Television Studies

The Basics

by Toby Miller (Editor)

This work outlines the theories and approaches to the study of television in an accessible form for students. It is divided into four sections - forms of knowledge, audiences, gender and race. It discusses many television texts including "Star Trek", "Kung Fu" and "Sesame Street".

Genres: Nonfiction

224 pages, Paperback

First published December 2, 2002

About the author

Chair of the Department of Media and Cultural Studies at University of California, Riverside. His research interests include film and TV, radio, new media, class, gender, race, sport, cultural theory, citizenship, social theory, cultural studies, political theory, cultural labor, and cultural policy. He is editor of Television & New Media and Social Identities, editor of the book series Popular Culture and Everyday Life (Lang); he has also been chair of the International Communication Association Philosophy of Communication Division; editor of Journal of Sport & Social Issues; and co-editor of Social Text, the Blackwell Cultural Theory Resource Centre, and the book series Sport and Culture (Minnesota) Film Guidebooks (Routledge) and Cultural Politics (Minnesota). Miller has taught media and cultural studies across the humanities and social sciences at the following schools: University of New South Wales, Griffith University, Murdoch University, and NYU.

Reviews

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is incredibly useful if, like me, you are trying to get a handle on the field of Television Studies: its composition, the divisions and debates, etc. It is to the point, packed full of info and surprisingly not dry. He makes terms that normally sound obscure and not very specific MAKE SENSE, giving the reader a sense of just what the fuck people mean when they say these things (can you tell this is something that has been frustrating me?).

The author's politics also seem right on and he finishes the book with a quite specific discussion of what new Television Studies should be composed of.

The bibliography is HUGE and probably contains everything ever written about television (maybe not, but it's close) so is a GREAT resource for further reading if you need to get into more detail.

Pretty sure this book just saved my ass (and a whole lot of time) for the lit review I'm doing on a couple television franchises, and also told me where I fit in the field. Highly recommend for anyone who needs/wants a primer/basic intro to the field of TV Studies.

[Iris Windmeijer · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very interesting book about television studies with a lot of useful information. The information is structured and easy to follow, but a lot of extra sources (so a huge bibliography).