Quality TV : contemporary American television and beyond / edited by Janet McCabe and Kim Akass.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

McCabe, Janet.

Akass, Kim.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Television programs--United States--History and criticism.

Television programs.

Television broadcasting--United States.

Television broadcasting.

United States.

Popular culture--United States.

Popular culture.

Physical Description:

xx, 292 pages ; 22 cm

Place of Publication:

London ; New York : I.B. Tauris ; New York : distributed by Palgrave Macmillan, 2007.

Summary:

In his now-seminal book, Television's Second Golden Age, Robert Thompson described quality TV as 'best defined by what it is not: it is not "regular" TV. Audacious maybe, but his statement renewed debate on the meaning of this highly contentious term. Dealing primarily with the post-1996 era shaped by digital technologies and defined by consumer choice and brand marketing, Quality TV brings together leading scholars, established journalists and experienced broadcasters working in the field of contemporary television to debate what we currently mean by quality TV.

They go deep into contemporary American television fictions, from The Sopranos and The West Wing, to CSI and Lost - innovative, sometimes controversial, always compelling dramas, which one scholar has described as 'now better than the movies!' But how do we understand the emergence of these kinds of fiction? Are they genuinely new, or merely repackaging older television formulas? What does quality TV have to tell us about the state of today's television market? And is it quality?

Original, often polemic, each chapter proposes new ways of thinking about and defining quality TV. There is a foreword from Robert Thompson, and heated dialogue between major British and US television critics. Also included - and a great coup - are fresh and full interviews with W. 'Snuffy' Walden and with David Chase. Quality TV provides throughout groundbreaking and innovative theoretical and critical approaches to studying television and for understanding the current - and future - TV landscape.

Contents:

Introduction: Debating Quality / Janet McCabe, Kim Akass 1

'Quality TV' On Show / Karen Fricker 13

Part 1 Defining Quality: Critical Judgements and Debate 17

1 Is Quality Television Any Good? Generic Distinctions, Evaluations and the Troubling Matter of Critical Judgement / Sarah Cardwell 19

2 Quality TV: A US TV Critic's Perspective / David Bianculli 35

3 Quality TV Drama: Estimations and Influences Through Time and Space / Robin Nelson 38

4 As Seen on TV: Women's Rights and Quality Television / Ashley Sayeau 52

5 Sex, Swearing and Respectability: Courting Controversy, HBO's Original Programming and Producing Quality TV / Janet McCabe, Kim Akass 62

Part 2 Defining Quality: Industry, Policy and Competitive Markets 77

6 Quality Control: The Daily Show, the Peabody and Brand Discipline / Jimmie L. Reeves, Mark C. Rogers, Michael M. Epstein 79

7 Inside American Television Drama: Quality is Not What is Produced, But What it Produces / Peter Dunne 98

8 Quality US TV: A Buyer's Perspective / Dermot Horan 111

9 CSI: Crime Scene Investigation: Quality, the Fifth Channel and 'America's Finest' / Ian Goode 118

10 The Problem of Quality Television: Television Schedules, Audience Demographics and Cultural Policy in New Zealand / Geoff Lealand 129

Part 3 Defining Quality: Aesthetics, Form, Content 143

11 HBO and the Concept of Quality TV / Jane Feuer 145

12 Seeing and Knowing: Reflexivity and Quality / Jonathan Bignell 158

13 Quality and Creativity in TV: The Work of Television Storytellers / Maire Messenger Davies 171

14 Mark Lawson Talks to David Chase / Mark Lawson 185

15 Writing Music for Quality TV: An Interview with W.G. 'Snuffy' Walden / Peter Kaye 221

16 Read Any Good Television Lately? Television Companion Books and Quality TV / David Lavery 228

Afterthoughts: Defining Quality: Into the Future 237

17 Lost in Transition: From Post-Network to Post-Television / Roberta Pearson 239

TV and Film Guide 257.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [271]-286) and index.

ISBN:

9781845115111

1845115112

OCLC:

144227210