TV cops : the contemporary American television police drama / Jonathan Nichols-Pethick.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Nichols-Pethick, Jonathan.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Detective and mystery television programs--United States--History and criticism.

Detective and mystery television programs.

Television cop shows--United States--History and criticism.

Television cop shows.

United States.

Physical Description:

xi, 220 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : Routledge, 2012.

Summary:

The police drama has been one of the longest running and most popular genres in American television. In TV Cops, Jonathan Nichols-Pethick argues that, perhaps more than any other genre, the police series in all its manifestations-from Hill Street Blues to Miami Vice to The Wire-embodies the full range of the cultural dynamics to television.

Exploring the textual, industrial, and social contexts of police shows on American television, this book demonstrates how police dramas play a vital role in the way we understand and engage issues of social order that most of us otherwise experience only in such abstractions as laws and crime statistics. And given the current diffusion and popularity of the form, we might ask a number of questions that deserve serious critical attention: Under what circumstances have stories about the police proliferated in popular culture? What function do these stories become so commercially viable for both the television industry and its audiences? Why have these stories become so commercially viable for the television industry in particular? How do stories about the police help us understand current social and political debates about crime, about the communities we live, in, and about our identities as citizens? Book jacket.

Contents:

Introduction

Programming the crisis: the police drama in the post-network era

The police drama in transition: reconstituting the cultural forum in the 1980s

Stop making sense: reflection, realism, and community in homicide

Do the right thing: NYPD blue and the making of the model citizen

One thing leads to another: crime and the commerce of Law & order

This cop's for you: the multiple logics of the 21st century police drama

conclusion.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780415877879

0415877873

9780415877886

0415877881

9780203855027

0203855027

OCLC:

526111335