The collected essays in this book arose out of the groundbreaking conference of the International Association of Media and History, which brought together key academics and program makers from around the world involved in history and television, including Nicholas Pronay, Pierre Sorlin, and Taylor Dowing. These essays offer a dialogue between academics and media practitioners that covers archival access, analyses of how different TV systems have represented themselves, case studies, and the future of television. Philip M. Taylor is a professor of international communications and the director of the Institute of Communications at the University of Leeds. Graham Roberts is a lecturer in communications arts at the University of Leeds.
This interdisciplinary study of history programming identifies and examines different genres employed by producers and tracks their commissioning, production, marketing and distribution histories. With comparative references to other European nations and North America, the authors focus on British history programming over the last two decades and analyse the relationship between the academy and media professionals. They outline and discuss often-competing discourses about how to 'do' history and the underlying assumptions about who watches history programmes. History on Television considers recent changes in the media landscape, which have affected to a great degree how history in general, and whose history in particular, appears onscreen.
From Ken Burns's documentaries to historical dramas such as Roots, from A&E's Biography series to CNN, television has become the primary source for historical information for tens of millions of Americans today. Why has television become such a respected authority? What falsehoods enter our collective memory as truths? How is one to know what is real and what is imagined—or ignored—by producers, directors, or writers? Gary Edgerton and Peter Rollins have collected a group of essays that answer these and many other questions. The contributors examine the full spectrum of historical genres, but also institutions such as the History Channel and production histories of such series as The Jack Benny Show, which ran for fifteen years. The authors explore the tensions between popular history and professional history, and the tendency of some academics to declare the past "off limits" to nonscholars. Several of them point to the tendency for television histories to embed current concerns and priorities within the past, as in such popular shows as Quantum Leap and Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman. The result is an insightful portrayal of the power television possesses to influence our culture.
Richly researched and engaging, The Columbia History of American Television tracks the growth of TV into a convergent technology, a global industry, a social catalyst, a viable art form, and a complex and dynamic reflection of the American mind and character. Renowned media historian Gary R. Edgerton follows the technological progress and increasing cultural relevance of television from its prehistory (before 1947) to the Network Era (1948-1975) and the Cable Era (1976-1994). He considers the remodeling of television's look and purpose during World War II; the gender, racial, and ethnic components of its early broadcasts and audiences; its transformation of postwar America; and its function in the political life of the country. In conclusion, Edgerton takes a discerning look at our current Digital Era and the new forms of instantaneous communication that continue to change America's social, political, and economic landscape.
Since the beginning of network television, many shows have been preceded by an announcement or theme song that served various purposes. In the 1950s and ’60s, it was common for announcers to declare that a program had been “brought to you by” a sponsor who paid for the privilege of introducing a show. Other programs, such as The Twilight Zone, Star Trek, and The Odd Couple,provided a brief encapsulation of the show’s subject matter, a practice that has continued for recent shows like Alias, Battlestar Galactica, Person of Interest, and the various editions of Law & Order. In Television Introductions: Narrated TV Program Openings since 1949, Vincent Terrace has assembled openings for more than nine hundred television shows from the past seven decades. The only documented history of narrated television program introductions, this volume is arranged by type of programming, such as comedy, drama, Western, game show, soap opera, and children’s show. In addition to quoting the opening material, entries provide information about each show’s network history and years of broadcast. Many entries include descriptions of the show, the names of announcers, and a list of main cast members, as well as a sponsor pitch exactly as spoken. Openings for programs with multiple introductions like The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet and Charlie’s Angels are also included. For programs that featured new guest stars every episode—such as game shows and variety programs—Terrace has selected a representative introduction. In addition to the theme song credits found in the main text, there are also appendixes of theme songs and their composers and/or singers, as well as a listing of commercial releases (on DVD, VHS, CD, and LP) of shows and their soundtracks. A comprehensive resource for researchers and pop culture aficionados alike, Television Introductions provides a fascinating look at this neglected part of TV history.
Film is increasingly engaging the attention of students of history at all levels. In its manifold forms from the newsreel to the 'feature', it is a major source of evidence for, and an important influence upon, contemporary history, and a vivid means of bringing the recent past to life. For earlier periods, it provides a medium in which the often widely dispersed visual evidences of the past can be brought together for the student. It offers the historian a new form in which to interpret and present his subject, and, as television has shown, it is by far the most important vehicle for the presentation of history to mass audiences. The analysis of its content and impact and the exploration of its uses are especially fitted to bring history into an interdisciplinary relationship with other fields, from sociology to the visual arts.
