Re-viewing television history : critical issues in television historiography / edited by Helen Wheatley.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Wheatley, Helen (Helen M.)

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Television programs--History.

Television programs.

Television programs--Historiography.

Historiography.

History.

Physical Description:

x, 245 pages ; 24 cm

Other Title:

Reviewing television history

Place of Publication:

London ; New York : I.B. Tauris, 2007.

Summary:

As television moves into the twenty-first century, the territory it offers for exploration by its historians is becoming ever richer, wider and more challenging. Written by leading scholars in the field, this book is an internationally relevant, cutting-edge reassessment of both current methods and practices in television historiography and of assumptions and critical commonplaces about television history itself. The book focuses on debates about the canon, on texts, on production and institutions, on viewers, and the interconnections between these distinct areas. Its opening three chapters take different approaches to the notion of the 'television canon'. Then discussions and case studies cover a wide selection of themes and issues, from television's approaches to immigration and royal events to histories of television viewing, and the framing of television aesthetics within historiography. It is prefaced with the editor's overview of historical research in the field of television studies and an appendix details the main research resources for television historians in the UK. Re-viewing Television History forms an open-ended intellectual dialogue, which will be welcomed by television historians at all levels in this burgeoning area of investigation and analysis.

Contents:

Introduction: Re-viewing television histories / Helen Wheatley 1

Part 1 Debating the Canon

1 Is it possible to construct a canon of television programmes? Immanent reading versus textual-historicism / John Ellis 15

2 Citing the classics: Constructing British television drama history in publishing and pedagogy / Jonathan Bignell 27

3 Salvaging television's past: what guarantees survival? A discussion of the fates of two classic 1970s serials, The Secret Garden and Clayhanger / Maire Messenger Davies 40

Part 2 Textual Histories

4 Negotiating value and quality in television historiography / Catherine Johnson 55

5 'A friendly style of presentation which the BBC had always found elusive'? The 1950s cinema programme and the construction of British television history / Su Holmes 67

6 BBC English Regions Drama: Second City Firsts / Lez Cooke 82

Part 3 Production and Institutions

7 Nostalgia as resistance: The case of the Alexandra Palace Television Society and the BBC / Emma Sandon 99

8 Shifting sentiments: BBC Television, West Indian immigrants and cultural production / Darrell Newton 113

9 Piecing together 'Mammon's Television': A case study in historical television research / Jamie Medhurst 127

10 History on television: Charisma, narrative and knowledge / Erin Bell, Ann Gray 142

Part 4 Audiences

11 Researching the viewing culture: Television and the home, 1946-1960 / Tim O'Sullivan 159

12 Writing the history of television audiences: The Coronation in the Mass-Observation Archive / Henrik Ornebring 170

13 Teenagers and television drama in Britain, 1968-1982 / Rachel Moseley 184

Appendix Directory of Key Research Resources for Television History in the United Kingdom 199.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 219-234) and index.

ISBN:

9781845111885

1845111885

OCLC:

149613266