"Klaver applies post-structuralist theories of subjectivity to drama while ranging through Beckett's plays, National Hockey League games, The Tonight Show, gay and lesbian drama, minority drama, avant-garde performance, and the topics of theatrical paranoia, the mediatized Imaginary, and the spectatorial gaze. By navigating the political minefield of television sex and violence, Klaver shows how drama can subvert those ideologies that would discipline the performance arts."--BOOK JACKET.

Imagine the greatest week of television ever. In celebration of its 50th anniversary, TV GUIDE has done just that. Picking and choosing from classic programs, unforgettable characters, hilarious moments and broadcast-interrupting tragedies, TV GUIDE has created in this deluxe and nostalgic history the ultimate week of programming. Here are fifty years of riveting innovation distilled into one unforgettable book. From Saturday morning cartoons through prime time and late night, "Fifty Years of Television pays tribute to hundreds of the most important shows of all time. More than 250 color and black-and-white photographs capture the giants of TV in their prime--from "The Great One," Jackie Gleason, to his latter-day descendant Homer Simpson, from Jack Webb of "Dragnet to James Gandolfini of "The Sopranos. The exciting, graphic covers of TV GUIDE offer a fantastic voyage through generations of pop culture. More than 400 collectible covers are included, featuring the work of artists such as Charles Addams, Salvador Dali, Al Hirschfield, Norman Rockwell and Andy Warhol. Landmark essays from the pages of TV GUIDE by Oprah Winfrey, John F. Kennedy, Alex Haley and other American icons shed light on the seductive power of the medium. In original interviews, some of TV's best known and most beloved personalities reminisce about the shows that made the country tune in. A sweeping appreciation of TV, this is the ultimate book of its kind.

The "talk show" has become a ubiquitous feature of American and European television. The various examples have been frequently discussed by academic commentators, as well as journalists in an attempt to place them in a cultural setting. Ultimately, the conclusion is reached by both academics and non-academics that talk shows matter because they are a focus for considerable public debate and are crucial to the landscape of popular television. All the variations of talk shows, from chat shows to celebrity interviews, have key elements in common: They all feature groups of guests, not individual interviewees, and they all involve audience participation. The studio audience is not only visible, but is given the opportunity to comment and intervene. Other books have applied academic analysis to the phenomenon of these shows, but this is the first to analyze the actual "talk" of the talk shows, and in that sense it is closer to discourse analysis than to other forms of analysis. This book provides a systematic empirical study of the broadcast talk in talk shows and maps out the range of formats that appear in the major American and British television shows. The contributors are members of an international network of researchers interested in the study of broadcast talk.

Since the early days of television, well before most households had a set, the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences has been handing out honors for the industry's best efforts. Now fans can read about their favorites--and perhaps rediscover some forgotten pleasures--in this reference to prime time and nighttime Emmy winners. Beginning with the heated charade contest known as Pantomime Quiz, which won Most Popular Program of 1948 in the first Emmy Awards ceremony (held in 1949), each of more than 100 winning shows gets star treatment with an entry that includes the year of award or awards, air times, hosts, guests, casts and a full discussion of the show's history and run. Many of the entries include original interviews with cast or crew members. With such rich information, each show's entry constitutes a chapter in the history of television through the story of the show and the people who made it happen. The best of variety, drama, game shows, comedies, adventures and many more categories are featured. An appendix offers interesting facts and figures and ranks shows according to such statistics as longest run, longest delay from debut to win, and most Emmys won.

Television today is better than ever. From The Sopranos to Breaking Bad, Sex and the City to Girls, and Modern Family to Louie, never has so much quality programming dominated our screens. Exploring how we got here, acclaimed TV critic David Bianculli traces the evolution of the classic TV genres, among them the sitcom, the crime show, the miniseries, the soap opera, the Western, the animated series, the medical drama, and the variety show. In each genre he selects five key examples of the form to illustrate its continuities and its dramatic departures. Drawing on exclusive and in-depth interviews with many of the most famed auteurs in television history, Bianculli shows how the medium has evolved into the premier form of visual narrative art. Includes interviews with: MEL BROOKS, MATT GROENING, DAVID CHASE, KEVIN SPACEY, AMY SCHUMER, VINCE GILLIGAN, AARON SORKIN, MATTHEW WEINER, JUDD APATOW, LOUIS C.K., DAVID MILCH, DAVID E. KELLEY, JAMES L. BROOKS, LARRY DAVID, KEN BURNS, LARRY WILMORE, AND MANY, MANY MORE