The Essential HBO Reader

The Essential HBO Reader PDF Author: Gary R. Edgerton
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
ISBN: 0813143721
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 543

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Book Description
Essays on the history of HBO, a company designed to please audiences instead of advertisers, and the impact of its distinctive programming: “Recommended.” —Choice The founding of Home Box Office in the early 1970s—when it debuted by telecasting a Paul Newman movie and an NHL game to 365 households in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania—was a harbinger of the innovations that would transform television as an industry and a technology in the decades that followed. HBO quickly became synonymous with subscription television—and the leading force in cable programming. Over decades, it’s grown from a domestic movie channel to an international powerhouse with a presence in over seventy countries. It is now a full-service content provider with a distinctive brand of original programming, famed for such landmark shows as The Sopranos and Sex and the City. It’s brought us Six Feet Under and The Wire, Band of Brothers and Angels in America, Curb Your Enthusiasm and Def Comedy Jam, Inside the NFL and Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel, Taxicab Confessions and Autopsy, and multiple Oscar-winning documentaries. The Essential HBO Reader brings together an accomplished group of scholars to explain how HBO’s programming transformed the world of television and popular culture, and provides a comprehensive and compelling examination of HBO’s development into the prototypical entertainment corporation of the twenty-first century. “An important assessment of the original programming HBO has created in the past few decades?how these programs are derived and what impact they have had.” —Choice “A thorough treatment of HBO’s programming . . . a useful addition to a growing number of books about American television in the ‘post-network’ era.” —American Studies

The Essential HBO Reader

The Essential HBO Reader PDF Author: Gary R. Edgerton
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
ISBN: 0813143721
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 543

Get Book Here

Book Description
Essays on the history of HBO, a company designed to please audiences instead of advertisers, and the impact of its distinctive programming: “Recommended.” —Choice The founding of Home Box Office in the early 1970s—when it debuted by telecasting a Paul Newman movie and an NHL game to 365 households in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania—was a harbinger of the innovations that would transform television as an industry and a technology in the decades that followed. HBO quickly became synonymous with subscription television—and the leading force in cable programming. Over decades, it’s grown from a domestic movie channel to an international powerhouse with a presence in over seventy countries. It is now a full-service content provider with a distinctive brand of original programming, famed for such landmark shows as The Sopranos and Sex and the City. It’s brought us Six Feet Under and The Wire, Band of Brothers and Angels in America, Curb Your Enthusiasm and Def Comedy Jam, Inside the NFL and Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel, Taxicab Confessions and Autopsy, and multiple Oscar-winning documentaries. The Essential HBO Reader brings together an accomplished group of scholars to explain how HBO’s programming transformed the world of television and popular culture, and provides a comprehensive and compelling examination of HBO’s development into the prototypical entertainment corporation of the twenty-first century. “An important assessment of the original programming HBO has created in the past few decades?how these programs are derived and what impact they have had.” —Choice “A thorough treatment of HBO’s programming . . . a useful addition to a growing number of books about American television in the ‘post-network’ era.” —American Studies

The Essential HBO Reader

The Essential HBO Reader PDF Author: Gary R. Edgerton
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
ISBN: 0813143713
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 372

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Book Description
The founding of Home Box Office in the early 1970s was a harbinger of the innovations that transformed television as an industry and a technology in the decades that followed. HBO quickly became synonymous with subscription television and became the leading force in cable programming. Having interests in television, motion picture, and home video industries was crucial to its success. HBO diversified into original television and movie production, home video sales, and international distribution as these once-separate entertainment sectors began converging into a global entertainment industry in the mid-1980s. HBO has grown from a domestic movie channel to an international cable-and-satellite network with a presence in over seventy countries. It is now a full-service content provider with a distinctive brand of original programming and landmark shows such as The Sopranos and Sex and the City. The network is widely recognized for its award-winning, innovative and provocative programming, including dramatic series such as Six Feet Under and The Wire, miniseries such as Band of Brothers and Angels in America, comedies such as Curb Your Enthusiasm and Def Comedy Jam, sports shows such as Inside the NFL and Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel, documentary series such as Taxi Cab Confessions and Autopsy, and six Oscar-winning documentaries between 1999 and 2004. In The Essential HBO Reader, editors Gary R. Edgerton and Jeffrey P. Jones bring together an accomplished group of scholars to explain how HBO's programming transformed the world of cable television and how the network continues to shape popular culture and the television industry. Now, after more than three and a half decades, HBO has won acclaim in four distinct programming areas—drama, comedy, sports, and documentaries—emerging as TV's gold standard for its breakout series and specials. The Essential HBO Reader provides a comprehensive and compelling examination of HBO's development into the prototypical entertainment corporation of the twenty-first century.

