A Companion To Television

A Companion to Television is a magisterial collection of 31 original essays that charter the field of television studies over the past century
Explores a diverse range of topics and theories that have led to television’s current incarnation, and predict its likely future
Covers technology and aesthetics, television’s relationship to the state, televisual commerce; texts, representation, genre, internationalism, and audience reception and effects
Essays are by an international group of first-rate scholars
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Janet Wasko is Professor in the School of Communication and Journalism at the University of Oregon. Her many books include Hollywood in the Information Age: Beyond the Silver Screen (1994), Consuming Audiences? Production and Reception in Media Research (1999), Understanding Disney: The Manufacture of Fantasy (2001), and How Hollywood Works (2003).

List of Figures.
Notes on Contributors.
Introduction (Janet Wasko).
Part I Theoretical Overviews.
1 The Development of Television Studies (Horace Newcomb).
2 Critical Perspectives on Television from the Frankfurt School to Postmodernism (Doug Kellner).
Part II Television/History.
3 Television and History (Paddy Scannell).
4 Our TV Heritage: Television, the Archive, and the Reasons for Preservation (Lynn Spigel).
Part III Television/Aesthetics and Production.
5 Television as a Moving Aesthetic: In Search of the Ultimate Aesthetic – The Self (Julianne H. Newton).
6 Locating the Televisual in Golden Age Television (Caren Deming).
7 Television Production: Who Makes American TV (Jane M. Shattuc)?
Part IV Television/The State and Policy.
8 Who Rules TV? States, Markets, and the Public Interest (Sylvia Harvey).
9 Public Broadcasting and Democratic Culture: Consumers, Citizens, and Communards (Graham Murdock).
10 Culture, Services, Knowledge: Television between Policy Regimes (Stuart Cunningham).
Part V Television/Commerce.
11 Television Advertising as Textual and Economic Systems (Matthew P. McAllister).
12 Watching Television: A Political Economic Approach (Eileen R. Meehan).
13 Keeping "Abreast" of MTV and Viacom: The Growing Power of a Media Conglomerate (Jack Banks).
14 The Trade in Television News (Andrew Calabrese).
15 Configurations of the New Television Landscape (Albert Moran).
16 The Study of Soap Opera (Christine Geraghty).
17 The Shifting Terrain of American Talk Shows (Jane M. Shattuc).
18 Television and Sports (Michael R. Real).
19 "Where the Past Comes Alive": Television, History, and Collective Memory (Gary R. Edgerton).
20 "How Will You Make it on Your Own?": Television and Feminism Since 1970 (Bonnie J. Dow).
21 Television and Race (Sasha Torres).
Part VII Television/The Public and Audiences.
22 Television, Public Spheres, and Civic Cultures (Peter Dahlgren).
23 Television and Public Opinion (Justin Lewis).
24 Reality TV: Performance, Authenticity, and Television Audiences (Annette Hill).
25 A Special Audience? Children and Television (David Buckingham).
Part VIII Television/Alternative Challenges.
26 Local Community Channels: Alternatives to Corporate Media Dominance (DeeDee Halleck).
Part IX International Television/Case Studies.
27 Latin American Commercial Television: "Primitive Capitalism" (John Sinclair).
28 Television in China: History, Political Economy, and Ideology (Yuezhi Zhao and Zhenzhi Guo).
29 Japanese Television: Early Development and Research (Shunya Yoshimi).
30 Change and Transformation in South African Television (Ruth Teer-Tomaselli).
31 Television in the Arab East (Nabil H. Dajani).
Index.