Television Books

Book SynopsisFrom The Guiding Light to Passions, Elana Levine traces the history of daytime television soap operas as an innovative and highly gendered mass cultural form.Trade Review“Her Stories is the definitive account of a sphere of televisual expression long overlooked and too often maligned, told clearly and compellingly by an accomplished historian and committed viewer whose research has left few stones unturned. A major contribution to our understanding of American television and its intersection with women's lives, traced across more than seven decades.” -- Michele Hilmes, Professor Emerita of Media and Cultural Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison“Her Stories offers an important history of American soap operas, from the genre's transition from radio to television in the 1950s and its heyday in the classic network era to its diminished significance in the age of streaming. Elana Levine's rich industrial history smartly mines scripts, trade journals, and production notes, and sponsors' memos. Most significantly, it places these developments into the larger context of women's everyday lives and the changing politics of gender.” -- Lynn Spigel, author of * TV by Design: Modern Art and the Rise of Network Television *"For soap fans, past and present, who wonder why the shows they love have disappeared, or deteriorated beyond recognition, or who think they know what could-have-should-have been done, if only, Elana Levine’s new book, Her Stories, connects the dots with a combination of nuance and rigorous research." -- Lynn Liccardo, Soap Opera Critic and author of * as the world stopped turning... *"Elana Levine has crafted a comprehensive history that is about so much more than daytime dramas. In Levine's research, soap operas are also about cultural impacts, articulations of gender, and the production of media texts as both economic and cultural objects. . . . As soap opera become relics of television past, Her Stories becomes a valuable account of media history." -- Linda Levitt * Popmatters *"A fascinating study of the history of soap opera . . . full of wonderful details. . . . Levine makes clear that despite the widespread dismissal of soap operas, they were far from marginal to the history of television, but rather absolutely central." -- Kelly Faircloth * Jezebel *"Elana Levine is a longtime fan of soap operas, so in Her Stories, she merges personal experience with extensive research to examine how the genre has shaped our understanding of gender and predicted the potential decline of broadcast network television." -- Evette Dionne * Bitch Magazine *“Her Stories makes a compelling and rigorous case that soap opera indeed plays a leading role in shaping U.S. histories of both gender and television.... Levine’s study also, by its very existence, shows that television’s gendered past remains largely unsettled and unacknowledged – a search that is still worth pursuing.” -- Madeline Ullrich * View *“With Her Stories, Levine contributes a valuable refocalization of the history of American television. By using soaps as a through line, Levine provides profound insights into the shifting standards, approaches, and trends that shaped representation and industrial structure over the course of seven decades.” -- Lauren Wilks * New Review of Film and Television Studies *"Elana Levine masterfully examines the micro- and macrolevel issues of the American broadcast television industry through the lens of the daytime soap opera. . . . . Through the intertwining of daytime soap operas with the cultural, industrial, and economic aspects of television, Her Stories makes an airtight argument that the history of one is the history of the other." -- Laura C. Brown * Journal of Popular Culture *“Her Stories is not just a history of soap operas.... Her Stories is a compelling and exhaustive history of American culture told through soap operas.” -- Abby Whitaker * H-Soz-Kult *“Elana Levine’s terrific new book is accessible and authoritative, of interest to anyone concerned with the study of television, and an excellent demonstration of how to handle a complex media studies research project.” -- Christine Geraghty * Feminist Media Studies *“In Her Stories, as in her other work, Levine does not shy away from the high stakes of her history, forging an argument that proponents of prestige television are rarely compelled (or able) to make: that...soap operas index the conflicts and character of American culture from mid-century to the present day.” -- Annie Berke * Los Angeles Review of Books *“[Her Stories] will appeal to media scholars, broadcast and television historians, and women’s, gender and sexuality scholars.... The narrative sparkles with clear evidence from a variety of soaps and a compelling argument about the significance of soap opera to not only women’s history but also to network broadcast television history and American society at large.” -- Serenity Sutherland * Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments vii Introduction 1 Part I. The New TV Soap: Late 1940s to Early 1960s 1. Serials in Transition: From Radio to Television 19 2. Daytime Therapy: Help and Healing in the Postwar Soap 44 Part II. The Classic Network Era: Mid-1960s to Late 1980s 3. Building Network Power: The Broadcasting Business and the Craft of Soap Opera 73 4. Turning to Relevance: Social Issue Storytelling 106 5. Love in the Afternoon: The Fracturing Fantasies of the Soap Boom 153 Part III. A Post-Network Age: Late 1980s to 2010s 6. Struggles for Survival: Stagnation and Innovation 199 7. Reckoning with the Past: Reimagining Characters and Stories 236 8. Can Her Stories Go On? Soap Opera in a Digital Age 280 Notes 299 Bibliography 357 Index 369

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Book SynopsisDrawing on interviews with industry workers from MTV programs such as The Real World and Teen Mom, Amanda Ann Klein examines the historical, cultural, and industrial factors leading to MTV's shift away from music videos to reality programming in the early 2000s and 2010s.Trade Review“Amanda Ann Klein's extended interviews with both participants and producers of MTV programming as well as her inspired and enjoyable writing make this book an important, compelling, and lively contribution to the study of media and culture.” -- Brenda R. Weber, author of * Latter-day Screens: Gender, Sexuality, and Mediated Mormonism *“Amanda Ann Klein's engaging book analyzes a specific phenomenon: MTV's twenty-first-century reality television programming. But her detailed and thoughtful account reveals so much about the history of a transformative television genre, the evolution of an iconic cable channel, and the construction of identity for an entire generation, making it essential reading to understand contemporary American media and culture.” -- Jason Mittell, author of * Television and American Culture *"My mother used to tell me that Jersey Shore would rot my brain; with Millennials Killed the Video Star, Amanda Ann Klein would seem to agree. In this release, the East Carolina University film professor helps make sense of the noise, walking readers through MTV’s evolution from music videos to scripted reality TV—maximizing stereotypes about race, gender, and class along the way, and shaping how an entire generation would come to understand identity." -- Emma Kenfield * IndyWeek *“[Millennials Killed the Video Star] is a fascinating analysis of media construction and presentation of identities, and how audiences respond to or reject those identities.... Klein’s writing is thoughtful and crisp.... Her writing blends an academic perspective and a fan perspective to produce a thoroughly entertaining analysis.” -- Fiona McQuarrie * PopMatters *"Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty; professionals." -- C. A. Nadon * Choice *“Through her insightful and engaging writing, Klein successfully weaves together industry studies, media and cultural analysis, interviews, and an entertaining retelling of her own personal encounter with Jersey Shore’s DJ Pauly D. The author successfully crafts a book that would appeal to multiple audiences across disciplines.” -- Abshi Iftin * Journal of Popular Culture *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments vii Introduction. What Killed the Video Star? 1 1. "It's Videos, Fool": A Targeted History of MTV (1981–2004) 24 2. "This Is the True Story . . .": The Real World and MTV's Turn to Identity (1992–) 57 3. "She's Gonna Always Be Known at the Girl Who Didn't Go to Paris": Can-Do and At-Risk White Girls on MTV (2004–2013) 89 4. "If You Don't Tan, You're Pale": The Regional and Ethnic Other on MTV (2009–2013) 124 5. "That Moment Is Here, Whether I Like It or Not": When MTV's Programming Fails (2013–2014) 153 Conclusion. Catfish and the Future of MTV's Reality Programming (2012–) 173 Appendix A. MTV Reality Series since 1981 189 Appendix B. Other Television Series Discussed in This Book 193 Notes 197 References 213 Index 233

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Book SynopsisThe contributors to Media Crossroads examine space and place in media as they intersect with sexuality, race, ethnicity, age, class, and ability.Trade Review“Media Crossroads offers a remarkable set of essays that demonstrate the new insights that can emerge when we apply a purposeful intersectional lens in media studies. As we move through screen spaces of different types (past, present, public, private) in different media (television, cinema, video games, social media), we feel the exhilaration of this volume's collective experimental project to identify and interrogate spatialized structures of power across the media landscape.” -- Jacqueline Najuma Stewart, author of * Migrating to the Movies: Cinema and Black Urban Modernity *“Media Crossroads invites scholars to rethink space and intersectionality, including and going beyond the confines of cities, lands, and architectures. Its analysis of commercial, mainstream, and avant-garde film and media as well as its focus on intersectionality makes it an innovative and important contribution to film and media studies.” -- Yeidy M. Rivero, author of * Broadcasting Modernity: Cuban Commercial Television, 1950–1960 *"The intersectional lens developed in [Media Crossroads] is original, vigorous, and reflective enough to alter the readers' perspectives towards media texts that they have seen before and the ones they will experience in the future. Its lasting influence will make the readers rethink, reconfigure, and reimagine the potential of intersectional space and identities on and offscreen." -- Da Ye Kim * E3W Review of Books *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ix Introduction: Intersections and/in Space / Paula J. Massood, Angel Daniel Matos, and Pamela Robertson Wojcik 1 I. Digital Intersections 1. "Where Do Aliens Pee?": Bathroom Selfies, Trans Activism, and Reimagining Spaces / Nicole Erin Morse 21 2. The Queerness of Space and the Body in Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda Series / Angel Daniel Matos 34 3. The Digital Flâneuse: Exploring Intersectional Identities and Spaces through Walking Simulators / Matthew Thomas Payne and John Vanderhoef 50 II. Cinematic Urban Intersections 4. Blurring Boundaries, Exploring Intersections: Form, Genre, and Space in Shirley Clarke's The Connection / Paula J. Massood 67 5. Intersections in Madrid's Periphery: Cinematic Cruising in Eloy de la Iglesia's La semana del asesino (1972) / Jacqueline Sheean 82 6. Encounters and Embeddedness: The Urban Cinema of Ramin Bahrani / Amy Corbin 96 7. Perpetual Motion: Mobility, Precarity, and Slow Death Cinema / Pamela Robertson Wojcik 111 III. Urbanism and Gentrification 8. Senior Citizens under Siege: Number Our Days (1976) and Gray Power Activism in Venice / Joshua Glick 127 9. Music City Makeover: The Televisual Tourism of Nashville / Noelle Griffis 141 10. Portland at the Intersection: Gentrification and the Whitening of the City in Portlandia's Hipster Wonderland / Elizabeth A. Patton 155 11. Criminal Properties: Real Estate and the Upwardly Mobile Gangster / Erica Stein 167 IV. Race, Place, and Space 12. Dressing the Part: Black Maids, White Stars in the Dressing Room / Desirée J. Garcia 183 13. "I Do Not Know That I Find Myself Anywhere": The British Heritage Film and Spaces of Intersectionality in Amma Asante's Belle (2013) / Sara Louise Smyth 195 14. Queerness, Race, and Class in the Midcentury Suburb Film Crime of Passion (1956) / Merrill Schleier 206 15. Fair Play: Race, Space, and Recreation n Black Media Culture / Peter C. Kunze 221 V. Style and/as Intersectionality 16. The Toxic Intertwining of Small Town Lives in Happy Valley / Ina Rae Hark 237 17. Tattooed Light and Embodied Design: Intersectional Surfaces in Moana / Kirsten Moana Thompson 250 18. Vaguely Visible: Intersectional Politics in Bertrand Bonello's Nocturama (2016) / Malini Guha 262 Notes 275 Bibliography 303 Contributors 329 Index 335

