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Readings

Required Texts
Barnouw, Erik. Tube of Plenty: The Evolution of American Television. 2nd ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1990.

Brooks, Tim, and Earle Marsh. The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946-present. 7th ed. New York: Ballantine Books, 1999.

Newcomb, Horace, ed. Television: The Critical View. 6th ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000. Selections:
  • Alvey, Mark. "The Independents: Rethinking the Television Studio System," pp. 34-52.
  • Anderson, Christopher. "Disneyland," pp. 17-34.
  • Byars, Jackie, and Eileen Meehan. "Once in a Lifetime: Constructing the 'Working Woman' through Cable Narrowcasting," pp. 144-169.
  • Gray, Herman. "The Politics of Representation in Network Television," pp. 282-306.
  • Hirsch, Paul, and Horace Newcomb. "Television as a Cultural Forum," pp. 561-574.
  • Jenkins, Henry. "Star Trek Rerun, Reread, Rewritten: Fan Writing as Textual Poaching," pp. 470-495.
  • Marc, David. "What Was Broadcasting?" pp. 629-649.
  • McGrath, Charles. "The Triumph of the Prime-Time Novel," pp. 242-253.
  • Spigel, Lynn. "Women's Work," pp. 73-100.
  • Thorburn, David. "Television Melodrama," pp. 595-609.
  • Williams, Phil. "Feeding Off the Past: The Evolution of the Television Rerun," pp. 52-73.
Additional Readings 
Barthes, Roland. "The World of Wrestling." In Mythologies. New York: Hill and Wang, 1972.

Bennett, Tony. "Theories of the Media, Theories of Society." In Culture, Society and the Media. Edited by Michael Gurevitch et al. London: Methuen, 1982, pp. 30-55.

Carey, James. "A Cultural Approach to Communication." In Communication as Culture. Boston: Unwin Hyman, 1989.

Esslin, Martin. "Aristotle and the Advertisers: The Television Commercial Considered as a Form of Drama." In Television: The Critical View. Edited by Horace Newcomb. 3rd ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1982.

Gerbner, George, and Larry Gross. "Living with Television: The Violence Profile." Journal of Communication, Vol. 26, No. 2 (Spring 1976): 173-199.

Gitlin, Todd. "'Make It Look Messy': Striking a New Note with Hill Street Blues." American Film (September 1981): 45-49, 76.

Gomery, Douglas. "Television, Hollywood, and the Development of Movies Made-for-Television." In Regarding Television. Edited by E. Ann Kaplan. [Frederick, MD]: University Publications of America, 1983, pp. 120-129.

Klein, Paul. "The Men Who Run TV Know Us Better than You Think." In The Mass Media Book. Edited by Rod Holmgren and William Norton. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1972.

Modleski, Tania. "The Rhythms of Reception: Daytime Television and Women's Work." In Regarding Television. Edited by E. Ann Kaplan. [Frederick, MD]: University Publications of America, 1983.

Newcomb, Horace. "The Television Artistry of Norman Lear." Prospects, Vol. 2 (1976): 109-125.

Reeves, Jimmie L. "Rewriting Newhart: A Dialogic Analysis." Wide Angle, Vol. 10, No. 1 (1988): 76-91.

Reeves, Jimmie L., and Richard Campbell. "Misplacing Frank's Place: Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans?" Television Quarterly, Vol. 24, No. 1 (1989): 45-57.

Rogers, Marc C., Michael Epstein, and Jimmie L. Reeves. "The Sopranos as HBO Brand Equity: The Art of Commerce in the Age of Digital Reproduction." Chap. 6 in This Thing of Ours: Investigating The Sopranos. Edited by David Lavery. New York: Columbia University Press, 2002.

Romano, John. American Dreams, "Act of Contrition" (script).

Sohn, David, and Jerzy Kosinski. "A Nation of Videots." In Television: The Critical View. Edited by Horace Newcomb. 2nd ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1979.

Thorburn, David. "Detective Programs," and "The Name of the Game." In Encyclopedia of Television. Edited by Horace Newcomb. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn, 1997.

Thorburn, David. "Interpretation and Judgment: A Reading of Lonesome Dove." Critical Studies in Mass Communication, Vol. 10, No. 2 (June 1993): 113-27.

Thorburn, David. "Television as an Aesthetic Medium." Critical Studies in Mass Communication, Vol. 4, No. 2 (June 1987): 161-173.

