The Television Genre Book

by Creeber, Glen

• ISBN13: 9781844572175
• ISBN10: 184457217X
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-02-15
• Publisher: British Film Inst

Summary

Genre is central to understanding the industrial context and the visual form of television. This new edition of a key textbook brings together leading international scholars to provide an accessible and comprehensive introduction to the debates, issues and concerns of television genre. The Television Genre Book is structured in eleven sections which introduce the concept of 'genre' itself and how it has been understood in television studies, and then address in turn key televisual genres: drama, soap opera, comedy, news, documentary, reality television, children's television, animation, prime time and day time. The discussion is illustrated throughout with case studies of classic and contemporary programming from each genre, ranging from The Sopranos to Bleak House and from Monty Python's Flying Circus to South Park . The second edition includes selected guides to further reading and a full bibliography.

Author Biography

Glen Creeber is Senior Lecturer in Film and Television at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth.  He is the author of Serial Television (BFI 2004), editor of Tele-Visions: An Introduction to Studying Television (BFI 2006) and of a study of The Singing Detective in the BFI TV Classics series (2007). 

 

Table of Contents

What is Genre?
Genre Theory	p. 1
Studying Genre	p. 3
Genre and Television	p. 5
The Uses and Limitations of Genre	p. 6
Genre, Hybridity and Mutation	p. 8
Genre, Format and 'Live' Television	p. 8
Genre Study - Beyond the Text (Lost)	p. 9
Drama
Studying Television Drama (G. W. Brandt/J. Tulloch)	p. 14
The Single Play (The Wednesday Play/Play for Today)	p. 15
The Western (Alias Smith and Jones)	p. 20
The Action Series (Man from UNCLE/Avengers)	p. 24
The Crime Series (Hill Street Blues)	p. 29
Hospital Drama (ER)	p. 34
Science Fiction (Star Trek)	p. 36
Drama-Documentary (Cathy Come Home/The Day After)	p. 42
The Mini-Series (Roots/The Singing Detective)	p. 46
Costume Drama (Jane Austen Adaptations)	p. 49
The Teen Series	p. 52
Postmodern Drama (Twin Peaks)	p. 54
Soap Opera
Studying Soap Opera	p. 60
Realism and Soap Opera (Soul City)	p. 63
Soap Operas and their Audiences (A Country Practice)	p. 68
The Telenovela (Brazillian Telenovelas)	p. 71
Comedy
Studying Comedy - (Humour Theory)	p. 74
Sketch Comedy (Monty Python's Flying Circus)	p. 76
Situation Comedy, Part 1	p. 78
Situation Comedy, Part 2 (The Unruly Woman Sitcom)	p. 81
The 'Gay' and 'Queer' Sitcom (Will and Grace)	p. 86
Contemporary Sitcom ('Comedy Verite') (The Office - Brett Mills)	p. 88
Children's Television
Studying Children's Television (Goodnight Mr Tom)	p. 92
The Child Audience (Pre-schoolers: A Special Audience)	p. 94
Moral Panics (Teletubbies)	p. 98
Children and Advertising	p. 101
News
Studying Television News (The Propaganda Model of News: Herman and Chomsky)	p. 104
Analysing Television News	p. 108
Constructing News Values (Gatekeeper Studies)	p. 111
Objectivity and Television News (The BBC and Impartiality)	p. 113
The Infotainment Debate	p. 115
The Globalisation of Television News (CNN (Cable News Network))	p. 117
Citizen Journalism (Al-Jazeera)	p. 120
Documentary
Studying Documentary	p. 123
Form and Content in Documentary Study	p. 124
Documentary Realism (Documentary Fakes)	p. 125
Observational ('Fly-on-the-Wall') Documentary - (New Reflexive Documentary - The 'Broomfield Film')	p. 128
Educational Programming (The Discovery Channel and Walking with Dinosaurs)	p. 131
Reality TV
Introduction (Big Brother)	p. 134
Studying Reality TV (Audiences and Reality TV)	p. 136
Docusoaps ('Accidental Footage')	p. 138
Reality Talent Shows (Strictly Come Dancing)	p. 141
Makeover Shows (Supernanny)	p. 143
Animation
Studying Animation	p. 146
TV Animation - A Brief Overview (TV Anime and Japanese Aesthetics)	p. 147
Children's Cartoons (Cartoon Controversies)	p. 152
Adult Animation (Adult Swim)	p. 154
Popular Entertainment
The Populist Debate	p. 159
The Quiz Show (Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?)	p. 162
The Celebrity Talk Show (The Tonight Show)	p. 164
The Confessional Talk Show (The Oprah Winfrey Show)	p. 167
Sport (The Super Bowl)	p. 170
Music on Television (Music Television (MTV))	p. 172
Ordinary Television	p. 175
Daytime TV	p. 176
Advertising (The Levi's 501 'Launderette' Commercial)	p. 178
Bibliography	p. 181
Index	p. 201
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.

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