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Book SynopsisThe contributors to Media Crossroads examine space and place in media as they intersect with sexuality, race, ethnicity, age, class, and ability.Trade Review“Media Crossroads offers a remarkable set of essays that demonstrate the new insights that can emerge when we apply a purposeful intersectional lens in media studies. As we move through screen spaces of different types (past, present, public, private) in different media (television, cinema, video games, social media), we feel the exhilaration of this volume's collective experimental project to identify and interrogate spatialized structures of power across the media landscape.” -- Jacqueline Najuma Stewart, author of * Migrating to the Movies: Cinema and Black Urban Modernity *“Media Crossroads invites scholars to rethink space and intersectionality, including and going beyond the confines of cities, lands, and architectures. Its analysis of commercial, mainstream, and avant-garde film and media as well as its focus on intersectionality makes it an innovative and important contribution to film and media studies.” -- Yeidy M. Rivero, author of * Broadcasting Modernity: Cuban Commercial Television, 1950–1960 *"The intersectional lens developed in [Media Crossroads] is original, vigorous, and reflective enough to alter the readers' perspectives towards media texts that they have seen before and the ones they will experience in the future. Its lasting influence will make the readers rethink, reconfigure, and reimagine the potential of intersectional space and identities on and offscreen." -- Da Ye Kim * E3W Review of Books *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ix Introduction: Intersections and/in Space / Paula J. Massood, Angel Daniel Matos, and Pamela Robertson Wojcik 1 I. Digital Intersections 1. "Where Do Aliens Pee?": Bathroom Selfies, Trans Activism, and Reimagining Spaces / Nicole Erin Morse 21 2. The Queerness of Space and the Body in Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda Series / Angel Daniel Matos 34 3. The Digital Flâneuse: Exploring Intersectional Identities and Spaces through Walking Simulators / Matthew Thomas Payne and John Vanderhoef 50 II. Cinematic Urban Intersections 4. Blurring Boundaries, Exploring Intersections: Form, Genre, and Space in Shirley Clarke's The Connection / Paula J. Massood 67 5. Intersections in Madrid's Periphery: Cinematic Cruising in Eloy de la Iglesia's La semana del asesino (1972) / Jacqueline Sheean 82 6. Encounters and Embeddedness: The Urban Cinema of Ramin Bahrani / Amy Corbin 96 7. Perpetual Motion: Mobility, Precarity, and Slow Death Cinema / Pamela Robertson Wojcik 111 III. Urbanism and Gentrification 8. Senior Citizens under Siege: Number Our Days (1976) and Gray Power Activism in Venice / Joshua Glick 127 9. Music City Makeover: The Televisual Tourism of Nashville / Noelle Griffis 141 10. Portland at the Intersection: Gentrification and the Whitening of the City in Portlandia's Hipster Wonderland / Elizabeth A. Patton 155 11. Criminal Properties: Real Estate and the Upwardly Mobile Gangster / Erica Stein 167 IV. Race, Place, and Space 12. Dressing the Part: Black Maids, White Stars in the Dressing Room / Desirée J. Garcia 183 13. "I Do Not Know That I Find Myself Anywhere": The British Heritage Film and Spaces of Intersectionality in Amma Asante's Belle (2013) / Sara Louise Smyth 195 14. Queerness, Race, and Class in the Midcentury Suburb Film Crime of Passion (1956) / Merrill Schleier 206 15. Fair Play: Race, Space, and Recreation n Black Media Culture / Peter C. Kunze 221 V. Style and/as Intersectionality 16. The Toxic Intertwining of Small Town Lives in Happy Valley / Ina Rae Hark 237 17. Tattooed Light and Embodied Design: Intersectional Surfaces in Moana / Kirsten Moana Thompson 250 18. Vaguely Visible: Intersectional Politics in Bertrand Bonello's Nocturama (2016) / Malini Guha 262 Notes 275 Bibliography 303 Contributors 329 Index 335

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Book SynopsisWritings on Media collects Stuart Hall's most important work on the media, reaffirming his stature as an innovative media theorist while demonstrating the continuing relevance of his methods of analysis.Trade Review“How refreshing and urgent to revisit Stuart Hall’s formative ideas about racism, identity, ideology, and media at the very moment that media has become such a contested site and source of ideological work. Hall’s searing and critical insights about what media does, how it works, and why it matters have never been as pressing as they are today. In our global and national media ecologies where disputes over facts, epistemological turmoil, fake news, and ideological rigidities are routine, Charlotte Brunsdon’s curated collection of Hall’s essays on the media is a remarkable and indispensable gift.” -- Herman Gray, Emeritus Professor of Sociology, University of California, Santa Cruz“Stuart Hall revolutionized the critical study of media, positioning them—newspapers, photographs, television—as key sites of struggle over cultural meaning and power, and thus as central to the project of cultural studies. Above all, however, Hall did not just write about media but used them prolifically as outlets for critical intervention in the world. This superb set of essays testifies to the uniquely powerful voice of one of the most important public intellectuals in postimperial Britain.” -- Ien Ang, Distinguished Professor of Cultural Studies, Western Sydney University"Brunsdon . . . gifts us with the evolution and contours of Hall’s thought(s) about media more broadly in work he produced mostly in the decade of the 1970s or thereabouts: about photography and the visual arts, about the press, about radio and broadcasting, and finally about television. . . What the American reader learns from this collection is this: Hall was a prescient, energetic thinker of specificity and generality at the same time. . . ." -- Amy Villarejo * Critical Studies in Television *"This is the true magic here: what Hall furnished for us during the course of his life, and what Brunsdon has collected and contextualized in Writings on Media, is an invitation into Hall’s world—to see the world as he did. This vision is bright eyed, and delighted, and serious, and humble. . . . In all of his prose, it is unmistakable just how much Hall absolutely wants you in it with him, and to share his questions, and to identify possible answers, and to figure it out with you. And, that is a very precious gift indeed." -- Max Wiggins * College & Research Libraries *"This series is a veritable motherlode for Hall devotees and neophytes alike. . . . As Brunsdon points out, ensures that even the older or more micro-focused pieces in this volume still have ample value for current scholarship in media, film and cultural studies, and for the broader intersections around the analysis of politics, race, identity and ideological formation." -- Bill Yousman * Screen *Table of ContentsEditor's Note on the Text vii Acknowledgments ix Introduction: A History of the Present / Charlotte Brunsdon 1 Part I. The Photograph in Context Introduction to Part I 15 1. Preface to Black Britain: A Photographic History 23 2. Media and Message: The Life and Death of Picture Post 26 3. The Social Eye of Picture Post 34 4. The Determinations of New Photographs 54 5. Reconstruction Work: Images of Post-war Black Settlement 78 6. Vanley Burke and the "Desire for Blackness" 95 Part II. Media Studies and Cultural Studies Introduction to Part II 101 7. Film Teaching: Liberal Studies 111 8. The World of the Gossip Column 122 9. A World at One with Itself 131 10. Introduction to Paper Voices 141 11. Down with the Little Woman 155 12. Mugging: A Case Study in the Media 162 13. Introduction to Media Studies at the Centre 169 14. The Whites of Their Eyes: Racist Ideologies and the Media 177 Part III. Television Introduction to Part III 201 15. Television as a Medium and Its Relation to Culture 209 16. Watching the Box 237 17. Gogglebox Gigolos 242 18. TV Types 245 19. Encoding and Decoding in the Television Discourse 247 20. Media Power: The Double Bind 267 21. Will Annan Open the Box? 276 22. Which Public, Whose Service? 281 23. Black and White in Television 297 Coda 315 24. Stuart Hall's Desert Island Discs 317 Index 331 Place of First Publication 343

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Book SynopsisIn On Living with Television, Amy Holdsworth examines the characteristics of intimacy, familiarity, repetition, and duration that have come to exemplify the medium of television. Drawing on feminist television studies, queer theory, and disability studies as well as autobiographical life-writing practices, Holdsworth shows how television shapes everyday activities, from eating and sleeping to driving and homemaking. Recounting her own life with television, she offers a sense of the joys and pleasures Disney videos brought to her disabled sister, traces how bedtime television becomes part of a daily routine between child and caregiver, explores her own relationship to binge-eating and binge-viewing, and considers the idea of home through the BBC family drama Last Tango in Halifax. By foregrounding the ways in which television structures our relationships, daily routines, and sense of time, Holdsworth demonstrates how television emerges as a potent vehicle for writing aboutTrade Review“This book is a stunning achievement. In prose that is as graceful as it is compassionate, Amy Holdsworth gives voice to the unseen scenarios of care and relationality that television enters every day. How we watch television, she shows us, is how we anchor ourselves to places and people, and how we learn to be alone. Television creates space for holding our struggles and restores our capacities in ways that go beyond simply coping. This once-in-a-decade book reinvents the methods and language of television studies.” -- Anna McCarthy, author of * The Citizen Machine: Governing by Television in 1950s America *“In this wonderfully innovative book, Amy Holdsworth explores television as a lifelong companion that intersects with ordinary habits, affects, and caretaking in the home. Combining her personal experience with a brilliant pursuit of questions that cross interdisciplinary fields, Holdsworth shows how television relates to embodied practices of everyday time and resonates in memories across the life cycle. Beautifully written with passion, this is feminist television scholarship at its best!” -- Lynn Spigel, author of * TV Snapshots: An Archive of Everyday Life *"An emotionally moving page–turner, this book had this reviewer finishing it in a single sitting–a claim one does not generally apply to academic texts. . . . With sharp textual analysis and even sharper autobiographical writing, the author draws on theoretical work from film and television studies, disability studies, feminist studies, queer studies, autoethnography, and life writing. Scholars across all these areas of study will find much to absorb in this text, which deserves a place alongside the classics of television studies. Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty and professionals." -- S. Pepper * Choice *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ix Introduction 1 1. To (Not) Grow Up with Television 31 2. Bedtime Stories 49 3. TV Dinners 77 4. Homecomings and Goings 107 5. Epilogue: (Un)pause 139 Notes147 Bibliography 163 Index 175

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Book SynopsisLynn Spigel explores historical snapshots of people posing in front of their television sets in the 1950s through the early 1970s, showing how TV snapshots were a popular photographic practice through which people visualized their lives in an increasingly mediated culture.Trade Review“In this brilliant book Lynn Spigel examines TV snapshots as an activity, hobby art, expressive medium, and a thing people did with television, convincingly arguing for the importance of thinking about how photography and television work together. She reorients television studies away from programs and questions of spectatorship toward an exploration of the home as a ‘theater of everyday life,’ offering a diverse picture of how people use television, what the medium means, and where and how people live. I love this book and can’t wait to teach it.” -- Pamela Robertson Wojcik, author of * The Apartment Plot: Urban Living in American Film and Popular Culture, 1945 to 1975 *"Spigel uses midcentury photographs of people posing next to television sets to construct a fascinating study of Americana. . . . A vital addition to media studies and popular culture collections." -- Claire Sewell * Library Journal *"Spigel indicates that she worked on the book during the years when the center of gravity of television shifted from broadcast to digital streaming. Her archive of snapshots documents a phase of the medium's development shrinking into the rearview mirror. But they are also artifacts embodying something now much more familiar. The compact camera and the TV set correspond to two phases in the circulation of imagery: production and consumption respectively. In these snapshots, the image cycle is limited: flow, not a flood. The screen remains part of domestic space—and not yet, as it's becoming now, a home of sorts in its own right." -- Scott McLemee * Inside Higher Ed *"Spigel has yet again shown herself to be a signal historian of the family, helping us make sense of the ways we actually were, in the flickering light of the pressure to be otherwise." -- Hannah Zeavin * New York Review of Books *“Spigel dives deep into histories of race, sexuality, family and domesticity, architecture, and more, as they are called up by these snapshots. The result is a rich, wide-ranging historical account of cultural, social, and familial practices surrounding both television and photography that extrapolate what are often considered to be the dominant uses of these two media.” -- Bruno Guaraná * Film Quarterly *"Displaying a sophisticated mastery of media studies, photographic history, and contemporary art theory, Spigel shifts seamlessly through a wide span of intellectual underpinnings. . . . At times whimsical and frequently revealing gender and class relationships, this work is engaging and thoughtful. Highly recommended. Advanced undergraduates through faculty." -- D. McClure * Choice *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ix Introduction: Companion Technologies 1 1. TV Portraits: Picturing Families and Household Things 25 2. TV Performers: A Theater of Everyday Life 72 3. TV Dress-Up: Fashion Poses and Everyday Glamour 121 4. TV Pinups: Sex and the Single TV 175 5. TV Memories: Snapshots in Digital Times 222 Conclusion: Hard Stop 255 Notes 263 Bibliography 289 Index 307

