Television Entertainment » (1st Edition)

Television entertainment rules supreme, one of the world’s most important disseminators of information, ideas, and amusement. More than a parade of little figures in a box, it is deeply embedded in everyday life, in how we think, what we think and care about, and who we think and care about it with.

But is television entertainment art? Why do so many love it and so many hate or fear it? Does it offer a window to the world, or images of a fake world? How is it political and how does it address us as citizens? What powers does it hold, and what powers do we have over it? Or, for that matter, what is television these days, in an era of rapidly developing technologies, media platforms, and globalization? Written especially for students, Television Entertainment addresses these and other key questions that we regularly ask, or should ask. Jonathan Gray offers a lively and dynamic, thematically based overview with examples from recent and current television, including Lost, reality television, The Sopranos, The Simpsons, political satire, Grey’s Anatomy, The West Wing, soaps, and 24.

List of Illustrations

Introduction: what is television entertainment? 1

1 Art with strings attached: creativity, innovation, and industry 16

2 Broadcasting identities: affect, fantasy, and meaning 45

3 Television unboxed: expansion, overflow, and synergy 73

4 Keeping it real: reality and representation 102

5 Plugging in: politics and citizenship 131

6 Channel interference: television and power 156

Notes 184

Bibliography 186

Index 197