Our understanding of history is often mediated by popular culture, and television series set in the past have provided some of our most indelible images of previous times. Yet such historical television programs always reveal just as much about the era in which they are produced as the era in which they are set; there are few more quintessentially late-90s shows than That ‘70s Show, for example. From Memory to History takes readers on a journey through over fifty years of historical dramas and sitcoms that were set in earlier decades of the twentieth century. Along the way, it explores how comedies like M*A*S*H and Hogan’s Heroes offered veiled commentary on the Vietnam War, how dramas ranging like Mad Men echoed current economic concerns, and how The Americans and Halt and Catch Fire used the Cold War and the rise of the internet to reflect upon the present day. Cultural critic Jim Cullen is lively, informative, and incisive, and this book will help readers look at past times, present times, and prime time in a new light.
Ever since Newton Minow taught us sophisticates to bemoan the descent of television into a vast wasteland, the dyspeptic chorus of jeremiahs who insist that television news in particular has gone from gold to dross gets noisier and noisier. Charles Ponce de Leon says here, in effect, that this is misleading, if not simply fatuous. He argues in this well-paced, lively, readable book that TV news has changed in response to broader changes in the TV industry and American culture. It is pointless to bewail its decline. "That s the Way It Is "gives us the very first history of American television news, spanning more than six decades, from Camel News Caravan to Countdown with Keith Oberman and The Daily Show. Starting in the latter 1940s, television news featured a succession of broadcasters who became household names, even presences: Eric Sevareid, Walter Cronkite, David Brinkley, Peter Jennings, Brian Williams, Katie Couric, and, with cable expansion, people like Glenn Beck, Jon Stewart, and Bill O Reilly. But behind the scenes, the parallel story is just as interesting, involving executives, producers, and journalists who were responsible for the field s most important innovations. Included with mainstream network news programs is an engaging treatment of news magazines like "60 Minutes" and "20/20, " as well as morning news shows like "Today" and "Good Morning America." Ponce de Leon gives ample attention to the establishment of cable networks (CNN, and the later competitors, Fox News and MSNBC), mixing in colorful anecdotes about the likes of Roger Ailes and Roone Arledge. Frothy features and other kinds of entertainment have been part and parcel of TV news from the start; viewer preferences have always played a role in the evolution of programming, although the disintegration of a national culture since the 1970s means that most of us no longer follow the news as a civic obligation. Throughout, Ponce de Leon places his history in a broader cultural context, emphasizing tensions between the public service mission of TV news and the quest for profitability and broad appeal."
Often regarded as the first golden era of television, the 1950s was a decade when many classic programs—from I Love Lucy and Gunsmoke to The Honeymooners and Perry Mason, among others—made their debuts. Even after these shows departed the airwaves, they lived on in syndication, entertaining several generations of viewers. Devoted and casual fans alike can probably remember basic facts about these shows—like the names of Lucy and Ricky’s neighbors or the town where Marshall Matt Dillon kept the law. But more elusive facts, like the location of the most successful defense attorney in Los Angeles (Suite 904 of the Brent Building), might be harder to recall. In Television Series of the 1950s: Essential Facts and Quirky Details, Vincent Terrace presents readers with a cornucopia of information about 100 programs from the decade. Did you know, for example, that the middle initial of Dobie Gillis’ friend Maynard G. Krebs, stood for Walter? Or that Ralph Kramden’s electric bill came to only 39 cents a month? Or that on I Love Lucy, Ricky originally performed at Manhattan’s Tropicana Club? These are but a few of the hundreds of fun and intriguing trivia facts contained within this volume. Shows from all four networks (ABC, CBS, NBC, and DuMont)—as well as select syndicated programs—are represented here. This is not a book of opinions or essays about specific television programs, but a treasure trove of the facts associated with each of these programs. Readers will discover a wealth of fascinating information that, for the most part, cannot be found anywhere else. In some cases, the factual data detailed herein is the only such documentation that exists currently on bygone shows of the era. Television Series of the 1950s is the ideal reference for fans of this decade and anyone looking to stump even the most knowledgeable trivia expert.