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Book SynopsisFrom The Wire to Intervention to Girls, postmillennial American television has dazzled audiences with novelistic seriality and cinematic aesthetics. Yet this television is also more perverse: it bombards audiences with misogynistic and racialized violence, graphic sex, substance abuse, unlikeable protagonists, and the extraordinary exploitation of ordinary people. In Uncomfortable Television, Hunter Hargraves examines how television makes its audiences find pleasure through feeling disturbed. He shows that this turn to discomfort realigns collective definitions of family and pleasure with the values of neoliberal culture. In viscerally violent dramas, cringeworthy ironic comedies, and trashy reality programs alike, televisual unease trains audiences to survive under late capitalism, which demands that individuals accept a certain amount of discomfort, dread, and irritation into their everyday lives. By highlighting how discomfort has been central to the reorTrade Review"Uncomfortable Television is an interesting work that raises many compelling questions about the relationship between televisual content and our own processing of reality and invites further discussion on affect theory and how affect potentially shapes most of our behavior. It is an insightful read for academics, political theorists, and students of many strands of humanities . . . ." -- Ana Yorke * Popmatters *"Hargraves's book sits at the intersection of scholarship focusing on neoliberalism, affect, and popular culture and synthesizes these conversations in fruitful ways. . . . Recommended. Advanced undergraduates through faculty." -- S. Pepper * Choice *“Uncomfortable Television provides television, performance, and American studies scholars and graduate students with an interesting and insightful look into how televisual affect is mobilized. … [A] compelling illustration of the complex constellation of components that provide a framework for the affective and ideological functions of television.” -- Courtlyn Pippert * European Journal for American Studies *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ix Introduction: Television Scripts 1 1. The Irritated Spectator: Affective Representation in (Post)millennial Comedy 27 2. The Addicted Spectator: TV Junkies in Need of an Intervention 57 3. The Aborted Spectator: Affective Economies of Perversion in Televisual Remix 89 4. The Spectator Plagued by White Guilt: On the Appropriative Intermediality of Quality TV 121 5. The Woke Spectator: Misrecognizing Discomfort in the Era of “Peak TV” 162 Notes 197 Bibliography 219 Index 239

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Book SynopsisElizabeth Rodwell follows the conflict between mass media conglomerates and independent media creators as they worked to redefine what interactivity meant for Japan's television industry.Trade Review“Across a polymorphous array of new media engagements, Elizabeth Rodwell questions how and with what affects/effects television is being recrafted in Japan following the ‘crisis’ of news dissemination during 3.11. Attentively ethnographic and analytically astute, Push the Button explores the implications—political, social, and technological—of inviting viewers to interact so intimately with their televisual machines.” -- Anne Allison, author of * Being Dead Otherwise *“Based on solid fieldwork with excellent theoretical analysis, Push the Button provides a fascinating ethnographic overview of interactive television in Japan and offers striking new insights into media in the early twenty-first century. This wonderful book speaks to experts and newcomers alike—a real gem!” -- Ian Condry, author of * The Soul of Anime: Collaborative Creativity and Japan’s Media Success Story *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ix Introduction. Pushing Buttons 1 1. The Interactive Consumer-Viewer: The Social TV Promotion Collective, Ratings, and Advertising 25 2. Interactivity and Gatekeeping: The Compass and the Limits of Conservative Corporate Culture 46 3. Cultures of Independent Journalism: The Free Press Association of Japan, Independent Web Journal, and GoHoo 64 4. The New Interactive Television 89 5. Teaching Citizen Journalism: Media Activism and Our Planet-TV 108 Conclusion 129 Notes 143 Bibliography 163 Index 179

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Book SynopsisElizabeth Rodwell follows the conflict between mass media conglomerates and independent media creators as they worked to redefine what interactivity meant for Japan's television industry.Trade Review“Across a polymorphous array of new media engagements, Elizabeth Rodwell questions how and with what affects/effects television is being recrafted in Japan following the ‘crisis’ of news dissemination during 3.11. Attentively ethnographic and analytically astute, Push the Button explores the implications—political, social, and technological—of inviting viewers to interact so intimately with their televisual machines.” -- Anne Allison, author of * Being Dead Otherwise *“Based on solid fieldwork with excellent theoretical analysis, Push the Button provides a fascinating ethnographic overview of interactive television in Japan and offers striking new insights into media in the early twenty-first century. This wonderful book speaks to experts and newcomers alike—a real gem!” -- Ian Condry, author of * The Soul of Anime: Collaborative Creativity and Japan’s Media Success Story *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ix Introduction. Pushing Buttons 1 1. The Interactive Consumer-Viewer: The Social TV Promotion Collective, Ratings, and Advertising 25 2. Interactivity and Gatekeeping: The Compass and the Limits of Conservative Corporate Culture 46 3. Cultures of Independent Journalism: The Free Press Association of Japan, Independent Web Journal, and GoHoo 64 4. The New Interactive Television 89 5. Teaching Citizen Journalism: Media Activism and Our Planet-TV 108 Conclusion 129 Notes 143 Bibliography 163 Index 179

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Book SynopsisFrom Game of Thrones to Breaking Bad, the key theories and concepts in criminal justice are explained through the lens of televisionIn Crime TV, Jonathan A. Grubb and Chad Posick bring together an eminent group of scholars to show us the ways in which crimeand the broader criminal justice systemare depicted on television. From Breaking Bad and Westworld to Mr. Robot and Homeland, this volume highlights how popular culture frames our understanding of crime, criminological theory, and the nature of justice through modern entertainment. Featuring leading criminologists, Crime TV makes the key concepts and analytical tools of criminology as engaging as possible for students and interested readers. Contributors tackle an array of exciting topics and shows, taking a fresh look at feminist criminology on The Handmaid's Tale, psychopathy on The Fall, the importance of social bonds on 13 Reasons Why, radical social change on The Walking Dead, and the politics of punishment on Game of Thrones. CTrade ReviewCrime TV takes popular criminology’s necessary next step. Taking the televisual series that most fascinate us and coupling them with classical theories and urgent contemporary perspectives, we immerse into the screens and streaming frontiers of rapidly shifting forms of media consumption. Students and teachers will love this volume. -- Michelle Brown, author of The Culture of Punishment: Prison, Society, and SpectacleCrime TV brilliantly capitalizes on entertainment habits that prompt most Americans to learn about criminality through dramas, many now streamed. Written by top-notch scholars and focusing on widely watched shows, the chapters use popular media to unmask prevailing justice myths and realities and to illuminate the relevance of theories of crime and punishment. Scholarly but accessible, this volume is a fascinating read for all and uniquely suited for classroom use with today’s students. -- Francis T. Cullen, co-author of Criminological Theory: Context and Consequences

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Book SynopsisThe history of Latina/o participation and representation in American televisionWhose stories are told on television? Who are the heroes and heroines, held up as intriguing, lovable, and compelling? Which characters are fully realized, rather than being cardboard villains and sidekicks? And who are our storytellers? The first-ever account of Latino/a participation and representation in US English-language television, Latino TV: A History offers a sweeping study of key moments of Chicano/a and Latino/a representation and authorship since the 1950s. Drawing on archival research, interviews with dozens of media professionals who worked on or performed in these series, textual analysis of episodes and promotional materials, and analysis of news media coverage, Mary Beltrán examines Latina/o representation in everything from children's television Westerns of the 1950s, Chicana/o and Puerto Rican activist-led public affairs series of the 1970s, and sitcoms that spTrade ReviewMary Beltrán weaves discussions of Mexican-American and Latina/o representation with those of authorship to produce a compelling and overdue account of how much we truly owe Latina/o creative professionals. Beautifully researched, this book is mandatory reading for scholars of race, media, and representation. * Dolores Inés Casillas, author of Sounds of Belonging: U.S. Spanish-Language Radio and Public Advocacy *Mary Beltrán’s archival research recovers a history that is essential to understanding the ways in which television culture is always in conversation with the social, political, and economic context in which it is produced. Her insightful analysis shows us why storytelling is ultimately about access to power and the social status of politically marginalized communities in the United States. * Isabel Molina-Guzmán, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign *Beltrán’s Latino TV is an essential contribution to the expanding scholarship on Latina/o/x media and is particularly important for the training of its future scholars. * Film Quarterly *[Beltrán] expertly unveils the ways in which the economic conditions, the stereotyped assumptions of the audience, and barriers to entry limit and contain Latina/o representation... The strength of Beltrán’s research is in the political and cultural contexts that frame how any individual program fits as part of a broader ideological project. * Journal of Arizona History *

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Book SynopsisThe history of Latina/o participation and representation in American televisionWhose stories are told on television? Who are the heroes and heroines, held up as intriguing, lovable, and compelling? Which characters are fully realized, rather than being cardboard villains and sidekicks? And who are our storytellers? The first-ever account of Latino/a participation and representation in US English-language television, Latino TV: A History offers a sweeping study of key moments of Chicano/a and Latino/a representation and authorship since the 1950s. Drawing on archival research, interviews with dozens of media professionals who worked on or performed in these series, textual analysis of episodes and promotional materials, and analysis of news media coverage, Mary Beltrán examines Latina/o representation in everything from children's television Westerns of the 1950s, Chicana/o and Puerto Rican activist-led public affairs series of the 1970s, and sitcoms that spTrade ReviewMary Beltrán weaves discussions of Mexican-American and Latina/o representation with those of authorship to produce a compelling and overdue account of how much we truly owe Latina/o creative professionals. Beautifully researched, this book is mandatory reading for scholars of race, media, and representation. * Dolores Inés Casillas, author of Sounds of Belonging: U.S. Spanish-Language Radio and Public Advocacy *Mary Beltrán’s archival research recovers a history that is essential to understanding the ways in which television culture is always in conversation with the social, political, and economic context in which it is produced. Her insightful analysis shows us why storytelling is ultimately about access to power and the social status of politically marginalized communities in the United States. * Isabel Molina-Guzmán, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign *Beltrán’s Latino TV is an essential contribution to the expanding scholarship on Latina/o/x media and is particularly important for the training of its future scholars. * Film Quarterly *[Beltrán] expertly unveils the ways in which the economic conditions, the stereotyped assumptions of the audience, and barriers to entry limit and contain Latina/o representation... The strength of Beltrán’s research is in the political and cultural contexts that frame how any individual program fits as part of a broader ideological project. * Journal of Arizona History *

