Television's Second Golden Age by Robert J Thompson
This is an insider's tour, touching on the network's dizzying decision-making process, and the artists who have revolutionized the medium.
A gracefully written grabber overflowing with affection and canny detailFans of ‘quality TV drama series’ will have a field day with Syracuse University professor Thompson’s multidisciplinary examination of ‘the return of the serious, literary, writer-based drama’ over the past 15 years. Allotting full chapters to breakthrough series Hill Street Blues and St. Elsewhere, Thompson reviews a bit more briefly the histories of 1980s classics Cagney & Lacey, Moonlighting, L.A. Law, thirtysomething, and China Beach and their ‘quirky’ 1990s successors Twin Peaks, Northern Exposure, and Picket Fences. ‘The Future of Quality’ chapter describes the networks’ retreat from writer-based drama in the early 1990s and the return to it in series like NYPD Blue, Law & Order, Homicide: Life on the Street, Chicago Hope, and the number one hit, ER. This survey will appeal to several audiences: People readers will relish the gossip; Fortune readers will zero in on the economics of quality versus junk-food television; and readers monitoring media transmogrifications will find Thompson’s analysis of TV’s institutionalization of quality drama fascinating.
Robert Thompson is a historian and former career military officer. He has a BA in history from Texas Tech University and a graduate degree in Military Studies from American Military University. He is author of A Woman of Courage on the West Virginia Frontier: Phebe Tucker Cunningham, Disaster on the Sandusky: The Life of Colonel William Crawford, and General Emory Upton in the Civil War: The Formative Experiences of an American Military Visionary. His articles have appeared in America's Civil War and Military History. He lives near St. Louis, Missouri.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780815605041 |
| ISBN 10 | 0815605048 |
| Title | Television's Second Golden Age |
| Author | Robert J Thompson |
| Series | Television And Popular Culture |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Syracuse University Press |
| Year published | 1997-10-31 |
| Number of pages | 220 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |