History & Criticism

Monty Python's Flying Circus was one of the most important and influential cultural phenomena of the 1970s. The British program was followed by albums, stage appearances, and several films, including Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Life of Brian, and...

The critically-acclaimed BBC television series Sherlock (2010 - ) re-envisions Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's detective for the digital age, joining participants in the active traditions of Sherlockians/Holmesians and fans from other communities, including...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9781612299181Author Josh MachamerFormat HardbackPage Count 148Imprint Common Ground PublishingPublisher Common Ground PublishingWeight(grams)...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9781559361897Author Mark BlyFormat PaperbackPage Count 260Imprint Theatre Communications Group Inc.,U.S.Publisher Theatre Communications Group Inc.,U.S...

It has been said that M*A*S*H was a show set in the 1950s which reflected the shifting values of the 1970s and early 1980s. Hawkeye Pierce, Radar O'Reilly, Trapper John McIntyre, Sherman Potter, Margaret (Hot Lips) Houlihan, B.J. Hunnicutt, Frank...

This inside look at the production of 20th century television commercials begins with a review of advertising's beginnings in the late 19th century and describes its development through the 1960s and early 1970s. The author, a career ""Mad...

According to Joss Whedon, the creator of the short-lived series Firefly (2002), the cult show is about "nine people looking into the blackness of space and seeing nine different things." The chronicles of crewmembers on a scruffy space freighter, Firefly...

Television screens in the 1980s reflected some of the most memorable programs of all time. In that decade, such critically acclaimed shows as Cheers, The Golden Girls, Hill Street Blues, Newhart, and St. Elsewhere debuted. In that same decade, iconic...

Often regarded as the first golden era of television, the 1950s was a decade when many classic programs-from I Love Lucy and Gunsmoke to The Honeymooners and Perry Mason, among others-made their debuts. Even after these shows departed the airwaves, they...

Widely regarded as one of the greatest television series of all time, The Sopranos is also considered one of the most significant achievements in contemporary American culture. IThe series spearheaded the launch of a new wave of quality programming that...

Stories of time travel have been part of science fiction since H. G. Wells sent his nameless hero hurtling into Earth's distant future in The Time Machine. Time travel enables the storyteller to depict alternate realities, bring fictional characters face...

Rachel E. Dubrofsky examines the reality TV series The Bachelor and The Bachelorette in one of the first book-length feminist analysis of the reality TV genre. The research found in The Surveillance of Women on Reality TV: Watching The Bachelor and The...

Originally known as a brand for greeting cards, Hallmark has seen a surge in popularity since the early 2010s for its made-for-TV movies and television channels: the Hallmark Channel and its spinoffs, Hallmark Movie Channel (now Hallmark Movies &...

Since the 1990s and the recent rise of the Black Lives Matter movement, there has been a rise in diverse racial representation on television. In particular, Black characters evolved and began to move away from racial stereotypes. In this collection of...

Television has historically been largely ineffective at representing queerness in its various forms. In the 21st century, however, as same-sex couples have seen increasing mainstream acceptance, and a broader range of queer characters has appeared in...

How is the android Data like Shakespeare's character Hamlet? Is the vengeful Khan (original series episode "Space Seed" and the film Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan) an echo of Captain Ahab in Moby Dick? The links between Star Trek and literature are...

The CW's hit adaptation of Supergirl is tailor-made for pop culture criticism and scholarship in the post-#MeToo era. The series features a new take on the classic DC character of Supergirl, updating it for a new audience and the modern moment. With a...

Bette Davis as a madam. Orson Welles hosting The Twilight Zone. Mae West voicing a cartoon character. Shirley Temple playing a social worker. While Hollywood stars like Lucille Ball, Loretta Young and Donna Reed successfully transitioned to television in...

What do Euphoria, Normal People, Atlanta, Ramy, Vida, I May Destroy You, Stranger Things, and Lovecraft Country have in common? In the 2016-2020 time period they were created, these TV shows exemplified one (or more) of four noteworthy trends:...

