everything.study
21L.432

Understanding Television

3-0-9 units. HASS-H · Undergraduate

A cultural approach to television's evolution as a technology and system of representation. Considers television as a system of storytelling and mythmaking, and as a cultural practice studied from anthropological, literary, and cinematic perspectives. Focuses on prime-time commercial broadcasting, the medium's technological and economic history, and theoretical perspectives. Considerable television viewing and readings in media theory and cultural interpretation are required. Previously taught topics include American Television: A Cultural History. Students taking graduate version complete additional assignments.

Spring 2003

Topics

  • Introduction: Television and Cultural Study
  • The Wasteland Mythology
  • Television As A Cultural Form
  • The Broadcast Era
  • TV Genres
  • After the Networks
  • Summary Perspectives

Readings

  • Barnouw, Erik. Tube of Plenty: The Evolution of American Television . 2nd ed. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1990. ISBN: 0195064844.
    Required
  • Brooks, Tim, and Earle Marsh. The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946-present . 7th ed. New York, NY: Ballantine Books, 1999. ISBN: 0345429230.
    Required
  • Newcomb, Horace, ed. Television: The Critical View . 6th ed. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2000. ISBN: 0195119274.
    Required
  • Jenkins, Henry. “ Star Trek Rerun, Reread, Rewritten: Fan Writing as Textual Poaching.” pp. 470-495.
    Listed reading
  • Barthes, Roland. “The World of Wrestling.” In Mythologies . New York, NY: Hill and Wang, 1972.
    Listed reading
  • Bennett, Tony. “Theories of the Media, Theories of Society.” In Culture, Society and the Media . Edited by Michael Gurevitch et al. London, UK: Methuen, 1982, pp. 30-55.
    Listed reading
  • Carey, James. “A Cultural Approach to Communication.” In Communication as Culture . Boston, MA: Unwin Hyman, 1989.
    Listed reading
  • Esslin, Martin. “Aristotle and the Advertisers: The Television Commercial Considered as a Form of Drama.” In Television: The Critical View . 3rd ed. Edited by Horace Newcomb. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1982.
    Listed reading
  • Gerbner, George, and Larry Gross. “Living with Television: The Violence Profile.” Journal of Communication 26, no. 2 (Spring 1976): 173-199.
    Listed reading
  • Gitlin, Todd. “Make It Look Messy’: Striking a New Note with Hill Street Blues .” American Film (September 1981): 45-49, 76.
    Listed reading
  • Gomery, Douglas. “Television, Hollywood, and the Development of Movies Made-for-Television.” In Regarding Television . Edited by E. Ann Kaplan. Frederick, MD: University Publications of America, 1983, pp. 120-129.
    Listed reading
  • Klein, Paul. “The Men Who Run TV Know Us Better than You Think.” In The Mass Media Book . Edited by Rod Holmgren and William Norton. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1972.
    Listed reading
  • Modleski, Tania. “The Rhythms of Reception: Daytime Television and Women’s Work.” In Regarding Television . Edited by E. Ann Kaplan. Frederick, MD: University Publications of America, 1983.
    Listed reading
  • Newcomb, Horace. “The Television Artistry of Norman Lear.” Prospects 2 (1976): 109-125.
    Listed reading
  • Reeves, Jimmie L. “Rewriting Newhart : A Dialogic Analysis.” Wide Angle 10, no. 1 (1988): 76-91.
    Listed reading
  • Reeves, Jimmie L., and Richard Campbell. “Misplacing Frank’s Place : Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans?” Television Quarterly 24, no. 1 (1989): 45-57.
    Listed reading
  • Rogers, Marc C., Michael Epstein, and Jimmie L. Reeves. “ The Sopranos as HBO Brand Equity: The Art of Commerce in the Age of Digital Reproduction.” Chapter 6 in This Thing of Ours: Investigating The Sopranos . Edited by David Lavery. New York, NY: Columbia University Press, 2002.
    Listed reading
  • Romano, John. American Dreams , “Act of Contrition.” (script).
    Listed reading
  • Sohn, David, and Jerzy Kosinski. “A Nation of Videots.” In Television: The Critical View . 2nd ed. Edited by Horace Newcomb. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1979.
    Listed reading
  • Thorburn, David. “Detective Programs.” and “The Name of the Game.” In Encyclopedia of Television. Edited by Horace Newcomb. Chicago, IL: Fitzroy Dearborn, 1997.
    Listed reading
  • ———. “Interpretation and Judgment: A Reading of Lonesome Dove.” Critical Studies in Mass Communication 10, no. 2 (June 1993): 113-27.
    Listed reading
  • ———. “Television as an Aesthetic Medium.” Critical Studies in Mass Communication 4, no. 2 (June 1987): 161-173.
    Listed reading
  • ———. “Web of Paradox.” The American Prospect 9, no. 40 (September/October 1998): 78-80.
    Listed reading
  • Adler, Richard P., ed. Understanding Television. New York, NY: Praeger, 1981.
    Listed reading
  • Allen, Robert, ed. Channels of Discourse. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1987.
    Listed reading
