ABSTRACT
Across the industry, television underwent massive changes during the first years of the twenty-first century. Both the trade and popular press prognosticated loudly about the imminent death of this or that aspect of the medium, often reporting with unrestrained certainty of the revolution that the development of the moment (DVR, product placement, online video, etc.) would bring to the industry and by default, American culture. Such coverage nearly always excerpted the bright shiny object or development from the complicated and interconnected practices of the broader circuit of television production that variably might be affected, as if a change in a practice such as advertising would not too bring changes in production or distribution practices. The consequences of each new technology or shift in practice were inextricable from adjustments throughout the production process though, and the critical study of television required an approach that avoided the revolutionary prophesies of isolated “developments of the moment” and instead necessitated examining the interconnections among new technologies and practices. Such a situation warranted a production study of the television industry.
