This book explores how television series can be understood as a form of literature, bridging the gap between literary and television studies. It goes beyond existing adaptation studies and narratological approaches to television series in both its scope and depth. The respective chapters address literary works, themes, tropes, techniques, values, genres, and movements in relation to a broad variety of television series, while drawing on the theoretical work of a host of scholars from Simone de Beauvoir and Yuri Lotman to Ted Nannicelli and Jason Mittel, and on critical approaches ranging from narratology and semiotics to empirical sociology and phenomenology. The book fosters new ways of understanding television series and literature and lays the groundwork for future scholarship in a number of fields. By questioning the alleged divide between television series and works of literature, it contributes not only to a better understanding of television series and literary texts themselves, but also to the development of interdisciplinary scholarship in the humanities.

Succession is an American television drama series that premiered on HBO in June 2018. The series is created by Jesse Armstrong and is loosely based on the Murdoch family dynasty. The story revolves around the Roy family, who owns one of the world's largest media and entertainment conglomerates known as Waystar Royco. The patriarch of the family, Logan Roy, is the founder and CEO of the company but has health issues that position him to name his successor. However, he remains indecisive about who should take over the family business, causing a power struggle among his four children, each of whom possesses their own unique strengths and weaknesses. The first season of the show received critical acclaim, with praise for the writing, performances, and direction. The series received numerous award nominations, including five Primetime Emmy Awards, winning Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series, and being nominated for Best Drama Series. The series portrays the complexities and intrigues of a wealthy and powerful family who are willing to do whatever it takes to gain control of their family business. The show also delves into the personal lives of the Roy family, revealing their flaws, dysfunctional relationships, and secrets. The series is currently in its third season and continues to captivate audiences with its intense drama and plot twists.

Popular television drama: critical perspectives' is a collection of essays examining landmark programmes of the last forty years, from 'Doctor Who' to 'The Office', and from 'The Demon Headmaster' to 'Queer As Folk'. Contributions from prominent academics focus on the full range of popular genres, from sitcoms to science fiction, gothic horror and children's drama, and challenge received wisdom by reconsidering how British television drama can be analysed. Each section is preceded by an introduction in which the editors discuss how the essays address existing problems in the field and also suggest new directions for study. The book is split into three sections, addressing the enduring appeal of popular genres, the notion of 'quality' in television drama, and analysing a range of programmes past and present. Popular television drama: critical perspectives will be of interest to students and researchers in many academic disciplines that study television drama. Its breadth and focus on popular programmes will also appeal to those interested in the shows themselves.

Serialization is an old narrative strategy and a form of publication that can be traced far back in literary history, yet serial narratives are as popular as ever. This book investigates a resurgence of serial narratives in contemporary literary culture. Analyzing series as diverse as Mark Z. Danielewski’s experimental book series The Familiar; audiobook series by the Swedish streaming service Storytel; children’s books by Lemony Snicket and Philip Pullman and their adaptations into screen; and serial writing and reading on the writing site Wattpad, the book traces how contemporary series at once are shaped by literary tradition and develop the format according to the logics of new media and digital technologies. The book sheds light on the interplay between the selected serials' narrative content and medial, social, and economic contexts, drawing on insights from literary studies, literary sociology, media studies, and cultural studies. Serialization in Literature Across Media and Markets thus contributes a unique and interdisciplinary perspective on a historical phenomenon that has proved ever more successful in contemporary media culture. It is a book for researchers and students of literature and media and for anyone who likes a good series and wants to understand why.

For nearly two decades, Television: Critical Methods and Applications has served as the foremost guide to television studies. Designed for the television studies course in communication and media studies curricula, Television explains in depth how television programs and commercials are made and how they function as producers of meaning. Author Jeremy G. Butler shows the ways in which camera style, lighting, set design, editing, and sound combine to produce meanings that viewers take away from their television experience. He supplies students with a whole toolbox of implements to disassemble television and read between the lines, teaching them to incorporate critical thinking into their own television viewing. The fourth edition builds upon the pedagogy of previous editions to best accommodate current modes of understanding and teaching television. Highlights of the fourth edition include: New chapter and part organization to reflect the current approach to teaching television—with greatly expanded methods and theories chapters. An entirely new chapter on modes of production and their impact on what you see on the screen. Discussions integrated throughout on the latest developments in television’s on-going convergence with other media, such as material on transmedia storytelling and YouTube’s impact on video distribution. Over three hundred printed illustrations, including new and better quality frame grabs of recent television shows and commercials. A companion website featuring color frame grabs, a glossary, flash cards, and editing and sound exercises for students, as well as PowerPoint presentations, sample syllabi and other materials for instructors. Links to online videos that support examples in the text are also provided. With its distinctive approach to examining television, Television is appropriate for courses in television studies, media criticism, and general critical studies.