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Book SynopsisA compelling political history of television's formative yearsTrade Review"In this engaging and original study, Anna McCarthy examines the high civic hopes once held for U.S. commercial television by the liberal social, political, and business elites who made up the & governing classes." * Journal of American History *"McCarthy has written about an aspect of the & golden age of television seldom detailed in histories of early television. This is the story of how some of the largest American commercial corporations of the 1950s used the new medium of television not with the sole intent of advertising their products but to effect social reform on television viewers in order to create & good citizens. Highly recommended" * Choice *

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Book SynopsisFrom Game of Thrones to Breaking Bad, the key theories and concepts in criminal justice are explained through the lens of televisionIn Crime TV, Jonathan A. Grubb and Chad Posick bring together an eminent group of scholars to show us the ways in which crimeand the broader criminal justice systemare depicted on television. From Breaking Bad and Westworld to Mr. Robot and Homeland, this volume highlights how popular culture frames our understanding of crime, criminological theory, and the nature of justice through modern entertainment. Featuring leading criminologists, Crime TV makes the key concepts and analytical tools of criminology as engaging as possible for students and interested readers. Contributors tackle an array of exciting topics and shows, taking a fresh look at feminist criminology on The Handmaid's Tale, psychopathy on The Fall, the importance of social bonds on 13 Reasons Why, radical social change on The Walking Dead, and the politics of punishment on Game of Thrones. CTrade ReviewCrime TV takes popular criminology’s necessary next step. Taking the televisual series that most fascinate us and coupling them with classical theories and urgent contemporary perspectives, we immerse into the screens and streaming frontiers of rapidly shifting forms of media consumption. Students and teachers will love this volume. -- Michelle Brown, author of The Culture of Punishment: Prison, Society, and SpectacleCrime TV brilliantly capitalizes on entertainment habits that prompt most Americans to learn about criminality through dramas, many now streamed. Written by top-notch scholars and focusing on widely watched shows, the chapters use popular media to unmask prevailing justice myths and realities and to illuminate the relevance of theories of crime and punishment. Scholarly but accessible, this volume is a fascinating read for all and uniquely suited for classroom use with today’s students. -- Francis T. Cullen, co-author of Criminological Theory: Context and Consequences

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Book SynopsisA new edition that brings the ways we watch and think about television up to the presentWe all have opinions about the television shows we watch, but television criticism is about much more than simply evaluating the merits of a particular show and deeming it good or bad. Rather, criticism uses the close examination of a television program to explore that program's cultural significance, creative strategies, and its place in a broader social context.How to Watch Television, Second Edition brings together forty original essaysmore than half of which are new to this editionfrom today's leading scholars on television culture, who write about the programs they care (and think) the most about. Each essay focuses on a single television show, demonstrating one way to read the program and, through it, our media culture. From fashioning blackness in Empire to representation in Orange is the New Black and from the role of the reboot in Gilmore Girls Trade ReviewThere's quite simply no book out there that can match this in scope and quality. The contributors are a 'Who's Who' of contemporary television studies, and the prose is engaging and highly readable. If you're looking for models of how to think about television from a range of perspectives, you need look no further. -- Greg M. Smith, author of Beautiful TV: The Art and Argument of Ally McBealAsk anyone in Hollywood and they'll tell you the movies are dead. TV is where its at, and this book will show you why. Thompson and Mittell offer an essential guide to television today, featuring the most insightful critics writing about the most creative and engaging shows. Whether student, fan, or TV professional, it belongs on your bookshelf. -- Michael Curtin, co-author of The American Television IndustryThis book, unlike the manual that comes with your TV set, is utterly readable, highly engaging, and worth referring back to, long after you've switched on your favorite channel. . . . Regardless of which essay one chooses to tune in to, How to Watch Television is an accessible and impressive group of essays by a powerhouse cast of television scholars. -- Journal of American CultureThere's not a single dull page in this book. -- Jose Solis, PopmattersWhat happens when you give 40 smart television scholars ten pages each to write about a television show that interests them? You get a delightful book that is sure to become a favorite of television scholars and students alike. Thompson and Mittell have brought together authors who provide thoughtful criticism in an engaging style and cover just about every genre, historical period, and lens of analysis. Each essay's combination of brevity and detailed analysis makes the book likely to work well as both a course reader for undergraduates in television studies and a reference resource for those wanting to dive into research on individual shows. Though every essay adds something valuable to the collection, essays on Mad Men, Glee, M*A*S*H, I Love Lucy, Modern Family, NYPD Blue, The Twilight Zone, and The Walking Dead are worth the price of this fun, informative, and useful book, even for seasoned television scholars.Summing Up: Highly recommended. -- S. Pepper, ChoiceWith their urging in the introduction about how the essays serve as models for writing your own criticism, the editors seem to be addressing media studies students. But because of its well-commissioned and well-balanced tone and diversity/specificity of texts, it is just as instructive for a wide range of burgeoning or established TV scholars as well as inquisitive fans of the various programs. The collection manages to be potentially enjoyable and useful to scholars and TV fans alike. -- Kathleen Collins, Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly[I]t is a damn good collection, featuring 40 different contributions from American scholars, plus Matt Hills from Aberystwyth and Roberta Pearson from Nottingham. Their contributions are organised under five main themes: Aesthetics and Style;TV Representations: Social Identity and Cultural Politics;TV Politics: Democracy, Nation, and the Public Interest;TV Industry: Industrial Practices and Structures; and TV Practices: Medium, Technology, and Everyday Life. As with television schedules, it is easy to flick and pick and read. Indeed, the editors in their Introduction actively encourage & readers to go straight to a particular program or approach that interests them. -- Geoff Lealand, CST OnlineThis second edition ensures that this title will remain a staple of television studies courses, and the accessible style welcomes students and general readers to explore these essays and see their favorite television shows in new ways. * CHOICE *

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Book SynopsisRace does not exist in animation - it must instead be constructed and ascribed. In Race and the Animated Bodyscape, Francis M. Agnoli introduces and illustrates the concept of the animated bodyscape, looking specifically at the US television series Avatar: The Last Airbender and its sequel, The Legend of Korra.

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Book SynopsisThough best known for The Twilight Zone, Rod Serling wrote over 250 scripts for film and TV and won six Emmy Awards. In great detail and including never-published insights drawn directly from Serling's personal correspondence, unpublished writings, speeches, and unproduced scripts, Nicholas Parisi explores Serling's entire body of work.

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Book SynopsisFew trends have had as much impact on television as formats have in recent years. Long confined to the fringes of the TV industry, they have risen to prominence since the late 1990s. Today, they are a global business with hundreds of programmes adapted across the world at any one time, from mundane game shows to blockbuster talent competitions, from factual entertainment to high-end drama. Based on exclusive industry access, this book provides an in-depth analysis of the complex world of the TV format from its origins to the present day. Chalaby delivers a comprehensive account of the TV format trading system and conceptualizes the global value chain that underpins it, unpicking the corporate strategies and power relations within. Using interviews with format creators, he uncovers the secrets behind the world’s most travelled formats, exploring their narrative structure and cultural meanings.Trade Review"The Format Age is the most exhaustive analysis yet undertaken of a modern TV phenomenon. It explores both the economy and the culture of a global entertainment business which delivers local value. And it explains why and how it came about."Peter Bazalgette, Chair of Arts Council England"With his customary élan, Jean Chalaby has done a great service to our understanding of the international flow of culture. The Format Age is a judicious theoretical and empirical intervention. Bravo!"Toby Miller, University of California, RiversideTable of ContentsContentsAcknowledgementsTables and FiguresIntroduction Part One: Birth of a New TradeChapter 1 TV Formats as an Anglo-American Invention Chapter 2 The Making of an Entertainment RevolutionChapter 3 The Advent of The Super-FormatsPart Two: Production and Globalization Chapter 4 The Formation of the Global Format Trading SystemChapter 5 Nations and Competition: Upgrading Strategies in the TV Format Commodity ChainChapter 6 A Globalized Intellectual Property Market: The International Production ModelPart Three: TV Formats: Structuring NarrativesChapter 7 Journeys and Transformations: Unscripted Formats in the 21st CenturyChapter 8 Talent Competitions: Myths and Heroes for the Modern Age Chapter 9 Drama without Drama: The Late Rise of Scripted FormatsConclusion: Trade, Culture and TelevisionNotesPersonal Communications and Interviews by the AuthorReferences

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Book SynopsisThe first serious book-length study of crime writing in Canada, Detecting Canada contains thirteen essays on many of Canada's most popular crime writers, including Peter Robinson, Giles Blunt, Gail Bowen, Thomas King, Michael Slade, Margaret Atwood, and Anthony Bidulka. Genres examined range from the well-loved police procedural and the amateur sleuth to those less well known, such as anti-detection and contemporary noir novels. The book looks critically at the esteemed sixties' television show Wojeck, as well as the more recent series Da Vinci's Inquest, Da Vinci's City Hall, and Intelligence, and the controversial Durham County, a critically acclaimed but violent television series that ran successfully in both Canada and the United States. The essays in Detecting Canada look at texts from a variety of perspectives, including postcolonial studies, gender and queer studies, feminist studies, Indigenous studies, and critical race and class studies. Crime fiction, enjoyed by so many around the world, speaks to all of us about justice, citizenship, and important social issues in an uncertain world.Trade Review"Writers of Canadian crime fiction have learned to gird our loins when we are asked a question that is as irritating as it is inevitable: When are you going to write a real novel? By offering not simply an overview of the history of crime fiction in Canada but thoughtful essays on the themes Canadian crime writers explore and on the roles played by landscape, gender, class, race, and community in our works, 'Detecting Canada' answers that question decisively. Canadian crime writers are writing real novels, and 'Detecting Canada' offers solid evidence to prove the point." -- Gail Bowen, author of 'The Gifted', the latest in the Joanne Kilbourn mystery series"'Detecting Canada' is an indispensable landmark in the study of Canadian crime narratives. Its range is remarkable, with the essays covering not only the major practitioners of Canadian crime fiction but also television crime shows and films. This collection will remain a standard resource for many years to come." -- David Schmid, Department of English, University at Buffalo, author of 'Natural Born Celebrities: Serial Killers in American Culture'Table of Contents Detecting Canada: Essays on Canadian Crime Fiction, Television, and Film, edited by Jeannette Sloniowski and Marilyn Rose Introduction Jeannette Sloniowski and Marilyn Rose History and Theory 1. Coca-Colonialists Write Back: Localizing the Global in Canadian Crime Fiction Beryl Langer 2. Canadian Crime Writing in English David Skene-Melvin Essays on Fiction 3. Canadian Psycho: Genre, Nation, and Colonial Violence in Michael Slade's Gothic RCMP Procedurals Brian Johnson 4. Northern Procedures: Policing the Nation in Giles Blunt's The Delicate Storm Manina Jones 5. Revisioning the Dick: Reading Thomas King's Thumps DreadfulWater Mysteries Jennifer Andrews and Priscilla L. Walton 6. Generic Play and Gender Trouble in Peter Robinson's In a Dry Season Jeannette Sloniowski 7. A Colder Kind of Gender Politics: Intersections of Feminism and Detection in Gail Bowen's Joanne Kilbourn Series Pamela Bedore 8. Queer Eye for the Private Eye: Homonationalism and the Regulation of Queer Difference in Anthony Bidulka's Russell Quant Mystery Series Péter Balogh 9. Under/Cover: Strategies of Detection and Evasion in Margaret Atwood's Alias Grace Marilyn Rose Essays on Television 10. Televising Toronto in the 1960s: Wojeck and the Urban Crime Genre Sarah A. Matheson 11. North of Quality? ""Quality"" Television and the Suburban Crimeworld of Durham County Lindsay Steenberg and Yvonne Tasker 12. Mounties and Metaphysics in Canadian Film and Television Patricia Gruben Contributors Index

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Book SynopsisComic Visions, Second Edition is an update of the most influential critical history of American television comedy. Most comprehensive social and critical history of American television comedy Very engaging, lucid and entertaining writing style Approaches social criticism without being too scholarly and pedantic Trade Review"A new edition of David Marc's Comic Visions is grounds for rejoicing. His historical survey of TV comedy remains unrivalled, and new material on the cable era will be more than welcome." Francis Couvares, Amherst College. "David Marc's Comic Visions is the outstanding book of its type: social and cultural analysis of the most popular and important comedic forms of television." Chad Gordon, Rice University. "Recommended for all academic and large public libraries; all levels." A. Hirsh, emeritus, Central Conneticut State University.Table of ContentsPraise for the First Edition. Acknowledgments. Foreword by Ken Tucker. Preface to the Second Edition. 1. What's So Funny About America?. 2. Waking Up to Television. 3. The Making of a Sitcom, 1961. 4. Planet Earth to Sitcom, Planet Earth to Sitcom. 5. The Sitcom at Literate Peak. 6. Demographic Fantasies of the Reagan Era. 7. Friends of the Family. Bibliography. Index to Television Comedy Series. General Index.

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Book SynopsisThe face of U.S. television broadcasting is changing in ways that are both profound and subtle. Global Television uncovers the particular processes by which the international circulation of culture takes place, while addressing larger cultural issues such as identity formation. Focusing on how the process of internationally made programming such as Highlander: The Series and The Odyssey-amusingly dubbed \u201cEuropudding\u201d and \u201ccommercial white bread\u201d-are changing television into a transnational commodity, Barbara Selznick considers how this mode of production-as a means by which transnational television is created-has both economic rewards and cultural benefits as well as drawbacks. Global Television explores the ways these international co-productions create a \u201cglobal\u201d culture as well as help form a national identity. From British \u201cbrand\u201d programming (e.g, Cracker) that airs on A&E in the U.S. to children\u2019s television programs such as Plaza Sesamo, and documentaries, Selznick indicates that while the style, narrative, themes and ideologies may be interesting, corporate capitalism ultimately affects and impacts these programs in significant ways.Trade Review"Global Television is well focused, disciplined, imaginative, and original; the global outlook and free ranging expertise across borders are signature virtues. It looms to be a blueprint for the emergent field of globally-centric media studies." -Thomas Doherty , American Studies Department, Brandeis UniversityTable of ContentsTable of Contents Introduction: McTelevision in the Global Village... Chapter 1: History without Nation: Global Fiction... Chapter 2: Clear, Strong Brands: British Television as a Marketing Tool... Chapter 3: The 3 C's: Children, Citizenship and Co-Production... Chapter 4: Global Truths: Documentaries for the World... Conclusion: Transculturation or the Expansion of Modern Capitalism... Works Cited...

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Book SynopsisThe soap opera, one of U.S. television's longest-running and most influential formats, is on the brink. Declining ratings have been attributed to an increasing number of women working outside the home and to an intensifying competition for viewers' attention from cable and the Internet. Yet, soaps' influence has expanded, with serial narratives becoming commonplace on most prime time TV programs. The Survival of Soap Opera investigates the causes of their dwindling popularity, describes their impact on TV and new media culture, and gleans lessons from their complex history for twenty-first-century media industries.The book contains contributions from established soap scholars such as Robert C. Allen, Louise Spence, Nancy Baym, and Horace Newcomb, along with essays and interviews by emerging scholars, fans and Web site moderators, and soap opera producers, writers, and actors from ABC's General Hospital, CBS's The Young and the Restless and The Bold and the Beautiful, and other shows. This diverse group of voices seeks to intervene in the discussion about the fate of soap operas at a critical juncture, and speaks to longtime soap viewers, television studies scholars, and media professionals alike.

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Book SynopsisMoviegoers know her as the housekeeper in White Christmas, the nurse in Now, Voyager, and the crotchety choir director in Sister Act. This book, filled with never-published behind-the-scenes stories from Broadway and Hollywood, chronicles the life of a complicated woman who brought an assortment of unforgettable nurses, nuns, and housekeepers to life on screen and stage.Wickes (1910-1995) was part of some of the most significant moments in film, television, theatre, and radio history. On that frightening night in 1938 when Orson Welles recorded his earth-shattering ""War of the Worlds"" radio broadcast, Wickes was waiting on another soundstage for him for a rehearsal of Danton's Death, oblivious to the havoc taking place outside.When silent film star Gloria Swanson decided to host a live talk show on this new thing called television, Wickes was one of her first guests. When Lucille Ball made one of her first TV appearances, Wickes appeared with her--and became Lucy's closest friend for more than thirty years. Wickes was the original Mary Poppins, long before an umbrella carried Julie Andrews across the rooftops of London. And when Disney began creating 101 Dalmatians, Wickes was asked to pose for animators trying to capture the evil of Cruella De Vil.The pinched-face actress who cracked wise by day became a confidante to some of the day's biggest stars by night, including Bette Davis and Doris Day. Bolstered by interviews with almost three hundred people, and by private correspondence from Ball, Davis, Day, and others, Mary Wickes: I Know I've Seen That Face Before includes scores of never-before-shared anecdotes about Hollywood and Broadway. In the process, it introduces readers to a complex woman who sustained a remarkable career for sixty years.

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Book SynopsisNo recent television creator has generated more critical, scholarly, and popular discussion or acquired as devoted a cult following as Joss Whedon (b. 1964). No fewer than thirty books concerned with his work have now been published (a forthcoming volume even offers a book-length bibliography), and ten international conferences on his work have convened in the U.K., the United States, Australia, and Turkey. Fitting then that this first volume in the University Press of Mississippi's ""Television Conversations"" series is devoted to the writer, director, and showrunner who has delivered Buffy the Vampire Slayer (The WB, 1997-2001; UPN, 2001-3), Angel (The WB, 1999-2004), Firefly (2002), Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog (Webcast, 2008), and Dollhouse (FOX, 2009-10).If Whedon has shown himself to be a virtuoso screenwriter/script-doctor, director, comic book author, and librettist, he is as well a masterful conversationalist. As a DVD commentator, for example, the consistently hilarious, reliably insightful, frequently moving Whedon has few rivals. In his many interviews he likewise shines. Whether answering a hundred rapid-fire, mostly silly questions from fans on the Internet, fielding serious inquiries about his craft and career from television colleagues, or assessing his disappointments, Whedon seldom fails to provoke laughter and reflection.

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Book SynopsisNo longer has a niche or cult identity, fandom now coloured our notions of an expansive generational construct— the millennial generation. Like fans, millennials are frequently cast as active participants in media culture, spectators who expect opportunities to intervene, control, and create. At the same time, longstanding fears about fans’ cultural unruliness manifest in rampant stories of millennials’ technological overdependence and lack of moral boundaries.These conflicting narratives of entrepreneurial creativity and digital immorality operate to quell the growing threat represented by millennials’ media agency. With fan activities becoming ever more visible on social media platforms including YouTube, Facebook, LiveJournal, Twitter, Polyvore, and Tumblr, the fan has become the avatar of our digital hopes and fears. In an ambitious study encompassing a wide range of media texts, including popular television series like Kyle XY, Glee, Gossip Girl, Veronica Mars, and Pretty Little Liars and online works like The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, as well as fan texts from blog posts and tweets to remix videos, YouTube posts, and imagesharing streams, author This generation—and the fans it represents—is actively transforming the media landscape into a dynamic, culturally transgressive space of collective authorship. Offering a rich and complex vision of the relationship between fandom and millennial culture, Millennial Fandom will interest fans, millennials, students, and scholars of contemporary media culture alike.

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Book SynopsisJoseph Sobol is one of a select few contemporary scholar-practitioners to chart the evolution of storytelling from traditional foundations to its current multifarious presence in American life. The years since his classic The Storytellers’ Journey: An American Revival (1999), have brought seismic shifts in storytelling circles. Essays gathered here move between cultural history, critical analysis, and personal narratives to showcase the efforts of traditional and contemporary storytellers to make their presence felt in the world.The book begins with an account of recent changes in the storytelling landscape, including the growth of a new generation of urban personal storytelling venues sparked by The Moth. Next is a suite of essays on Appalachian Jack tales, the best-known cycle of traditional American wonder tales, and an account of its most celebrated practitioners, including close encounters with the traditional master, Ray Hicks. The next set examines frames through which storytellers capture truth—historical, legendary, literary, oral traditional, and personal. Stylistic differences between northern and southern tellers are affectionately portrayed, with a special look at the late, much-loved Alabaman Kathryn Tucker Windham.The final section makes the case for informed critical writing on storytelling performance, through a survey of notable contemporary storytellers’ work, a look at the ethics of storytelling genres, and a nuanced probe of truth and fiction in storytelling settings. A tapestry of personal stories, social criticism, and artistic illuminations, Liars, Damn Liars, and Storytellers is valuable not only to scholars and students in performance, folklore, cultural studies, and theater, but also to general readers with a love for the storytelling art.Trade ReviewJoseph Sobol is both a respected scholar and a storytelling performer with a superb style of writing that flows from his storytelling background. In many respects, this book is a continuation of his significant study The Storytellers’ Journey: An American Revival. There have been major changes in the storytelling field since, and Sobol is one of the few scholars who can understand and chart them." —Jack Zipes, author of The Irresistible Fairy Tale "Sobol takes us to meet the people, visit the scenes, and hear the voices of storytellers past and present. His writing is vivid, engaging, generous, and intimate. This collection is a gift to the storytelling world." —Annette Simmons, author of The Story Factor "No one has ever told so well the story of the story. Like any great yarn-spinner, Sobol gives us enthralling characters: Ray Hicks at his home on Beech Mountain, Kathryn Tucker Windham hunting the Alabama redhorse fish, Spalding Gray, and dozens more. But he also never loses sight of the core question of his tale: what is the magic in stories that give them such sway over our lives?" —George Dawes Green, novelist and founder of The Moth "With the sensitivity of an artist and the startling insights of a wide-ranging scholar, Joseph Sobol illuminates a century of storytelling performers and movements. Thanks to Liars, Damn Liars, and Storytellers, we are closer to understanding this enduring, protean art form and to finding the critical language to describe it." —Jo Radner, past president, American Folklore Society, past chair, National Storytelling Network

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Book SynopsisThe 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.Trade Review"The Mueller Report of television criticism! James Poniewozik’s Audience of One is both damning and illuminating, a witty, penetrating exposé of Trump’s most intimate relationship, the one with the medium that made him." -- Emily Nussbaum, television critic for The New Yorker"With wit, insight, and clarity, James Poniewozik puts Trump at the center of a series of changes that swept through American popular culture and political systems. Poniewozik’s essential book shows how these evolutions incubated Trumpism, even as Trump’s rise exposed the limits and vulnerabilities of the media, which too often found itself floundering in the face of his shameless manipulations." -- Maureen Ryan, chief TV critic for Variety"Illuminating... Poniewozik is a funny, acerbic and observant writer… [He] uses his ample comedic gifts in the service of describing a slow-boil tragedy. If humor is the rocket of his ICBM, the last three years of our lives are the destructive payload... Poniewozik brings a new microscope with which to analyze the drug-resistant bacterium that is our president. Perhaps the greatest accomplishment of Audience of One is that it makes Trump's presidency seem almost inevitable." -- Gary Shteyngart - The New York Times Book Review

