1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910793895903321

Autore

Thomson David <1941->

Titolo

Television : a biography / / David Thomson

Pubbl/distr/stampa

New York, New York ; ; London : , : Thames & Hudson, , [2016]

©2016

ISBN

0-500-77371-8

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (412 pages) : illustrations

Disciplina

791.450973

Soggetti

Television programs - Social aspects

Television programs - United States - History

Television - Social aspects - United States

Television - United States - History

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (pages 389-398) and index.

Nota di contenuto

Introduction: The elephant in the room? -- Part one: The medium. Buy the numbers ; Where are you going, fugitive? ; Norma's sessions ; Oh, Donna! ; Gently "on" : a new age of television people ; The sit and the situation ; Commercials ; Wasteland ; Is that an oasis? -- Part two: The messages. A play, for today? ; Talking heads ; Policeman, save my life ; The news, or Isn't there anyone? ; Women, wives, and wonderers ; The loneliness of the role model ; Mr. President ; Live? ; Documentary? ; Long form ; Laugh on/laugh off ; Eternally on.

Sommario/riassunto

In just a few years, what used to be an immobile piece of living room furniture, which one had to sit in front of at appointed times in order to watch sponsored programming on a finite number of channels, morphed into a glowing cloud of screens with access to a near-endless supply of content available when and how viewers want it. With this phenomenon now a common cultural theme, a writer of David Thomson's stature delivering a critical history, or biography of the six-decade television era, will be a significant event which could not be more timely. Over twenty-two thematically organized chapters, Thomson brings provocatively insightful and unique to the life of what was television.