Tele-revolution


Book Description

From the birth of Teleport Communications in a junk-strewn field on Staten Island to a $30 billion industry at the turn of the millennium, this book documents the creation of the competitive local telephone industry. More than a story of the birth, rise and, sometimes, death of corporate entities, this is about the people who dreamed dreams that could only be achieved by changing the world.




I Like to Watch


Book Description

The big picture : how Buffy the vampire slayer turned me into a TV critic -- The long con ("The Sopranos") -- The great divide : Norman Lear, Archie Bunker, and the rise of the bad fan -- Difficult women ("Sex and the city") -- Cool story, bro ("True detective," "Top of the lake" and "The fall") -- Last girl in Larchmont : the legacy of Joan Rivers -- Girls girls girls : "Girls," "Vanderpump rules," "House of cards and Scandal," "The Amy Schumer show," "Transparent" -- Confessions of the human shield -- How jokes won the election -- In praise of sex and violence : "Hannibal," "Law et order : SVU," "Jessica Jones," -- "The jinx," "The Americans" -- The price is right : what advertising does to TV -- In living color : Kenya Barris' -- Breaking the box : "Jane the virgin," "The comeback," "The good wife," "The newsroom," "Adventure time," "The leftovers," "High maintenance." -- Riot girl : Jenji Kohan's hot provocations -- A disappointed fan is still a fan ("Lost") -- Mr. big : how Ryan Murphy became the most powerful man in television.




The Revolution Wasn't Televised


Book Description

Caricatures of sixties television--called a "vast wasteland" by the FCC president in the early sixties--continue to dominate our perceptions of the era and cloud popular understanding of the relationship between pop culture and larger social forces. Opposed to these conceptions, The Revolution Wasn't Televised explores the ways in which prime-time television was centrally involved in the social conflicts of the 1960s. It was then that television became a ubiquitous element in American homes. The contributors in this volume argue that due to TV's constant presence in everyday life, it became the object of intense debates over childraising, education, racism, gender, technology, politics, violence, and Vietnam. These essays explore the minutia of TV in relation to the macro-structure of sixties politics and society, attempting to understand the struggles that took place over representation the nation's most popular communications media during the 1960s.




The Revolution Was Televised


Book Description

A phenomenal account, newly updated, of how twelve innovative television dramas transformed the medium and the culture at large, featuring Sepinwall’s take on the finales of Mad Men and Breaking Bad. In The Revolution Was Televised, celebrated TV critic Alan Sepinwall chronicles the remarkable transformation of the small screen over the past fifteen years. Focusing on twelve innovative television dramas that changed the medium and the culture at large forever, including The Sopranos, Oz, The Wire, Deadwood, The Shield, Lost, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, 24, Battlestar Galactica, Friday Night Lights, Mad Men, and Breaking Bad, Sepinwall weaves his trademark incisive criticism with highly entertaining reporting about the real-life characters and conflicts behind the scenes. Drawing on interviews with writers David Chase, David Simon, David Milch, Joel Surnow and Howard Gordon, Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, and Vince Gilligan, among others, along with the network executives responsible for green-lighting these groundbreaking shows, The Revolution Was Televised is the story of a new golden age in TV, one that’s as rich with drama and thrills as the very shows themselves.




Sunny Days


Book Description

"David Kamp takes readers behind the scenes to show how ... programs [such as Mister Rogers' Neighboorhood, Sesame Street, and Schoolhouse Rock] made it on air, ... [explaining] how ... like-minded individuals found their way into television, not as fame- or money-hungry would-be auteurs and stars, but as people who wanted to use TV to help children ... [The book] captures a period in children's television where enlightened progressivism prevailed, and shows how this period changed the lives of millions"--




Revolution from Within


Book Description

Newly updated: The bestseller “that could bring the human race a little closer to rescuing itself” from the subject of the film The Two Glorias (Naomi Wolf). Without self-esteem, the only change is an exchange of masters; with it, there is no need for masters. When trying to find books to give to “the countless brave and smart women I met who didn’t think of themselves as either brave or smart,” Steinem realized that books either supposed that external political change would cure everything or that internal change would. None linked internal and external change together in a seamless circle of cause and effect, effect and cause. She undertook to write such a book, and ended up transforming her life, as well as the lives of others. The result of her reflections is this truly transformative book: part personal collection of stories from her own life and the lives of many others, part revolutionary guide to finding community and inspiration. Steinem finds role models in a very young and uncertain Gandhi as well as unlikely heroes from the streets to history. Revolution from Within addresses the core issues of self-authority and unjust external authority, and argues that the first is necessary to transform the second. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Gloria Steinem including rare images from the author’s personal collection, as well as a new preface and list of book recommendations from Steinem.