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Book SynopsisThe Pacific Northwest has a thriving, rich film culture, and it's finally celebrated in a guide as visually arresting and compelling as the films and television themselves. Author David Schmader put in a lot of screen time watching movies and TV shows, and the result is more than 200 entries that feature hilarious and insightful synopses, behind-the-scene facts and trivia, and regional scenic highlights. Sidebars showcase filmmakers like Gus Van Sant and Lynn Shelton, the television shows that shaped the public's perception of the region (such as Twin Peaks, Shrill, and Portlandia!), documentaries, queer cinema, silent films, Vancouver-shot imposters, and more. This is a book for any cinephile, but for those who love and live in the PNW, it's an absolute must-have.Trade Review“Filmlandia is a quick, joyful read that’s as much a love letter to local film and television icons such as Lynn Shelton, Megan Griffiths, and Irene from the Real World as it is to the Pacific Northwest’s (mostly) sparkling scenery. And oh, boy, is this corner of the country filled with weird little treasures.” —The Stranger“David Schmader’s film writing has always been dryly funny and incisive, but it has rarely been this affectionate. This very comprehensive collection of PNW-centric film and TV capsules is for locals or tourists, hardcore cinephiles or casual viewers. Full disclosure: David once called me a "Showgirls truther.” —Matt Lynch, Scarecrow Video, cohost of The Suspense Is Killing Us podcast and YouTube’s Viva Physical Media Table of ContentsCONTENTS Introduction: A Film Lover's Paradise SEATTLE & WASHINGTONWashington Fun Boxes (sidebars to appear throughout)Bruce Lee | Dystopian Futures | Film Festivals | Frasier | Grey’s Anatomy | Kurt Cobain | Lynn Shelton | Megan Griffiths | Movie Houses | Northern Exposure | PNW Film All-Stars | PNW XXX | Queer Cinema | Seattle Verite: Seattle Documentaries | The Real World | Rose Red | Scarecrow Video | Twin Peaks | Vancouver Switcheroo10 Things I Hate About You | 21 & Over | 50 Shades of Gray | American Heart | The Art of Racing in the Rain | Assassins | Battle in Seattle | Beacon Hill Boys | Benny & Joon | A Bit of Bad Luck | Black Widow | The Book of Stars | Boy Culture | Brand Upon the Brain! | Bustin Loose | The Changeling | Cinderella Liberty | Come See the Paradise | Cthulu | Daredreamer | Dear Lemon Lima | The Details | Disclosure | Dogfight | Double Jeopardy | East of the Mountains | Enough | The Fabulous Baker Boys | Fear | Frances | Georgia | Get Carter | Gory Gory Hallelujah | Grassroots | The Hand That Rocks the Cradle | Harry and the Hendersons |Harry in Your Pocket |Highway |Hit! |House of Games |The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle | It Happened at the World’s Fair | Karl Krogstad | The Last Mimzy | Late Autumn | Life or Something Like It | Little Buddha | Love Happens | Mad Love | Money Buys Happiness | My Last Year with the Nuns | Officer & a Gentleman | Old Goats | Paper Tigers | The Parallax View | Plain Clothes | Police Beat | Power |Practical Magic | Red Dawn | The Ring | Safety Not Guaranteed | Say Anything | Seven Hours to Judgment | Singles | Slaves to the Underground | Sleepless in Seattle | The Slender Thread | Snow Falling on Cedars | Surviving the Game | This Boy’s Life | Trouble in Mind | True Adolescents | Tugboat Annie | Twice in a Lifetime | Twilight | Unforgettable | The Vanishing | Waiting for the Light | War Games | Where’d You Go, Bernadette? | World’s Greatest DadPORTLAND & OREGONPortland Fun Boxes (sidebars to appear throughout)Astoria! | Behind the Music | Eternal Silents | Film Festivals | The Technicolor Frontier! | Grimm | Gus Van Sant | Jack Nicholson | Kelly Reichardt | LAIKA Studios | Movie Houses | PDX Docs | Portlandia! | Prefontaine vs Prefontaine | The Real World: Portland | Shrill | The Simpsons Animal House | Benji the Hunted | The Black Stallion | Body of Evidence | Captain Fantastic | C.O.G. | Dead Man | The Fog | Foxfire | Free Willy | The Goonies | Hear No Evil | How to Beat the High Cost of Living | I Don’t Feel at Home in This World | The Indian Fighter | Into the Wild | Kindergarten Cop | Lean on Pete | Leave No Trace | Lost Horizon | Maverick | Men of Honor | Mr. Brooks | Mr. Holland’s Opus | My Name is Bruce | Overboard | Pay It Forward | PIG | Point Break | The River Wild | Ring of Fire | Roaring Timber | Rooster Cogburn | Short Circuit | Sometimes a Great Notion | Stand By Me | Swordfish | Thumbsucker | Wild ConclusionViewing ListsAcknowledgmentsSources Index

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Book SynopsisWhat could the supernatural world of Stranger Things have in common with the Bible? The paranormal television series Stranger Things taps into the mysterious elements that have fueled spiritual questions for millennia. The otherworldly manifestations in Hawkins, Indiana offer compelling portrayals of important spiritual truths--and many of these truths are echoed in the supernatural worldview of the Bible. For Michael Heiser, Stranger Things is the perfect marriage of his interest in popular culture and the paranormal. In The Unseen Realm, he opened the eyes of thousands, helping readers understand the supernatural worldview of the Bible. Now he turns his attention to the worldwide television phenomenon, exploring how Stranger Things relates to Christian theology and the Christian life. In The World Turned Upside Down, Heiser draws on this supernatural worldview to help us think about the story of Jesus and discover glimpses of the gospel in the Upside Down. He argues that this celebrated series helps us understand the gospel in unique and overlooked ways. The spiritual questions and crises raised by Stranger Things are addressed the same way they are in the gospel, with mystery and transcendent power.

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Book SynopsisIn this concise but rich book, Syverson refutes the common notion that reality television is superficial or inauthentic, explaining how such criticisms fail to appreciate the way that we form social reality in the first place. By examining shows like The Hills, The Real Housewives, Vanderpump Rules, and The Bachelor alongside postmodern philosophy, feminist theory, and political economy, Syverson argues that we can confront today’s postmodern condition only by accepting it on its own terms. To what extent does reality television mimic and shape our public and personal lives? Is reality television a dangerous, shallow decadence, or can it provide the key to understanding our postmodern moment? And above all, what does the election of Donald Trump mean for progressive fans of the genre? Reality Squared tackles these questions head-on, arguing that reality television represents the great modern art form, and the only entertainment vehicle capable of showing what it feels like to be alive today.

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Book SynopsisThis is the first ever international comparative study of the mythologies which popular TV series in Czechoslovakia/Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Romania -- made before and after the fall of communism -- disseminate in their societies. Popular television broadcasting has had an enormous impact on the general public's beliefs and values, East and West. From the outset, the communist systems of Central and East Europe used entertainment television programming to instil the regimes' values in the viewer. And indeed popular television still exerts a major impact on these fairly homogeneous societies. Up to date research about current social values and factors in the formation of individual and collective identity has considerable strategic importance for decision making both in Britain and in the EU. If we are to understand how the populations of the Central and East European countries might react in the current relatively unstable political and economic situation, it is necessary to understand the indigenous political, social and cultural discourse in these countries. Comparison of samples of popular television from the 1970s, 1980s and 2000s provides strategically significant material about how these societies think and rationalise, and what their thinking is rooted in. The study proceeds from the premise that popular television series provide a fertile ground of investigation as mass media reflects and shapes social and cultural values.

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Book SynopsisIn the summer of 1970, the artist Les Levine arrived at the University of Toronto to take part in the installation of site-specific work on the quadrangle in front of the University's Hart House. The intended piece-construction materials hung from high-tension rope between campus buildings-was quickly stymied as Levine encountered a series of bureaucratic impediments on the part of the University staff. What ensued was played into the conceptual conceit the artist had envisioned for the project. By collating the correspondence, telephone transcripts, and visual documentation of the eventual installation process, Levine used the work to demonstrate how the university itself functioned as a system. Red Tape publishes this project, which had existed only as a dossier in the artist's archive, for the first time. ?Red Tape is being published on the occasion of the exhibition "Les Levine: Bio-Tech Rehearsals 1965-1975," curated by Felicity D. Scott and Mark Wasiuta, at Columbia University's Arthur Ross Architecture Gallery.

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Book SynopsisRace and Cultural Practice in Popular Culture is an innovative work that freshly approaches the concept of race as a social factor made concrete in popular forms, such as film, television, and music. The essays collectively push past the reaffirmation of static conceptions of identity, authenticity, or conventional interpretations of stereotypes and bridge the intertextual gap between theories of community enactment and cultural representation. The book also draws together and melds otherwise isolated academic theories and methodologies in order to focus on race as an ideological reality and a process that continues to impact lives despite allegations that we live in a post-racial America. The collection is separated into three parts: Visualizing Race (Representational Media), Sounding Race (Soundscape), and Racialization in Place (Theory), each of which considers visual, audio, and geographic sites of racial representations respectively. Trade Review"Domino Perez and Rachel González-Martin have assembled a dynamic and eclectic collection that urges us to see, hear, and place race and racialized representations beyond stereotypical, silenced, and sedentary subjectivities. Engaging the contemporary social politics of race in television, film, music, and other performative sites, Race and Cultural Practice in Popular Culture deftly reframes, remixes, and resituates discourse on folklore and pop culture to usher in nuanced understandings and challenging conversations befitting who we are and where we may be going as local and global creators, consumers, and critics of the popular." -- Dustin Tahmahkera * author of Tribal Television: Viewing Native People in Sitcoms *"The ugly eruptions of racism and resurgent white supremacy in this 'post-racial' time are grim reminders of just how vital it is that we understand and engage the complex and contested logics of race in the United States and other settler states. This volume is an impressive and indeed essential tool for that purpose. The editors have brought together a community of thoughtful, provocative thinkers in conversation at the crossroads of folklore, popular culture, critical theory, political action, and lived experience. Collectively and individually the contributors take race and (self-) representation seriously, in often unexpected, sometimes playful, occasionally fierce, but always compelling ways; they challenge readers to reconsider our own biases and boundaries around knowledge and cultural production, and extend the horizon of what is and can be possible in our critical conversations and embodied understandings. Race and Cultural Practice in Popular Culture offers vital, nourishing intellectual sustenance in these cruel and incurious times." -- Daniel Heath Justice * author of Why Indigenous Literatures Matter *Table of ContentsContents List of Illustrations “Assembling an Intersectional Pop Cultura Analytical Lens: A Foreword” Introduction: Re-imagining Critical Approaches to Folklore and Popular Culture Domino Renee Perez and Rachel González-Martin Part I: Visualizing Race “A Thousand ‘Lines of Flight’: Collective Individuation and Racial Identity in Netflix’s Orange Is the New Black and Sense8” Ruth Y. Hsu “Performing Cherokee Masculinity in The Doe Boy” Channette Romero “Truth, Justice, and the Mexican Way: Lucha Libre, Film, and Nationalism in Mexico” James Wilkey “Native American Irony: Survivance and the Subversion of Ethnography” Gerald Vizenor Part II: Sounding Race “(Re)imagining Indigenous Popular Culture” Mintzi Auanda Martínez-Rivera “My Tongue is Divided into Two” Olivia Cadaval “Performing Nation Diva Style in Lila Downs and Astrid Hadad’s La Tequilera” K. Angelique Dwyer “(Dis)identifying with Shakira’s ‘Global Body’: A Path Towards Rhythmic Affiliations Beyond the Dichotomous Nation/Diaspora” Daniela Gutiérrez López “Voicing the Occult in Chicana/o Culture and Hybridity: Prayers and the Cholo-Goth Aesthetic” José G. Anguiano Part III: Racialization in Place “Ugly Brown Bodies: Queering Desire in Machete” Nicole Guidotti-Hernández “Bitch, how’d you make it this far?”: Strategic Enactments of White Femininity in The Walking Dead” Jaime Guzmán and Raisa Alvarado Uchima “Bridge and Tunnel: Transcultural Border Crossings in The Bridge and Sicario” Marcel Brousseau “Red Land, White Power, Blue Sky: Settler Colonialism and Indigeneity in Breaking Bad” James H. Cox Acknowledgments Notes on Contributors Index

