ABSTRACT
Whether we’re watching re-runs of the stylish, fashion-forward classic The Avengers, marvelling at the precise choreography of car chases on Starsky and Hutch, or tuning in for the latest (re-)incarnation of Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), the presence of the action series in prime-time TV programming is something we now take for granted. To date, most analyses of action series have tended to focus on their roles in social reproduction, viewing them as part of a larger ‘(unconscious) ideological project’ promoted through the media industries (Buxton, 1990: 14). This chapter, however, seeks to understand the emergence of the action series in relation to the shifting political economy of television industries in post-war Britain and North America. Though attention to industry organization and business imperatives are often side-lined in analyses of popular television in favour of textual deconstruction and audience-based research, attention to the dynamics of political economy is essential if we are to fully engage with the ways that the moment of production inscribes itself into the meanings of cultural products (see McGuigan, 1992). Thus, as Douglas Kellner observes (1997: 18), analyses of specific historical, political and economic contexts and relations can illuminate our understanding of texts, enabling us to consider not only the sign value and audience responses to cultural products, but also the role of cultural producers in determining their form and content.