Online television streaming has radically changed the ways in which programs are produced, disseminated and watched. While the market is largely globalized with some platforms streaming in multiple countries, audiences are fragmented, due to a large...

When the Television Food Network launched in 1993, its programming was conceived as educational: it would teach people how to cook well, with side trips into the economics of food and healthy living. Today, however, the network is primarily known for...

Male-female detective pairings often exhibit offbeat, dark humor and considerable chemistry as they investigate crimes. They have proven to be both entertaining and alluring on screen and television. This work reveals an evolutionary progression in...

For more than 30 years, Lifetime has aired a broad range of programming, including original movies, sitcoms, dramas and reality shows. As other networks dedicated to women have come and gone, Lifetime continues to thrive in an ever-expanding cable...

This collection of new essays focuses on The CW network's hit television series Arrow--based on DC Comic's Green Arrow--and its spin-offs The Flash, DC's Legends of Tomorrow and Supergirl. Comic book adaptations have been big business for film studios...

One of the most original shows in the history of television, Mystery Science Theater 3000 is a beloved cult hit built on the back of another cult phenomenon: the bad movie. The show's premise involved a man and some robots watching cheesy movies and...

One of the first full-length academic projects on the television series Smallville, this collection of new essays explains why the WB/CW series is important to understanding contemporary popular culture. The essays are presented in four sections covering...

During its 33-season run, Mister Rogers' Neighborhood (1968-2001) left an indelible mark on millions of children and their caregivers. Perhaps no series in the history of children's television has done more to develop the identity and ethics of the...

From 1963 to 1989, the BBC television program Doctor Who followed a time-traveling human-like alien called ""The Doctor"" as he sought to help people, save civilizations, and right wrongs. Since its 2005 revival, Doctor Who has become a pop culture...

Ever since the premiere of the small-screen incarnation of Buffy the Vampire Slayer in 1997, the television worlds of Joss Whedon--which have grown to include Angel, Firefly, and Dollhouse--have acquired a cult following of dedicated fans and inspired...

The Golden Girls, Designing Women, Living Single, Sex and the City, Girlfriends, Cashmere Mafia and Hot in Cleveland stand out as some of America's favorite television series. Their lovable ""female foursome"" characters engage in...

A powerful, behind-the-scenes look at some of America's all-time favorite television programs during their darkest hours, this study examines how various hit series have absorbed the death of a lead actor during production. Although each television...

Since the early days of television, well before most households had a set, the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences has been handing out honors for the industry's best efforts. Now fans can read about their favorites - and perhaps rediscover some...

The "live era" or "golden age"of television drama originating from New York, 1946 through 1951, was an exciting time of creative and commercial accomplishment. This is a complete history and reference guide to the live dramas that aired during those six...

Westerns have featured prominently in films almost since motion pictures were first produced at the end of the nineteenth century and when televisions invaded American homes in the late 1940s and early '50s, Western programs filled the small screen...

Popular Culture and the Future of Politics: Cultural Studies and the Tao of South Park argues that progressives should conceive the connections between media, policy, and culture beyond the limits of 'politics' and 'news.' With sustained analyses of...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9780807843741Author Robert C. AllenFormat PaperbackPage Count 428Imprint The University of North Carolina PressPublisher The University of North Carolina...

Although television critics have often differed with the public with respect to the artistic and cultural merits of television programming, over the last half-century, television hits have indubitably influenced popular culture and vice versa. No matter...

The worlds of Percy Jackson, Harry Potter, and other modern epics feature the Chosen One--an adolescent boy who defeats the Dark Lord and battles the sorrows of the world. Television's Buffy the Vampire Slayer represents a different kind of epic--the...

This work examines the change from live to filmed television dramas during the period 1952-1958 and the characteristics and programs that are most associated with filmed television drama. Along with many technical changes that had to be made in the...

This collection of new essays examines how the injection of supernatural creatures and mythologies transformed the hugely popular crime procedural television genre. These shows complicate the predictable and comforting patterns of the procedural with...