A01=James Lyons
A01=Mark Jancovich
Author_James Lyons
Author_Mark Jancovich
Category=ATJ
Category=JBCC1
culture
eq_art-fashion-photography
eq_bestseller
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
film
film and television
film history
history
industry
media
social science
television
Product details
- ISBN 9780851709413
- Weight: 400g
- Dimensions: 152 x 232mm
- Publication Date: 02 Jan 2008
- Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Paperback
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Why are some contemporary television shows so compelling? The Sopranos, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Friends and ER are examples among many of a new era of the 'must-see' programme. These shows and others like The X-Files and Ally McBeal, have a compulsiveness, a depth of characterisation and 'back-story' that puts most of cinema to shame. Quality Popular Television looks at this new category of 'cult' television (mostly US-produced) and the reasons for its emergence. Looking at shows as diverse as Ally McBeal, Martial Law, Buffy, Lois and Clark, Star Trek: The Next Generation and Ellen the book examines the particular qualities necessary for success and how they relate to issues such as the economics of network scheduling, the growth of the internet and contemporary debates about television audiences. This important new book provides an invaluable window on transformations in contemporary television culture.
Dr Mark Jancovich is Reader and Director of the Institute of Film Studies at the University of Nottingham. James Lyons is a lecturer in film at the University of Exeter. He is the author of 'John Sayles: Independence, Integrity and the Borders of Identity' (co-written with Mark Jancovich, in Yvonne Tasker, ed, Fifty Contemporary Film Makers) and a member of the editorial advisory board of Scope: An Online Journal of Film Studies
