Since the beginning of network television, many shows have been preceded by an announcement or theme song that served various purposes. In the 1950s and ’60s, it was common for announcers to declare that a program had been “brought to you by” a sponsor who paid for the privilege of introducing a show. Other programs, such as The Twilight Zone, Star Trek, and The Odd Couple,provided a brief encapsulation of the show’s subject matter, a practice that has continued for recent shows like Alias, Battlestar Galactica, Person of Interest, and the various editions of Law & Order. In Television Introductions: Narrated TV Program Openings since 1949, Vincent Terrace has assembled openings for more than nine hundred television shows from the past seven decades. The only documented history of narrated television program introductions, this volume is arranged by type of programming, such as comedy, drama, Western, game show, soap opera, and children’s show. In addition to quoting the opening material, entries provide information about each show’s network history and years of broadcast. Many entries include descriptions of the show, the names of announcers, and a list of main cast members, as well as a sponsor pitch exactly as spoken. Openings for programs with multiple introductions like The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet and Charlie’s Angels are also included. For programs that featured new guest stars every episode—such as game shows and variety programs—Terrace has selected a representative introduction. In addition to the theme song credits found in the main text, there are also appendixes of theme songs and their composers and/or singers, as well as a listing of commercial releases (on DVD, VHS, CD, and LP) of shows and their soundtracks. A comprehensive resource for researchers and pop culture aficionados alike, Television Introductions provides a fascinating look at this neglected part of TV history.

'An Introduction to Television Studies' is a comprehensive introduction to the field. It provides resources for thinking about key aspects and introduces institutional, textual, cultural, economic, production and audience-centred ways of looking at television.

In Writing Music For Television, you'll not only gain an insider's view of how the music for a TV program is composed, you'll be guided through the first steps of composing music to picture

The author discusses the theoretical issues of shows such as "Buffy the Vampire Slayer, America's Most Wanted, Sex and the City, The Cosby Show, Dallas, The Sopranos, Crimewatch" and "Big Brother."

Finally, a book on metadata for the media professional!

In this second edition, author Scott Kirkpatrick draws from over a decade of personal experience in the distribution arena to provide a clear and up-to-date overview of the entire film, television, and new media distribution business. Readers will learn what fuels the distribution process and exactly how the distribution business works from beginning to end—not merely what happens to a film or television series upon acquisition, but how distributors develop, presell and broker deals on content before it even exists. This new edition considers a much more international approach to media distribution, with case studies and analyses from across the globe. It also reflects on the ever-increasing relevance of diversity and inclusiveness in the industry, as well as the new media verticals like podcasts and the effects of social media influencers on the media landscape. The book will be an integral guidebook for any student or professional wishing to understand both the basics and the subtleties of media distribution. The book also contains a robust appendix containing in-depth studies of legal definitions, material delivery requirements, territory-by-territory financial projections and more.

Television and American Culture: An Overview introduces students to the study of television by looking at American television from a cultural perspective. The book is written for intermediate undergraduate and beginning graduate students for a range of television studies courses. Specifically, Mittell discusses television within the following contexts: the economics of the television industry, television's role within American democracy, the formal attributes of a variety of television genres, television as a site of gender and racial identity formation, television's role in everyday life, and the medium's technological and social impacts. The topical arrangement and comprehensive scope of the book differs from other television textbooks, arguing that we must incorporate a range of economic, political, aesthetic, and sociological perspectives to fully comprehend the medium of television.

Ever since Newton Minow taught us sophisticates to bemoan the descent of television into a vast wasteland, the dyspeptic chorus of jeremiahs who insist that television news in particular has gone from gold to dross gets noisier and noisier. Charles Ponce de Leon says here, in effect, that this is misleading, if not simply fatuous. He argues in this well-paced, lively, readable book that TV news has changed in response to broader changes in the TV industry and American culture. It is pointless to bewail its decline. "That s the Way It Is "gives us the very first history of American television news, spanning more than six decades, from Camel News Caravan to Countdown with Keith Oberman and The Daily Show. Starting in the latter 1940s, television news featured a succession of broadcasters who became household names, even presences: Eric Sevareid, Walter Cronkite, David Brinkley, Peter Jennings, Brian Williams, Katie Couric, and, with cable expansion, people like Glenn Beck, Jon Stewart, and Bill O Reilly. But behind the scenes, the parallel story is just as interesting, involving executives, producers, and journalists who were responsible for the field s most important innovations. Included with mainstream network news programs is an engaging treatment of news magazines like "60 Minutes" and "20/20, " as well as morning news shows like "Today" and "Good Morning America." Ponce de Leon gives ample attention to the establishment of cable networks (CNN, and the later competitors, Fox News and MSNBC), mixing in colorful anecdotes about the likes of Roger Ailes and Roone Arledge. Frothy features and other kinds of entertainment have been part and parcel of TV news from the start; viewer preferences have always played a role in the evolution of programming, although the disintegration of a national culture since the 1970s means that most of us no longer follow the news as a civic obligation. Throughout, Ponce de Leon places his history in a broader cultural context, emphasizing tensions between the public service mission of TV news and the quest for profitability and broad appeal."

In this book Chris Barker situates television as a cultural phenomenon in the context of global modernity. The first text to bring together in a single volume the arguments and evidence in the field The first genuine introduction to this topic The author is adept at providing the reader with useful summaries and evaluations of the key arguments and points