Thorburn, David. "Web of Paradox." The American Prospect, Vol. 9, No. 40 (September/October 1998): 78-80.

Uricchio, William. "There's More to the Camera Obscura than Meets the Eye." Manuscript.

Recommended Texts
1. Reference Works and Collections of Essays

Adler, Richard P., ed. Understanding Television. New York: Praeger, 1981.

Allen, Robert, ed. Channels of Discourse. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1987.

Brown, Les, ed. The New York Times Encyclopedia of Television. New York: Times Books, 1977.

Feuer, Jane, Paul Kerr, and Tise Vahimagi, eds. MTM: "Quality Television." London: BFI Pub., 1984.

Gurevitch, Michael, Tony Bennett, et al., eds. Culture, Society and the Media. London: Methuen, 1982.
 
Kaplan, E. Ann, ed. Regarding Television. [Frederick, Md.]: University Publications of America, 1983.

Lazere, Donald, ed. American Media and Mass Culture: Left Perspectives. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988.

McNeil, Alex. Total Television. New York: Penguin Books, 1996.

Modleski, Tania, ed. Studies in Entertainment. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1986.

Newcomb, Horace, ed. Encyclopedia of Television. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn, 1997.

O'Connor, John E., ed. American History/American Television. New York: Ungar, 1983.

2. Critical and Historical Studies

Allen, Robert. Speaking of Soap Operas. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1985.

Anderson, Christopher. Hollywood TV. Ph. D. Thesis. University of Texas at Austin, 1988.

Ang, Ien. Living Room Wars: Rethinking Media Audiences. New York: Routledge, 1996.

Ang, Ien. Watching Dallas. London: Methuen, 1985.

Barthes, Roland. Mythologies. New York: Hill and Wang, 1972.
 
Boddy, William. Fifties Television: The Industry and Its Critics. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1990.
 
Brunsdon, Charlotte, and David Morley. Everyday Television. New York: Routledge, 1999.

Burke, Peter. Popular Culture in Early Modern Europe. New York: New York University Press, 1978.
 
Carey, James. Communication as Culture. Boston: Unwin Hyman, 1989.
 
Cawelti, John. Adventure, Mystery and Romance. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1976.
 
Dayan, Daniel, and Elihu Katz. Media Events: The Live Broadcasting of History. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1992.
 
Ely, Melvin Patrick. The Adventures of Amos 'n Andy: A Social History. New York: Free Press, 1992.
 
Fiske, John, and John Hartley. Reading Television. London: Methuen, 1978.

Fiske, John. Television Culture. London: Methuen, 1987.

Geertz, Clifford. The Interpretation of Cultures. New York: Basic Books, 1973.
 
Gitlin, Todd. Inside Prime Time. Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press, 2000.
 
Hilmes, Michele. Hollywood and Broadcasting: From Radio to Cable. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1990.
 
Jenkins, Henry. Textual Poachers. New York: Routledge, 1992.
 
MacDonald, J. Fred. Blacks and White TV. Chicago: Nelson-Hall, 1983.

MacDonald, J. Fred. One Nation Under Television: The Rise and Fall of Network TV. New York: Pantheon Books, 1990.
 
Marc, David. Comic Visions. Malden, Mass.: Blackwell, 1997.

Marc, David. Demographic Vistas. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1996.
 
Modleski, Tania. Loving with a Vengeance. New York: Routledge, 1990.

Morley, David. Family Television. London: Comedia, 1986.
 
Mulvey, Laura. Visual and Other Pleasures. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1989.

Newcomb, Horace. TV: The Most Popular Art. Garden City, N.Y.: Anchor Press, 1974.
 
Newcomb, Horace, and Robert S. Alley. The Producer's Medium. New York: Oxford University Press, 1983.

Palmer, Patricia. The Lively Audience: A Study of Children around the TV Set. Boston: Allen & Unwin, 1986.

Spigel, Lynn. Make Room for TV: Television and the Family Ideal in Postwar America. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992.

Streeter, Thomas. Selling the Air. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996.
 
Thompson, Robert J. Television's Second Golden Age: From Hill Street Blues to ER. New York: Continuum, 1996.

Tulloch, John, and Henry Jenkins. Science Fiction Audiences. New York: Routledge, 1995.

Williams, Raymond. Television: Technology and Cultural Form. New York: Schocken Books, 1975.