Full Description
The Persistence of Television examines more than 60 years of television to identify the elements that have entertained and informed viewers from the beginning of mass broadcasting to the present day, proposing that most television viewing is rooted in traditional programming that is still largely received in conventional ways.
The book includes the discussion of popular shows such as Doctor Who, Twin Peaks, Who Wants to be a Millionaire and David Attenborough's nature documentaries. On-screen faces, programmes and genres drawn from British, American and Australian television services are examined to demonstrate how continuity persists in the face of change. There's no denying the excitement or the value of the new, but the authors of this book argue that it runs in tandem with enduring aspects of the already existing.
Contents
Introduction
Section A: The set-up
1. What Television Means
2. Familiarity and Liveness
a. Familiarity
b. Mundane liveness
c. Special event liveness
3. The faces on screen
a. Analyzing the face
b. Different professions
c. The ageing face
d. The voice
Section B: Non-fictional persistence
4. Light Entertainment
a. Game and panel shows
b. Talk shows
5. Natural History
a. The development of the genre
b. Discovery and other global channels
c. David Attenborough
d. Springwatch
Section C: Fictional persistence
6. Reboots, Remakes and Revivals
a. The significance of the different terms
b. Sitcoms
c. Twin Peaks
d. Doctor Who
7. Adaptation
a. P.G. Wodehouse
b. John le Carre
8. Crime
a. Dennis Franz: becoming Sipowicz
b. New Tricks: the culmination of long careers
c. Gerard Kennedy: an Australian variant.
9. Conclusion
Bibliography
Index
