Spring 2008                                            (printable PDF version)

updated 2/21/08

      Schedule of Classes and Topics
  Tues Thurs  
Feb 5   Prologue: The Continuity Principle
Thorburn and Jenkins, "Toward an Aesthetics of Transition"
    7 I. The Wasteland Mythology
Kosinski, "A Nation of Videots"
Gerbner and Gross, "Living With Television"
Paul Klein, "The Men Who Run TV Know Us Better Than You Think"
Barnouw, ch. 1-2
  12   II. Television as a Cultural Form
James Carey, "A Cultural Approach to Communication" in
Communication as Culture
Roland Barthes, "The World of Wrestling" in Mythologies
David Thorburn, "Television as an Aesthetic Medium"
    14 Newcomb and Hirsch, "TV as a Cultural Forum" in Newcomb, ed., TV: The Critical View, 6th edition, (Oxford Univ. Press, 2000) [This edition for all citations below from Newcomb] Tony Bennett, "Theories of the Media, Theories of Society"
in Gurevitch et al., Culture, Society, and Media
  -- 21  III. The Broadcast Era
Barnouw, ch. 3-4
Mike Mashon, "NBC, Walter Thompson, and the Struggle for Control of Television Programming,1946-58," chapt. 8 in Michele Hilmes, ed., NBC: America’s Network (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007).
Anderson, "Disneyland" in Newcomb
Spigel, "Women's Work" in Newcomb
Brooks and Marsh, "Introduction"
  26 28

IV. TV Genres
Barnouw, ch. 5
Thorburn, "Television Melodrama" in Newcomb
    28

First Paper Due
Mar 4 6

Todd Gitlin, "Make It Look Messy:... Hill Street Blues"
Thorburn, Encyclopedia entry, "Television Aesthetics"
    6 REQUIRED FORUM: Prime Time in Transition , 5-7 pm in Bartos Theater
  11 13

Roberta Pearson and Maire Messenger Davies, " The Little Program That Could: The Relationship between NBC and Star Trek," chapt. 12 in Hilmes, ed., NBC: America’s Network.
Pearson, [recommended]: “Heteroglossia in the Ensemble Programme”  [typescript]
Jenkins, "Star Trek Rerun ..." in Newcomb
    13 REQUIRED FORUM: Global Television , 5-7pm in Bartos Theater
18 20 Alvey, "The Independents" in Newcomb
Barnouw, ch. 6
Modleski, "The Rhythms of Reception: Daytime TV and Women's Work"
Phil Williams, "Feeding Off the Past..." in Newcomb
  20

Midterm Quiz
25 27

[Spring Break]
Apr 1 3 Thorburn, TV Encyclopedia entries "Detectives" and "The Name of the Game"
Thorburn, "Is TV Acting A Distinctive Art Form?"
    3 Second Paper (or installment) Due
  8 10

Newcomb, "The TV Artistry of Norman Lear"
Reeves, "Rewriting Newhart..."
Gomery, "...Movies Made-for-Television"


  15 17 Thorburn, "Interpretation and Judgment: A Reading of Lonesome Dove"
McGrath, "The Triumph of the Prime-Time Novel" in Newcomb
  22 24

Gary R. Edgerton, “HBO: A Brief History”
  29   V. After the Broadcast Networks
Thorburn, "The Sopranos..."
Thorburn, "Web of Paradox"
Marc, "What Was Broadcasting?" in Newcomb
May   1
    1 Third Paper Due
  6   Review
    8 Final Test
  13 15 Summary Perspectives