This book establishes, and then analyses, the interrelation between series and dependence by focusing on two aspects of their connection: the overconsumption of TV series, and the production devices that lead to it. Due to its two-sided nature, the volume brings together specialists from different backgrounds. On the one hand, it involves people working with addiction, such as psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers, whose analytical tools and statistics are extremely useful in assessing the prevalence of TV series addiction, as well as its consequences, in order to make sense of its mechanics. For similar reasons, the authors also include professionals working with children and teenagers, since youths under 18 are largely affected by addictive tendencies. On the other hand, other contributions here are authored by TV series specialists, producers and scriptwriters, as well as academics in the fields of film and TV series studies, cultural studies, and narratology. Their specific perspectives on the topic help better understand what it is about the construction or reception of TV series that aims to create, maintain, amplify, or, on the contrary, curb their ingrained addictive effects.

Featuring leading scholars of British television drama and noted writers and producers from the television industry, this new edition of British Television Drama evaluates past and present TV fiction since the 1960s, and considers its likely future.

An engaging and provocative study of the contemporary prime-time 'quality' serial television format, this book gives a timely account of prominent programmes such as 24, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, ER, The Sopranos and The West Wing and explores their influential position within the television industry. Divided into the areas of history, aesthetics and reception, the text provides an illuminating overview of an increasingly hybrid television studies discipline. Chapters consider the formal and aesthetic elements in the contemporary television serial through approaches ranging from those concerned with issues of gender and sexuality, national identity, and reception to industry history and textual analysis. The book also includes British examples of 'quality' serial television emphasizing not only their cultural specificity but also the transnational context in which these programmes operate. Features*Section introductions provide student-friendly explanations of the various approaches and methodologies employed in the book*Chapters are written by an international team of experts in the field of television studies*Ideal for use as a textbook on courses in contemporary television taught at undergraduate level

Disruptive Women of Literature: Rooting for the Antiheroine critically examines the representation of the literary antiheroine in contemporary Gothic and crime-thriller novels and traces her emergence from the deviant women of Greek mythology and Shakespeare to the twenty-first century. It explores how the antiheroine shifts dependent on genre, time period, and format, demonstrating that she is capable of both challenging and reaffirming problematic ideologies surrounding women, power, violence, sexuality, and motherhood. Eleanore Gardner argues that the antiheroine is almost always defined by her experience of a patriarchal trauma and must therefore navigate her identity differently and more complexly than her antihero counterpart. The author examines a broad range of texts to understand the antiheroine’s fluidity, her liminal and abject existence, and what these suggest about cultural anxieties surrounding transgressive women.

This book explores representations of child autonomy and self-governance in children’s literature.The idea of child rule and child realms is central to children’s literature, and childhood is frequently represented as a state of being, with children seen as aliens in need of passports to Adultland (and vice versa). In a sense all children’s literature depends on the idea that children are different, separate, and in command of their own imaginative spaces and places. Although the idea of child rule is a persistent theme in discussions of children’s literature (or about children and childhood) the metaphor itself has never been properly unpacked with critical reference to examples from those many texts that are contingent on the authority and/or power of children. Child governance and autonomy can be seen as natural or perverse; it can be displayed as a threat or as a promise. Accordingly, the "child rule"-motif can be seen in Robinsonades and horror films, in philosophical treatises and in series fiction. The representations of self-ruling children are manifold and ambivalent, and range from the idyllic to the nightmarish. Contributors to this volume visit a range of texts in which children are, in various ways, empowered, discussing whether childhood itself may be thought of as a nationality, and what that may imply. This collection shows how representations of child governance have been used for different ideological, aesthetic, and pedagogical reasons, and will appeal to scholars of children’s literature, childhood studies, and cultural studies.