This summer’s crop of original cable series leaves me wondering if we’ve entered a new era, as I increasingly find less innovation and distinction among many of cable’s originals.
Read more »
Industry
A New Stage in the Evolution of Original Cable Programming?
Of Pigs and BullSh*t: Fox Television Stations, Inc. v. FCC
The narrowly decided 1978 Pacifica decision was, from one perspective, a battle over pig metaphors. Sadly, there are no new pig metaphors in Fox Television Stations, Inc. v. FCC, though the Pacifica case looms large in the decision.
Read more »
Army Wives, Safe Soldiers, and Online Smokescreens
As everyone else was drooling over the final episodes of LOST, I fully admit that I was focusing on my weekly fix of Lifetime’s Army Wives. Despite its lack of cultural cachet, to me the show continues to illustrate an interesting tension between niche marketing, media convergence, and politically charged topicality.
Read more »
One Future of Network Television: A Literal Cottage Industry
At the TWiT Cottage and around the web, a new kind of network television is taking hold.
Read more »
Louie, Luckily
FX's Louie and new possibilities for half-hour television comedy.
Read more »
Refreshing Democracy?
Pepsi appears to be redefining the relationship between consumerism and (corporate) citizenship together with the emerging Pepsi generation
Read more »
Ethical Gaming
As avid mediavores and media scholars, how should we consider our consumption of media products in light of the labor and environmental conditions of production?
Read more »
Egregious Product Placement: Sex & the City & HP
What does it mean to have a beloved character's tastes change in favor of product placement opportunities? Fan backlash to product placement might disrupt the narrative, but it's probably not a bad thing for the advertiser.
Read more »
Nielsen’s One-Stop Shop for Media Audiences
Nielsen's planned return to being publicly traded is the latest significant change for a company that has become much more than the primary source of television ratings, but rather has evolved into the primary arbiter of media audiences of virtually all types.
Read more »
Character Bleed; or, What is Lorelai Gilmore Doing with Nate Fisher?
Seeing Graham as Sarah Braverman evokes for both Derek and me her role of Lorelai, but whereas I view Sarah as maybe a little snarkier and wittier than she’s written in the show, for Derek the roles crash.
Read more »
The Right to Make Wrong TV?
Later this year, the RightNetwork, a network dedicated to programming solely for conservatives, will launch. I’m intrigued by this network for a few reasons.
Read more »
Egregious Product Placement: Toyota & Bones
The inclusion of Angela's Toyota Sienna in the script of a recent Bones episode demonstrates an unusual alignment of product placement and ad campaign.
Read more »
SCMS + SXSW = ?
Media studies stands to gain from the consideration and analysis of new media and vice versa. Bringing two major conferences together, SCMS and SXSW Interactive, and seeing what that gets us seems like as good a place to start as any.
Read more »
Quirks, Viewers, Commerce are the Real QVC
There's so much more to QVC than chirpy hosts, costume jewelry, and the bloopers you see on The Soup. One fan and scholar attempts to explain and redeem the oft-mocked shopping channel.
Read more »
The Place Race
Location is the frontier du jour. The explosion of geolocation apps and the eagerness of people to use them, has prompted services like Twitter to get into the game. People want to know where you are and maybe already do. Welcome to the place race
Read more »