Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book discusses the reconsideration of specific audiences, an understanding of the various kinds of pleasure which television can offer, and new perspectives — ones initiated by people outside the academy — on the relationship between ideology and television. A quiz questions the reader about the amount of time she spends talking to and touching her partner in the course of a typical week. The work gathered in this volume does share a common theoretical or methodological base, but it does share an interest in changing the way we think about television viewing. A variety of research methods adapted from quantitative sociology have been used in the studies of television viewing collected in this volume. Central to most of these studies is the question how audiences make meanings and pleasures in their engagement with television programs in the context of everyday life.