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Book SynopsisRace and Cultural Practice in Popular Culture is an innovative work that freshly approaches the concept of race as a social factor made concrete in popular forms, such as film, television, and music. The essays collectively push past the reaffirmation of static conceptions of identity, authenticity, or conventional interpretations of stereotypes and bridge the intertextual gap between theories of community enactment and cultural representation. The book also draws together and melds otherwise isolated academic theories and methodologies in order to focus on race as an ideological reality and a process that continues to impact lives despite allegations that we live in a post-racial America. The collection is separated into three parts: Visualizing Race (Representational Media), Sounding Race (Soundscape), and Racialization in Place (Theory), each of which considers visual, audio, and geographic sites of racial representations respectively. Trade Review"Domino Perez and Rachel González-Martin have assembled a dynamic and eclectic collection that urges us to see, hear, and place race and racialized representations beyond stereotypical, silenced, and sedentary subjectivities. Engaging the contemporary social politics of race in television, film, music, and other performative sites, Race and Cultural Practice in Popular Culture deftly reframes, remixes, and resituates discourse on folklore and pop culture to usher in nuanced understandings and challenging conversations befitting who we are and where we may be going as local and global creators, consumers, and critics of the popular." -- Dustin Tahmahkera * author of Tribal Television: Viewing Native People in Sitcoms *"The ugly eruptions of racism and resurgent white supremacy in this 'post-racial' time are grim reminders of just how vital it is that we understand and engage the complex and contested logics of race in the United States and other settler states. This volume is an impressive and indeed essential tool for that purpose. The editors have brought together a community of thoughtful, provocative thinkers in conversation at the crossroads of folklore, popular culture, critical theory, political action, and lived experience. Collectively and individually the contributors take race and (self-) representation seriously, in often unexpected, sometimes playful, occasionally fierce, but always compelling ways; they challenge readers to reconsider our own biases and boundaries around knowledge and cultural production, and extend the horizon of what is and can be possible in our critical conversations and embodied understandings. Race and Cultural Practice in Popular Culture offers vital, nourishing intellectual sustenance in these cruel and incurious times." -- Daniel Heath Justice * author of Why Indigenous Literatures Matter *Table of ContentsContents List of Illustrations “Assembling an Intersectional Pop Cultura Analytical Lens: A Foreword” Introduction: Re-imagining Critical Approaches to Folklore and Popular Culture Domino Renee Perez and Rachel González-Martin Part I: Visualizing Race “A Thousand ‘Lines of Flight’: Collective Individuation and Racial Identity in Netflix’s Orange Is the New Black and Sense8” Ruth Y. Hsu “Performing Cherokee Masculinity in The Doe Boy” Channette Romero “Truth, Justice, and the Mexican Way: Lucha Libre, Film, and Nationalism in Mexico” James Wilkey “Native American Irony: Survivance and the Subversion of Ethnography” Gerald Vizenor Part II: Sounding Race “(Re)imagining Indigenous Popular Culture” Mintzi Auanda Martínez-Rivera “My Tongue is Divided into Two” Olivia Cadaval “Performing Nation Diva Style in Lila Downs and Astrid Hadad’s La Tequilera” K. Angelique Dwyer “(Dis)identifying with Shakira’s ‘Global Body’: A Path Towards Rhythmic Affiliations Beyond the Dichotomous Nation/Diaspora” Daniela Gutiérrez López “Voicing the Occult in Chicana/o Culture and Hybridity: Prayers and the Cholo-Goth Aesthetic” José G. Anguiano Part III: Racialization in Place “Ugly Brown Bodies: Queering Desire in Machete” Nicole Guidotti-Hernández “Bitch, how’d you make it this far?”: Strategic Enactments of White Femininity in The Walking Dead” Jaime Guzmán and Raisa Alvarado Uchima “Bridge and Tunnel: Transcultural Border Crossings in The Bridge and Sicario” Marcel Brousseau “Red Land, White Power, Blue Sky: Settler Colonialism and Indigeneity in Breaking Bad” James H. Cox Acknowledgments Notes on Contributors Index

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Book SynopsisMediating the Uprising: Narratives of Gender and Marriage in Syrian Television Drama shows how gender and marriage metaphors inform post-uprising Syrian drama for various forms of cultural and political critique. These narratives have become complicated since the uprising due to the Syrian regime’s effort to control the revolutionary discourse. As Syria’s uprising spawned more terrorist groups, some drama creators became nostalgic for pre-war days. While for some screenwriters a return to pre-2011 life would be welcome after so much bloodshed, others advocated profound cultural and social transformation, instead. They employed marriage and gender metaphors in the stories they wrote to engage in political critique, even at the risk of creating marketing difficulties for the shows or they created escapist stories such as transnational adaptations and Old Damascus tales. Serving as heritage preservation, Mediating the Uprising underscores that television drama creators in Syria have many ways of engaging in protest, with gender and marriage at the heart of the polemic. Trade Review“A huge accomplishment, Mediating the Uprising combines smart readings of Syrian television miniseries with detailed ethnographic analysis. Joubin reveals the strategies of artists--both oppositional and regime-supporters--who are testing the limits of social and political expression, and the workings of an industry navigating seven years of civil war. The book is an invaluable addition to media studies and Syrian studies.” -- Edward Ziter * author of Political Performance in Syria: From the Six-Day War to the Syrian Uprising *“Mediating the Uprising expertly reveals how Syria’s most successful transnational media products have fared during and responded to the current conflicts. Rebecca Joubin displays uncommon dexterity in how she interlaces a wealth of detail, from knowledgeable insight into sociopolitical contexts to illuminating interviews with the musalsalat’s creative personnel. This approachable book will appeal just as much to specialized scholars as to a general readership wishing to learn more about how devastating geopolitical events take their toll on our media industries and their representations of gender.” -- Kay Dickinson * author of Arab Cinema Travels: Transnational Syria, Palestine, Dubai and Beyond *“A huge accomplishment, Mediating the Uprising combines smart readings of Syrian television miniseries with detailed ethnographic analysis. Joubin reveals the strategies of artists--both oppositional and regime-supporters--who are testing the limits of social and political expression, and the workings of an industry navigating seven years of civil war. The book is an invaluable addition to media studies and Syrian studies.” -- Edward Ziter * author of Political Performance in Syria: From the Six-Day War to the Syrian Uprising *“Mediating the Uprising expertly reveals how Syria’s most successful transnational media products have fared during and responded to the current conflicts. Rebecca Joubin displays uncommon dexterity in how she interlaces a wealth of detail, from knowledgeable insight into sociopolitical contexts to illuminating interviews with the musalsalat’s creative personnel. This approachable book will appeal just as much to specialized scholars as to a general readership wishing to learn more about how devastating geopolitical events take their toll on our media industries and their representations of gender.” -- Kay Dickinson * author of Arab Cinema Travels: Transnational Syria, Palestine, Dubai and Beyond *Table of ContentsTable of Contents Series Foreword List of Illustrations List of Abbreviations Note on Transliteration A Chronology of the Syrian Uprising Introduction: New Directions in Television Drama Amid an Uprising Chapter One: Mediating the Uprising Chapter Two: Socio-Political Satire in the Multi-Year Syrian Sketch Series Buq‘at Daw’ (Spotlight): Artistic Resistance via Gender and Marriage Metaphors, 2001 to 2017 Chapter Three: The Rise and Fall of the Qabaday (Tough Man): (De)constructing Fatherhood as Political Protest Chapter Four: The Politics of Love and Desire in Post-Uprising Syrian and Transnational Arab Television Drama Chapter Five: The Politics of Queer Representations in Syrian Television Drama Past and Present Conclusion Appendix 1: Charts of Miniseries for Ramadan 2011-2018 (Miniseries that touch on the uprising are in bold) Appendix 2: Table of Percentages of Miniseries 2011-2018 Appendix 3: Chart of Miniseries for Ramdan 2019 (Miniseries that touch on the uprising are in bold) Appendix 4: Table of Percentages of Miniseries 2019 Acknowledgments Bibliography/Filmography Index