Distribution Revolution


Book Description

Distribution Revolution is a collection of interviews with leading film and TV professionals concerning the many ways that digital delivery systems are transforming the entertainment business. These interviews provide lively insider accounts from studio executives, distribution professionals, and creative talent of the tumultuous transformation of film and TV in the digital era. The first section features interviews with top executives at major Hollywood studios, providing a window into the big-picture concerns of media conglomerates with respect to changing business models, revenue streams, and audience behaviors. The second focuses on innovative enterprises that are providing path-breaking models for new modes of content creation, curation, and distributionÑcreatively meshing the strategies and practices of Hollywood and Silicon Valley. And the final section offers insights from creative talent whose professional practices, compensation, and everyday working conditions have been transformed over the past ten years. Taken together, these interviews demonstrate that virtually every aspect of the film and television businesses is being affected by the digital distribution revolution, a revolution that has likely just begun. Interviewees include: ¥ Gary Newman, Chairman, 20th Century Fox Television ¥ Kelly Summers, Former Vice President, Global Business Development and New Media Strategy, Walt Disney Studios ¥ Thomas Gewecke, Chief Digital Officer and Executive Vice President, Strategy and Business Development, Warner Bros. Entertainment ¥ Ted Sarandos, Chief Content Officer, Netflix ¥ Felicia D. Henderson, Writer-Producer, Soul Food, Gossip Girl ¥ Dick Wolf, Executive Producer and Creator, Law & Order




Revolution, democratic transition and disillusionment


Book Description

This book develops a fresh and challenging perspective on the transition from communism to capitalism. Drawing on a wide and diverse range of material and texts, it argues that transition and democratisation studies should turn their attention towards processes of illusion formation and disillusionment as key to understanding the shift from one ideological framework to another. The author provides alternative approaches to otherwise classical sites of examination of social change – such as revolutions and the emergence of civil society – and proposes a number of new possible sites by analysing the politics of self-reflection, the element of shock inherent in any transition and the role of visual narratives in negotiating change. The chapters are inspired by unique interviews and discussions with the leaders of the Timisoara Revolution, the Group of Social Dialogue – the first civil society organisation in post-communist Romania, the leading author of the 'Presidential Report Analysing the Communist Dictatorship in Romania' and an innovative group of photographers tracing the Romanian transition through images.




The Television Studies Reader


Book Description

A discussion of a truly international range of television programs, this title covers alternative modes of television such as digital and satellite.




The Triumph of Reality TV


Book Description

This book provides an up-to-date account of how reality TV has developed, why it has become the most popular genre on television today, and how the explosion in reality TV signals new developments in American media culture. The reasons behind reality TV's continued popularity go beyond the sensationalism and low production cost of these programs: there is much more to the genre's continued success than just escapism or "guilty pleasure" TV. The Triumph of Reality TV: The Revolution in American Television identifies and explores five key media trends reality TV has used to continually draw in viewers and ensure success. These media trends include innovations in storytelling, making emotional appeals to viewers, and applying content from television to other media such as films, music albums, webisodes, online games, and smart phone apps. Author Leigh H. Edwards also analyzes how reality TV shows target themes of social conflict, such as changing ideas of the American family, and address common anxieties and tensions in American society such as gender, race, class, and economic struggle. A wide variety of reality shows—including American Idol, Celebrity Rehab, Jackass, Run's House, Survivor, and The Hills—are profiled. An appealing read for students, scholars, and general readers alike, this book provides fascinating insights into the complexities of a seemingly simplistic form of mass entertainment.