ABSTRACT

This work brings together writings on television published in Quarterly Review of Film and Video, from essays by Nick Browne and Beverle Houston to the latest historical and critical research. It considers television's economics, technologies, forms and audiences from a cultural perspective that links history, theory and criticism. The authors address several key issues: the formative period in American television history; the relation between television's political economy and its cultural forms; gender and melodrama; and new technologies such as video games and camcorders. Originally published in 1993.

part I|65 pages

The Establishment of American Television

chapter 2|14 pages

Failed Opportunities

The Integration of the U.S. Motion Picture and Television Industries

chapter 3|29 pages

The Meaning of Memory

Family, Class and Ethnicity in Early Network Television

part II|54 pages

Cultural Theory and Network Television

chapter 5|15 pages

Viewing Television

The Metapsychology of Endless Consumption

chapter 6|23 pages

TV through the Looking Glass

part III|71 pages

Television Formats and the Inscription of Gender

part IV|32 pages

Video Transformations

chapter 10|30 pages

Performing Style

Industrial-Strength Semiotics and the Basic Televisual Apparatus

chapter 11|32 pages

Surveying the Surveilled

Video, Space and Subjectivity