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Book SynopsisThis is the first book that examines how “ethnic spectacle” in the form of Asian and Latin American bodies played a significant role in the cultural Cold War at three historic junctures: the Korean War in 1950, the Cuban Revolution in 1959, and the statehood of Hawaii in 1959. As a means to strengthen U.S. internationalism and in an effort to combat the growing influence of communism, television variety shows, such as The Xavier Cugat Show, The Ed Sullivan Show, and The Chevy Show, were envisioned as early forms of global television. Beyond the Black and White TV examines the intimate moments of cultural interactions between the white hosts and the ethnic guests to illustrate U.S. aspirations for global power through the medium of television. These depictions of racial harmony aimed to shape a new perception of the United States as an exemplary nation of democracy, equality, and globalism.Trade Review"Fascinating, compelling, and important, Beyond the Black and White TV demonstrates how government objectives were married with the goals of television productions to display migration, integration, and global imagination in order to control discourses of race and nation.This work reframes television history through the lens of variety shows by engaging with race from an industry perspective, informing readers how race factored into the production of genre and national identity." -- L.S. Kim * associate professor, Film and Digital Media, University of California, Santa Cruz *"Benjamin M. Han illuminates the secret history of the American variety show, deftly revealing the cosmopolitan roots of a familiar TV format. A major contribution to the cultural history of the Cold War." -- Christina Klein * author of Cold War Cosmopolitanism: Period Style in 1950s Korean Cinema *"Beyond the Black and White TV makes a convincing and timely argument that the history of Asian and Latin American media representation is the history of anticommunism [and] serves as a warning to critically examine such media representation as more than merely evidence of America’s racial liberalism but also as an instrument for its political interests." * Journal of Asian American Studies *"The Cold War has been studied by many, but this is the first book that does so by looking at how the “ethnic spectacle” helped the United States in winning the cultural Cold War." * Journal of Popular Culture *"This book illustrates the process by which various races coexist to construct a state and how television programs are used to form national identity… Readers tired of examining the Cold War only in the context of international politics will enjoy understanding the conflict through various experiences of racial diversity and ambiguity." -- Wonjung Min * Asian Communication Research *Table of ContentsContents Introduction 1 Narratives of Integration: Ethnic Spectacle and Las Vegas 2 Narratives of Exchange: Asian/ American Performers after the Korean War 3 Narratives of Partnership: Latin American Entertainers in the Post-Cuban Revolution 4 Narratives of Co-Existence: Pacific Islanders and the Statehood of Hawaii’i Epilogue Epilogue Acknowledgments Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisBetween 1971 and 1979, All in the Family was more than just a wildly popular television sitcom that routinely drew 50 million viewers weekly. It was also a touchstone of American life, so much so that the living room chairs of the two main characters have spent the last 40 years on display at the Smithsonian. How did a show this controversial and boundary-breaking manage to become so widely beloved?Those Were the Days is the first full-length study of this remarkable television program. Created by Norman Lear and produced by Bud Yorkin, All in the Family dared to address such taboo topics as rape, abortion, menopause, homosexuality, and racial prejudice in a way that no other sitcom had before. Through a close analysis of the sitcom’s four main characters—boorish bigot Archie Bunker, his devoted wife Edith, their feminist daughter Gloria, and her outspoken liberal husband Mike—Jim Cullen demonstrates how All in the Family was able to bridge the generation gap and appeal to a broad spectrum of American viewers in an age when a network broadcast model of television created a shared national culture. Locating All in the Family within the larger history of American television, this book shows how it transformed the medium, not only spawning spinoffs like Maude and The Jeffersons, but also helping to inspire programs like Roseanne, Married... with Children, and The Simpsons. And it raises the question: could a show this edgy ever air on broadcast television today?Trade Review"Little did I know about the world Archie Bunker and All in the Family were born into until I read Jim Cullen’s informed and perceptive Those Were the Days: Why All In The Family Still Matters." -- Norman Lear"Jim Cullen's beguiling scholarship offers a nimble treatment of what was arguably American television's most influential scripted series, made in the waning days of the now bygone mass audience." -- Robert Thompson * Founding Director, Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture, Syracuse University *"'All in the Family' pushed the envelope on race and gender. Has America regressed since then?" by Jim Cullen * USA Today *"A very accessible and highly readable study that situates All in the Family aptly in its historical moment. It illuminates why the show became a landmark and what makes it so special to this day." -- Christina von Hodenberg * author of Television's Moment: Sitcom Audiences and the Sixties Cultural Revolution *"From how each character evolved to the family's resemblance to real-life changes and developing social awareness, Those Were the Days provides a solid study that will serve as discussion material for any media studies or American social history classroom." * Donovan's Literary Services *"Those were the days: As ‘All in the Family’ turns 50, a look at why it succeeded" by Jim Cullen * New York Daily News *"Norman Lear deserves his Golden Globe award — does America deserve him?" by Benjamin Lear * The Foreward *Mary Baker Eddy Library podcast: Jean Stapleton and the spiritual dimensions of “All in the Family” episode * Seekers and Scholars podcast *Table of ContentsContents Introduction: Broad(cast) Humor 1 Situation Comedy, Situation Tragedy: The Transitional World of All in the Family 2 The Revolution, Televised: Origins of the Family 3 Fuzzy Reception: Meeting the Bunkers 4 Producing Comedy: Making All in the Family 5 The Character of Home: Chez Bunker 6 Not Bad for a Bigot: The Making of Archie Bunker 7 A Really Great Housewife: The Character of Edith Baines Bunker 8 Left In: The Liberal Arts of Michael Stivic 9 “Little Girl” to Mother: The Working-Class Feminism of Gloria Bunker Stivic 10 Family Resemblance: The Rise and Fall of the Lear Television Empire Conclusion: Just Like Us Acknowledgments Index

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Book SynopsisOur 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.Trade Review"This is a terrific book, fun and learned and provocative. Ranging across television from The Waltons to The Americans, Cullen provides an entertaining and thoughtful account of the ways that we remember and how this is influenced and directed by what we watch. The discussions of popular television series are excellent, and together they provide a compelling account of historical television, reminding us that nothing artistic happens by chance and that we should be careful of what we believe." -- Jerome de Groot * author of Consuming History: Historians and Heritage in Contemporary Popular Culture *"Jim Cullen has been writing incisively about how Americans remember the past and make sense of the present through various forms of popular culture for a quarter-century. This time his focus is prime-time television with deep dives into seven celebrated series from the 1960s through the 2010s, which will inspire readers to return to these beloved programs with renewed insight and appreciation." -- Gary R. Edgerton * Professor of Creative Media and Entertainment at Butler University and coeditor of the Journal of Po *Table of ContentsINTRODUCTION Television’s History 1 LEFT TO THE RIGHTThe Waltons as a 1970s Version of the 1930s 2 CAMP HISTORYHogan’s Heroes as a 1960s Version of the 1940s 3 A FUNNY WARM*A*S*H as a 1970s Version of the 1950s 4 DREAM ADVERTISEMENTMad Men as a 2000s Version of the 1960s 5 WE’RE ALL ALL RIGHTThat ’70s Show as a 1990s Version of the 1970s 6 DOMESTIC FRONTThe Americans as a 2010s Version of the 1980s 7 PROGRAMMING HOPEHalt and Catch Fire as a 2010s Version of the 1990s CONCLUSION Visualizing the Future of the Past Acknowledgments Notes Index

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Book SynopsisPrestige Television explores how a growing array of 21st century US programming is produced and received in ways that elevate select series above the competition in a saturated market. Contributing authors demonstrate that these shows are positioned and understood as comprising an increasingly recognizable genre characterized by familiar markers of distinction. In contrast to most accounts of elite categorizations of contemporary US television programming that center on HBO and its primary streaming rivals, these essays examine how efforts to imbue series with prestigious or elevated status now permeate the rest of the medium, including network as well as basic and undervalued premium cable channels. Case study chapters focusing on diverse series, ranging from widely recognized examples such as The Americans (2013-2018) and The Knick (2014-15) to contested examples like Queen of the South (2016-2021) and How I Met Your Mother (2005-2014), highlight how contributing authors extend conceptions of the genre beyond expected parameters. Trade Review“Seth Friedman and Amanda Keeler prompt us to rethink conventional wisdom about 'Quality TV' and explore a rich terrain that combines TV industry strategies and textual expressions. The book makes a wonderful contribution to the study of recent and contemporary television and its shifting cultural status.” -- Michael Z. Newman * Professor of English and Media, Cinema, and Digital Studies, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee *“Closely examining the ways in which industrial, textual, paratextual, and contextual factors have shaped the category of prestige television programming in the 21st century, Seth Friedman and Amanda Keeler invite us to ponder if prestige television should perhaps be recognized as a new genre. This rich and timely volume is a must read for scholars, students, and TV fans alike.” -- Yeidy Rivero * author of Broadcasting Modernity: Cuban Commercial Television, 1950-1960 *Table of ContentsIntroduction 1 SETH FRIEDMAN AND AMANDA KEELERPart I The Fringes of Prestige TV: Genre and Markers of Distinction 1 Spies Like Us: Genre Mixing, Brand Building, and Reagan’s 1980s in The Americans DAVID R. COON 2 Disrupting the Pattern of Prestige TV: Fringe AMANDA KEELER 3 “But Is It Star Trek?”: Prestige, Fandom, and the Return of Star Trek to Television MURRAY LEEDER 4 Negotiating Prestige on The CW: Is Roswell, New Mexico “Another Show about Teenagers Getting F-cked Up and Having Sex” or a Sophisticated Exploration of Racial and Gender Politics? CATHERINE MARTINPart II How Contemporary Programming Met Prestige TV: Unconventional Depictions of Cultural and Televisual Norms 5 Prestige Adaptation by Design: The Commercial Appeal of Latinx Tropes in Queen of the South JAVIER RAMIREZ 6 “Tell Them We Are Gone”: Imperial Narratives, Indigenous Perspectives, and Prestige in The Terror JUSTIN O. RAWLINS 7 Prestige Comedy: Contemporary Sitcom Narrative and Complexity in How I Met Your Mother ANDRE W J. BOTTOMLEYPart III Top of the Media Hierarchy: Cinematization and Television’s Elevation 8 Running The Knick Show: Transfusing Steven Soderbergh’s Authorial Persona into the Prestige Medical Series SETH FRIEDMAN 9 Legitimating Top of the Lake: Jane Campion, the Film Fest, and the Miniseries W. D. PHILLIPS 10 Specters of Serling: Authorship, Television History, and Inherited Prestige in The Twilight Zone (2019–2020) JOSIE TORRES BARTH Acknowledgments Selected Bibliography Notes on Contributors Index

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Book SynopsisPrestige Television explores how a growing array of 21st century US programming is produced and received in ways that elevate select series above the competition in a saturated market. Contributing authors demonstrate that these shows are positioned and understood as comprising an increasingly recognizable genre characterized by familiar markers of distinction. In contrast to most accounts of elite categorizations of contemporary US television programming that center on HBO and its primary streaming rivals, these essays examine how efforts to imbue series with prestigious or elevated status now permeate the rest of the medium, including network as well as basic and undervalued premium cable channels. Case study chapters focusing on diverse series, ranging from widely recognized examples such as The Americans (2013-2018) and The Knick (2014-15) to contested examples like Queen of the South (2016-2021) and How I Met Your Mother (2005-2014), highlight how contributing authors extend conceptions of the genre beyond expected parameters. Trade Review“Seth Friedman and Amanda Keeler prompt us to rethink conventional wisdom about 'Quality TV' and explore a rich terrain that combines TV industry strategies and textual expressions. The book makes a wonderful contribution to the study of recent and contemporary television and its shifting cultural status.” -- Michael Z. Newman * Professor of English and Media, Cinema, and Digital Studies, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee *“Closely examining the ways in which industrial, textual, paratextual, and contextual factors have shaped the category of prestige television programming in the 21st century, Seth Friedman and Amanda Keeler invite us to ponder if prestige television should perhaps be recognized as a new genre. This rich and timely volume is a must read for scholars, students, and TV fans alike.” -- Yeidy Rivero * author of Broadcasting Modernity: Cuban Commercial Television, 1950-1960 *Table of ContentsIntroduction 1 SETH FRIEDMAN AND AMANDA KEELERPart I The Fringes of Prestige TV: Genre and Markers of Distinction 1 Spies Like Us: Genre Mixing, Brand Building, and Reagan’s 1980s in The Americans DAVID R. COON 2 Disrupting the Pattern of Prestige TV: Fringe AMANDA KEELER 3 “But Is It Star Trek?”: Prestige, Fandom, and the Return of Star Trek to Television MURRAY LEEDER 4 Negotiating Prestige on The CW: Is Roswell, New Mexico “Another Show about Teenagers Getting F-cked Up and Having Sex” or a Sophisticated Exploration of Racial and Gender Politics? CATHERINE MARTINPart II How Contemporary Programming Met Prestige TV: Unconventional Depictions of Cultural and Televisual Norms 5 Prestige Adaptation by Design: The Commercial Appeal of Latinx Tropes in Queen of the South JAVIER RAMIREZ 6 “Tell Them We Are Gone”: Imperial Narratives, Indigenous Perspectives, and Prestige in The Terror JUSTIN O. RAWLINS 7 Prestige Comedy: Contemporary Sitcom Narrative and Complexity in How I Met Your Mother ANDRE W J. BOTTOMLEYPart III Top of the Media Hierarchy: Cinematization and Television’s Elevation 8 Running The Knick Show: Transfusing Steven Soderbergh’s Authorial Persona into the Prestige Medical Series SETH FRIEDMAN 9 Legitimating Top of the Lake: Jane Campion, the Film Fest, and the Miniseries W. D. PHILLIPS 10 Specters of Serling: Authorship, Television History, and Inherited Prestige in The Twilight Zone (2019–2020) JOSIE TORRES BARTH Acknowledgments Selected Bibliography Notes on Contributors Index

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