Kategoria BISAC: Performing Arts >> Television - History & Criticism

In A Visitor's Guide to Mystic Falls, YA authors--led by Red and Vee of premier Vampire Diaries resource Vampire-Diaries.net--take a closer look at Mystic Falls: its residents (both alive and undead) and its rich, inescapable history.

- Claudia Gray delves into the events of 1864 and how they've shaped not just Mystic Falls but the success of the show...

The hit television program American Idol provides a stage where the politics of national, regional, ethnic, and religious identity are performed for millions of viewers. Diversity is carefully highlighted and coached into a viable commodity by judges, argues Katherine Meizel, with contestants packaged into familiar portraits of American identities. Consumer choice, as expressed by audience voting, also shapes the course of the show--negotiating ideas of democracy and opportunity closely associated with the American Dream. Through interviews with audience members and participants, and...

During the worst years of apartheid, the most popular show on television in South Africa among both Black and White South Africans was "The Cosby Show." Why did people living under a system built on the idea that Black people were inferior and threatening flock to a show that portrayed African Americans as comfortably mainstream? "Starring Mandela and Cosby" takes up this paradox, revealing the surprising impact of television on racial politics.
The South African government maintained a ban on television until 1976, and according to Ron Krabill, they were right to be wary of its...

During the worst years of apartheid, the most popular show on television in South Africa among both Black and White South Africans was "The Cosby Show." Why did people living under a system built on the idea that Black people were inferior and threatening flock to a show that portrayed African Americans as comfortably mainstream? "Starring Mandela and Cosby" takes up this paradox, revealing the surprising impact of television on racial politics.
The South African government maintained a ban on television until 1976, and according to Ron Krabill, they were right to be wary of its...

The soap opera, one of U.S. television's longest-running and most influential formats, is on the brink. Declining ratings have been attributed to an increasing number of women working outside the home and to an intensifying competition for viewers' attention from cable and the Internet. Yet, soaps' influence has expanded, with serial narratives becoming commonplace on most prime time TV programs. The Survival of Soap Opera investigates the causes of their dwindling popularity, describes their impact on TV and new media culture, and gleans lessons from their complex history for...

"In the 1990s when I was watching reruns of "The Fugitive" on the Arts and Entertainment Network twice a day, I couldn't take my eyes off it. . . . No one in "The Fugitive" ever relaxes as you watch and you can't relax either, even though for long stretches absolutely nothing happens. It was the combination of nonstop tension with the (relative) absence of slam-bang action that attracted me, and as I now reflect on it, the same combination characterizes the literary works I have been reading and writing about for more than forty-five years." Stanley Fish, from the Introduction

In the...