variety of backgrounds and expertise offer potent essays about these programs. Divided into four parts, the book tackles the controversial representations of teen pregnancy from various disciplines. Part I explores gendered social norms and the shows' roles as either educational resources or idealized depictions of teenage motherhood. Part II prompts readers to consider the intersections of race, class, gender, and the social and cultural power structures often glossed over in these programs. Part III focuses on teenage fathers, the portrayal of masculinity, and "good" vs. "bad" parents. Part IV draws from TVs representations of reality to discuss the impact of these shows on the viewing audience. This section includes a narrative from a teen mother who argues that the shows do not accurately reflect the life she leads. As the debates about 16 and Pregnant and Teen Mom continue, this collection provides a valuable critical discourse to be used both inside and outside the classroom. Those engaged in courses on gender and women's studies, as well as media studies, social work, and family and childhood development, will find MTV and Teen Pregnancy especially insightful-as will those involved in community outreach programs, not to mention teens and young mothers themselves.

In 2016, Star Trek-arguably the most popular science fiction franchise of all time-turned 50. During that time the original series and its various offshoots have created some of the genre's most iconic characters and reiterated a vision of an egalitarian future where humans no longer discriminate against race, gender or sexuality. This collection of new essays provides a timely study of how well Star Trek has lived up to its own ideals of inclusivity and equality, and how well prepared it is to boldly go with everyone into the next half century.

Storytelling for Film and Television is a theory and practice book which offers a definitive introduction to the art of storytelling through writing, directing, and editing. Author Ken Dancyger provides a comprehensive explanation of the tools that underpin successful narrative filmmaking and television production. The book takes a unique approach by connecting the different phases of the creative process of film and television production. It shows how writing, directing, and editing all contribute to the process of storytelling and function together to advance the narrative goals of a screenplay, to tell the best story. A case study approach provides numerous examples of effectiveness and brings together the core areas of aesthetics and production to make these concepts more accessible. Case studies include classic and modern films, foreign films, limited and series television, with examples including Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, The Revenant, and Son of Saul. This is the ideal text for film and television production students at all levels. It is written in a style which makes it accessible to anybody interested in learning more about the storytelling process and is written for a global audience addressing a global industry.

This book explores the emergence and encouragement of the new narcissus in our society and the ways in which this is portrayed in reality television. Through studies of well-known reality shows, including Toddlers and Tiaras, Hoarders, Sister Wives, Catfish: The TV Show, Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew and The Real Housewives, the author examines the combined effects of narcissism and consumerism, shedding light on the ways in which people are pushed to focus on their own biographies and self-promotion to the point of creating a false self within the individual and the development of a sense of dissatisfaction, dis-ease and unhappiness. Applying Freud's concept of narcissism and tracing it through the work of key social theorists including Durkheim, Lasch, Goffman, Riesman, Baudrillard and Giddens, The New Narcissus in the Age of Reality Television constitutes an insightful analysis of the modern ideology of greatness, perfection or 'being the best', that permeates society - an ideology that overwhelms and ultimately drives the individual to dissemble and project an artificial self. A compelling argument for the importance of understanding the persistence of a powerful and dangerous trait in modern society, this book will appeal to scholars of sociology, social theory and cultural and media studies with interests in reality television, celebrity culture and modern narcissism.

(FAQ). There are few modern animated television shows that could survive over a decade and a half and remain as funny... or as stupid... or as sick... or as depraved... today as when they started. Even fewer can claim to cater to "mature" audiences, while their critics complain that everything about the show is immature. And fewer still where, for the first decade or so, one of the main characters was killed off every week. Then returned, no worse for wear, seven days later. That, however, is the world of South Park, and this is a book about that world. A journey through the lives, times, and catastrophes that have established the tiny mountain town of South Park, Colorado, as America's favorite dysfunctional community. A voyage into a universe where Barbra Streisand is reborn as a Japanese monster movie; where Kentucky Fried Chicken is a registered drug; where Canada is forever on a footing for war; and where we discover that even feces love Christmas. From Zebulon Pike to Chef, from Brian Boitano to Mel Gibson, from "Super Best Friends" to South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, it's all covered in South Park FAQ . Featuring A-Z coverage of the all the characters readers have come to know and the stories behind the episodes, it also includes an episode guide and an appendix of all of the songs featured in South Park . Nothing is sacred and nobody is safe. Even physical and emotional disabilities are just another banana skin for someone to slip on, and the term "politically correct" has been translated into "oh good, you're getting annoyed." It is a place where ... you get the picture. This is not Bambi

They have taken the form of immigrants, invaders, lovers, heroes, cute creatures that want our candy or monsters that want our flesh. For more than a century, movies and television shows have speculated about the form and motives of alien life forms. Movies first dipped their toe into the genre in the 1940s with Superman cartoons and the big screen's first story of alien invasion (1945's The Purple Monster Strikes). More aliens landed in the 1950s science fiction movie boom, followed by more television appearances (The Invaders, My Favorite Martian) in the 1960s. Extraterrestrials have been on-screen mainstays ever since. This book examines various types of the on-screen alien visitor story, featuring a liberal array of alien types, designs and motives. Each chapter spotlights a specific film or TV series, offering comparative analyses and detailing the tropes, themes and cliches and how they have evolved over time. Highlighted subjects include The Eternals, War of the Worlds, The X-Files, John Carpenter's The Thing and Attack of the 50-Foot Woman.