  • Brown, Les, ed. The New York Times Encyclopedia of Television. New York, NY: Times Books, 1977.
    Listed reading
  • Feuer, Jane, Paul Kerr, and Tise Vahimagi, eds. MTM: “Quality Television.” London, UK: BFI Pub., 1984.
    Listed reading
  • Gurevitch, Michael, Tony Bennett, et al., eds. Culture, Society and the Media. London, UK: Methuen, 1982.
    Listed reading
  • Kaplan, E. Ann, ed. Regarding Television. Frederick, MD: University Publications of America, 1983.
    Listed reading
  • Lazere, Donald, ed. American Media and Mass Culture: Left Perspectives. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1988.
    Listed reading
  • McNeil, Alex. Total Television. New York, NY: Penguin Books, 1996.
    Listed reading
  • Modleski, Tania, ed. Studies in Entertainment. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1986.
    Listed reading
  • Newcomb, Horace, ed. Encyclopedia of Television. Chicago, IL: Fitzroy Dearborn, 1997.
    Listed reading
  • O’Connor, John E., ed. American History/American Television. New York, NY: Ungar, 1983.
    Listed reading
  • Allen, Robert. Speaking of Soap Operas . Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1985.
    Listed reading
  • Anderson, Christopher. Hollywood TV . PhD Thesis. Austin, TX: University of Texas at Austin, 1988.
    Listed reading
  • Ang, Ien. Living Room Wars: Rethinking Media Audiences . New York, NY: Routledge, 1996.
    Listed reading
  • ———. Watching Dallas . London, UK: Methuen, 1985.
    Listed reading
  • Barthes, Roland. Mythologies . New York, NY: Hill and Wang, 1972.
    Listed reading
  • Boddy, William. Fifties Television: The Industry and Its Critics . Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1990.
    Listed reading
  • Brunsdon, Charlotte, and David Morley. Everyday Television . New York, NY: Routledge, 1999.
    Listed reading
  • Burke, Peter. Popular Culture in Early Modern Europe . New York, NY: New York University Press, 1978.
    Listed reading
  • Carey, James. Communication as Culture . Boston, MA: Unwin Hyman, 1989.
    Listed reading
  • Cawelti, John. Adventure, Mystery and Romance . Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1976.
    Listed reading
  • Dayan, Daniel, and Elihu Katz. Media Events: The Live Broadcasting of History . Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1992.
    Listed reading
  • Ely, Melvin Patrick. The Adventures of Amos ’n Andy: A Social History . New York, NY: Free Press, 1992.
    Listed reading
  • Fiske, John, and John Hartley. Reading Television . London, UK: Methuen, 1978.
    Listed reading
  • Fiske, John. Television Culture . London, UK: Methuen, 1987.
    Listed reading
  • Geertz, Clifford. The Interpretation of Cultures. New York, NY: Basic Books, 1973.
    Listed reading
  • Gitlin, Todd. Inside Prime Time . Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2000.
    Listed reading
  • Hilmes, Michele. Hollywood and Broadcasting: From Radio to Cable . Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1990.
    Listed reading
  • Jenkins, Henry. Textual Poachers . New York, NY: Routledge, 1992.
    Listed reading
  • MacDonald, J. Fred. Blacks and White TV . Chicago, IL: Nelson-Hall, 1983.
    Listed reading
  • ———. One Nation Under Television: The Rise and Fall of Network TV . New York, NY: Pantheon Books, 1990.
    Listed reading
  • Marc, David. Comic Visions . Malden, MA: Blackwell, 1997.
    Listed reading
  • ———. Demographic Vistas . Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1996.
    Listed reading
  • Modleski, Tania. Loving with a Vengeance . New York, NY: Routledge, 1990.
    Listed reading
  • Morley, David. Family Television. London, UK: Comedia, 1986.
    Listed reading
  • Mulvey, Laura. Visual and Other Pleasures . Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1989.
    Listed reading
  • Newcomb, Horace. TV: The Most Popular Art . Garden City, NY: Anchor Press, 1974.
    Listed reading
  • Newcomb, Horace, and Robert S. Alley. The Producer’s Medium . New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1983.
    Listed reading
  • Palmer, Patricia. The Lively Audience: A Study of Children around the TV Set . Boston, MA: Allen & Unwin, 1986.
    Listed reading
  • Spigel, Lynn. Make Room for TV: Television and the Family Ideal in Postwar America. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1992.
    Listed reading
  • Streeter, Thomas. Selling the Air . Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1996.
    Listed reading
  • Thompson, Robert J. Television’s Second Golden Age: From Hill Street Blues to ER . New York, NY: Continuum, 1996.
    Listed reading
  • Tulloch, John, and Henry Jenkins. Science Fiction Audiences . New York, NY: Routledge, 1995.
    Listed reading
  • Williams, Raymond. Television: Technology and Cultural Form . New York, NY: Schocken Books, 1975.
    Listed reading

Prerequisites & course information

Same subject as CMS.315[J] Subject meets with CMS.915 Prereq: None U (Spring) Not offered regularly; consult department 3-0-9 units. HASS-H Can be repeated for credit.

Sources