The History of Prime Time Television
The History of Prime Time Television

Author: George Lee Marshall

Publisher:

Published: 2013-07-11

Total Pages: 448

ISBN-13: 9781516551675

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The History of Prime Time Television is a user-friendly textbook that chronicles television's unique history from the drawing board to the living room, and beyond. Organized chronologically, the book begins by briefly addressing the age of invention and the birth of radio. However, the primary focus of the text surrounds prime time programming, homing in on the series that defined their respective decade by reflecting changes in the culture, style and values of the time, and how some went on to become iconic representations of 20th and 21st century America. Each decade's historical importance, as well as all of the nuance and chronological markers connected to the story of television itself, is covered in a way that engages students and helps them retain what they are learning. Discussion questions geared to tap into the students' critical thinking follow every chapter. Topics include: Invention and Promotion - Television's Early Struggles How Serious Programming began with Comedy The Role of Television During Wartime Prime Time Television's Golden Age Civil Rights and Television Long-Form Television Television's Symbiotic Relationship to Sports The Birth and Growth of Cable Programming Reality Programming Students will also glean information about the impact of each decade's culture on television and learn about the transition from black and white to color programming, deregulation, censorship, and the future of television in the new millennium. The History of Prime Time Television includes fascinating information about the historical milestones that made television not just a form of entertainment, but a social mediator, a political force, and American's window into the human experience and condition. The book is ideal for courses in the areas of media history, entertainment history, and media communications.

The Prime Time Closet
The Prime Time Closet

Author: Stephen Tropiano

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2002-05-01

Total Pages: 371

ISBN-13: 1476847991

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Television history was made on April 30, 1997, when comedian Ellen DeGeneres and her sitcom alter-ego Ellen Morgan, “came out” to her close friends and 36 million viewers. This groundbreaking episode represented a significant milestone in Amerian television. For the first time, a TV series centered around a lesbian character who was portrayed by an openly gay actor. The millions of viewers who tuned in that historic night were witnesses to a new era in television. The Prime Time Closet offers an entertaining and in-depth glimpse into homosexuality on television from the 1950s through today. Divided into four sections, each devoted to a major television genre, this unique book explores how gay men and lesbians have been depicted in over three hundred television episodes and made-for-TV films. These include medical series, police/detective shows, situation comedies and TV dramas. The Prime Time Closet also reveals how television's treatement of homosexuality has reflected and reinforced society's ignorance about and fear of gay men and lesbians. At the same time, it celebrates programs like Ellen and Will & Grace that have broken new ground in their sensitive and enlightened approach to homosexuality and gay-related themes. This book is witty and insightful, accessible and illuminating, a look into what has become an integral part of American media culture.

Religion and Prime Time Television
Religion and Prime Time Television

Author: Michael Suman

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 1997-10-28

Total Pages: 189

ISBN-13: 0313025223

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How is religion portrayed on prime time entertainment television and what effect does this have on our society? This book brings together the opinions of all the important factions involved in this important public policy debate, including religious figures (Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, and Freethinkers—liberal and conservative), academics, media critics and journalists, and representatives of the entertainment industry. The debate provides contrasting views on how much and what type of religion should be on entertainment television and what relationship this has with the health of our society. Many contributors also offer strategies for how to reform the present situation. This is an important work that delineates the debate for the layperson as well as researchers, scholars, and policymakers.

Beyond Prime Time
Beyond Prime Time

Author: Amanda Lotz

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2010-04-02

Total Pages: 222

ISBN-13: 1135842612

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Beyond Prime Time brings together established television scholars writing new chapters in their areas of expertise that reconsider how programming forms other than prime-time series have been affected by the wide-ranging industrial changes instituted over the past twenty years. The chapters explore the relationship between textual and industrial changes in particular forms such as news, talk, sports, soap operas, syndication, children’s programming, made-for-television movies, public broadcasting, and local programming.

Prime-Time Families
Prime-Time Families

Author: Ella Taylor

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 1989

Total Pages: 211

ISBN-13: 0520074181

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Prime-Time Families provides a wide-ranging new look at television entertainment in the past four decades. Working within the interdisciplinary framework of cultural studies, Ella Taylor analyzes television as a constellation of social practices. Part popular culture analysis, part sociology, and part American history, Prime-Time Families is a rich and insightful work the sheds light on the way television shapes our lives.

The Television History Book
The Television History Book

Author: Michele Hilmes

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2021-03-11

Total Pages: 176

ISBN-13: 1839024674

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Traces the history of broadcasting and the infludence developments in broadcasting have had over our social, cultural and economic practices. Examining the broadcasting traditions of the UK and USA, 'The Television History Book' make connections between events and tendencies that both unite and differentiate these national broadcasting traditions.

Heartland TV
Heartland TV

Author: Victoria E. Johnson

Publisher: NYU Press

Published: 2008

Total Pages: 272

ISBN-13: 0814742939

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Winner of the 2009 Society for Cinema and Media Studies Katherine Singer Kovacs Book Award The Midwest of popular imagination is a "Heartland" characterized by traditional cultural values and mass market dispositions. Whether cast positively —; as authentic, pastoral, populist, hardworking, and all-American—or negatively—as backward, narrow–minded, unsophisticated, conservative, and out-of-touch—the myth of the Heartland endures. Heartland TV examines the centrality of this myth to television's promotion and development, programming and marketing appeals, and public debates over the medium's and its audience's cultural worth. Victoria E. Johnson investigates how the "square" image of the heartland has been ritually recuperated on prime time television, from The Lawrence Welk Show in the 1950s, to documentary specials in the 1960s, to The Mary Tyler Moore Show in the 1970s, to Ellen in the 1990s. She also examines news specials on the Oklahoma City bombing to reveal how that city has been inscribed as the epitome of a timeless, pastoral heartland, and concludes with an analysis of network branding practices and appeals to an imagined "red state" audience. Johnson argues that non-white, queer, and urban culture is consistently erased from depictions of the Midwest in order to reinforce its "reassuring" image as white and straight. Through analyses of policy, industry discourse, and case studies of specific shows, Heartland TV exposes the cultural function of the Midwest as a site of national transference and disavowal with regard to race, sexuality, and citizenship ideals.

Rape on Prime Time
Rape on Prime Time

Author: Lisa M. Cuklanz

Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press

Published: 2010-11-24

Total Pages: 196

ISBN-13: 081220400X

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Depictions of rape on television have evolved dramatically, from hard-boiled stories about male detectives to more insightful shows focusing on rape victims. Rape on Prime Time is the first book to examine those changing depictions of rape. Lisa M. Cuklanz reveals that prime-time television programs during the 1970s—usually detective shows—reflected traditional ideas that "real" rape is perpetrated by brutal strangers upon passive victims. Beginning in 1980, depictions of rape began to include attacks by known assailants, and victims began to address their feelings. By 1990, scripts portrayed date and marital rape and paid greater attention to the trial process, reflecting legal reformers' concerns. While previous studies have examined one series or genre, Cuklanz examines programs as dissimilar as Barney Miller, Dallas, The Cosby Show, and Quincy. She outlines the "basic plot" for rape episodes, then traces the historical development of rape themes. In each chapter she includes close analyses of episodes that add depth to findings derived from scripts and taped episodes. Rape on Prime Time provides important insight into the social construction of rape in mainstream mass media since the inception of rape law reform in 1974.

That's the Way It Is
That's the Way It Is

Author: Charles L. Ponce de Leon

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2016-09-09

Total Pages: 331

ISBN-13: 022642152X

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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."