An Introduction to Television Studies

Jonathan Bignell is Professor of Television and Film at the University of Reading. He is the author of Media Semiotics: An Introduction, Big Brother: Reality TV in the Twenty-first Century and Postmodern Media Culture, and co-author of The Television Handbook. He is the editor of Writing and Cinema, and joint editor of Popular Television Drama and British Television Drama: Past, Present and Future.

Introduction Using this Book. Television Studies. The Organisation of Chapters. Further Reading 1. Studying Television Introduction. Broadcast Television. 'Our' Television? Studying Programmes. Television and Society. Television Audiences. Case Study: Television Past and Present. Summary of Key Points. Further Reading 2. Television Histories Introduction. Collecting the Evidence. Inventing Television Technologies. Television Institutions. Professional Cultures in a 'Golden Age'. Reception Contexts. Programmes and Forms. Case Study: 'Me TV'. Summary of Key Points. Further Reading 3. Television Cultures Introduction. British Television in Global Contexts. Global Television. Cultural Imperialism. News, Nations and the 'New World Order'. The Global and Local Interrelationship. Case Study: The Brazilian Telenovela. Summary of Key Points. Further Reading 4. Television Texts and Television Narratives Introduction. The Language of Television. Connotations and Codes. Narrative Structures. Narrative Functions. Identification. Television Narrators. Signs of the Viewer. Case Study: The Guinness 'Surfer' Commercial. Summary of Key Points. Further Reading 5. Television and Genre Introduction. Identifying Programme Genre. The Generic Space of Soap Opera. The Police Genre: Seeing and Knowing in CSI. Sitcom and the Problem of Humour. Talk Shows and the Performance of Morality. Reality TV and Social Control. Case Study: True Crime and Fictional Crime. Summary of Key Points. Further Reading 6. Television Production Introduction. Development. Pre-Production. Production. Post-Production. Case Study: The Avid Editing System. Summary of Key Points. Further Reading 7. Postmodern Television Introduction. Postmodernism as a Style. Postmodern Times. Postmodern and Avant-Garde. Postmodernism and Value. Audiences and Postmodernism. Postmodernism and Globalisation. Whose Postmodernism? Case Study: MTV as Postmodern Television. Summary of Key Points. Further Reading 8. Television Realities Introduction. Factual Television. Realism and Television Technologies. British Soap Opera and Realism. Realism and Ideology. News and Liveness. The Documentary Mode. Realism and Public Service: Crimewatch UK. Docusoap: Actuality and Drama. Changing People. Reality TV: Big Brother. Case Study: Actuality in Television News. Summary of Key Points. Further Reading 9. Television Representation Introduction. Quantitative Research: Content Analysis. Feminist Work on Popular Television. Gender Representations: Sex and the City and Desperate Housewives. Race, Ethnicity and Disability. Audiences and Race. Case Study: Wife Swap. Summary of Key Points. Further Reading 10. Television You Can't See Introduction. Free Speech and Regulation. A Brief History of Sex on British Television. Taste and Decency Today. Theories of Regulation. Case Study: Reporting War. Summary of Key Points. Further Reading 11. Shaping Audiences Introduction. The Economics of Watching Television. Ratings: Measuring Audiences. Competing for Valuable Audiences. Attitudes to the Audience. Interactivity. Paying for Interactive Television. Case Study: Television Scheduling. Summary of Key Points. Further Reading 12. Television in Everyday Life Introduction. Attention and Involvement. Broadcasters' Audience Research. Audience Power. Limitations of Ethnography. Fan Audiences. Children and Television. Case Study: Soap Opera Audiences. Summary of Key Points. Further Reading. Glossary of Key Terms. Select Bibliography