The Essential Sopranos Reader

The Essential Sopranos Reader PDF Author: David Lavery
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
ISBN: 081314017X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 404

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Book Description
The Sopranos is recognized as the most successful cable series in the history of television. The Washington Post has called the popular series, winner of twenty-one Emmys and five Golden Globes, "the television landmark that leaves other landmarks in the dust." In every aspect -- narrative structure, visual artistry, writing, intertextuality, ensemble acting, controversial themes, dark humor, and unflinching examinations of American life -- The Sopranos has had few equals. Offering a definitive final assessment of the series, The Essential Sopranos Reader aims to comprehensively examine the show's themes and enduring cultural significance. Gender and ethnicity, the role of dreams, the rebirth of HBO, the series' controversial finale, and other topics come under scrutiny in this highly accessible, engaging collection. The book concludes with an interview with Dominic Chianese, who played Uncle Junior in all six seasons of the show.

Thinking Outside the Box

Thinking Outside the Box PDF Author: Gary R. Edgerton
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
ISBN: 9780813171722
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 388

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Book Description
Thinking Outside the Box brings together some of the best and most challenging scholarship about TV genres, exploring their genesis, their functions and development, and the interaction of disparate genres. The authors argue that genre is a process rather than a static category and that it signifies much about the people who produce and watch the shows. In addition to considering traditional genres such as sitcoms, soap operas, and talk shows, the contributors explore new hybrids, including reality programs, teen-oriented science fiction, and quality dramas, and examine how many of these shows have taken on a global reach. Identifying historical continuities and envisioning possible trends, this is the richest and most current study of how television genres form, operate, and change.

The Essential Cult TV Reader

The Essential Cult TV Reader PDF Author: David Lavery
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
ISBN: 0813181496
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 523

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Book Description
The Essential Cult TV Reader is a collection of insightful essays that examine television shows that amass engaged, active fan bases by employing an imaginative approach to programming. Once defined by limited viewership, cult TV has developed its own identity, with some shows gaining large, mainstream audiences. By exploring the defining characteristics of cult TV, The Essential Cult TV Reader traces the development of this once obscure form and explains how cult TV achieved its current status as legitimate television. The essays explore a wide range of cult programs, from early shows such as Star Trek, The Avengers, Dark Shadows, and The Twilight Zone to popular contemporary shows such as Lost, Dexter, and 24, addressing the cultural context that allowed the development of the phenomenon. The contributors investigate the obligations of cult series to their fans, the relationship of camp and cult, the effects of DVD releases and the Internet, and the globalization of cult TV. The Essential Cult TV Reader answers many of the questions surrounding the form while revealing emerging debates on its future.

Things That Make White People Uncomfortable

Things That Make White People Uncomfortable PDF Author: Michael Bennett
Publisher: Haymarket Books
ISBN: 1642590800
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 152

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Book Description
Michael Bennett is a Super Bowl Champion, a three-time Pro Bowl defensive end, a fearless activist, a feminist, a grassroots philanthropist, an organizer, and a change maker. He's also one of the most scathingly humorous athletes on the planet, and he wants to make you uncomfortable. Bennett adds his unmistakable voice to discussions of racism and police violence, Black athletes and their relationship to powerful institutions like the NCAA and the NFL, the role of protest in history, and the responsibilities of athletes as role models to speak out against injustice. Following in the footsteps of activist-athletes from Muhammad Ali to Colin Kaepernick, Bennett demonstrates his outspoken leadership both on and off the field.Written with award-winning sportswriter and author Dave Zirin, Things that Make White People Uncomfortable is a sports book for our turbulent times, a memoir, and a manifesto as hilarious and engaging as it is illuminating.

The Essential Guide to Getting Your Book Published

The Essential Guide to Getting Your Book Published PDF Author: Arielle Eckstut
Publisher: Workman Publishing
ISBN: 076116085X
Category : Reference
Languages : en
Pages : 544

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Book Description
Now updated for 2015! The best, most comprehensive guide for writers is now revised and updated, with new sections on ebooks, self-publishing, crowd-funding through Kickstarter, blogging, increasing visibility via online marketing, micropublishing, the power of social media and author websites, and more—making The Essential Guide to Getting Your Book Published more vital than ever for anyone who wants to mine that great idea and turn it into a successfully published book. Written by experts with twenty-five books between them as well as many years’ experience as a literary agent (Eckstut) and a book doctor (Sterry), this nuts-and-bolts guide demystifies every step of the publishing process: how to come up with a blockbuster title, create a selling proposal, find the right agent, understand a book contract, and develop marketing and publicity savvy. Includes interviews with hundreds of publishing insiders and authors, including Seth Godin, Neil Gaiman, Amy Bloom, Margaret Atwood, Leonard Lopate, plus agents, editors, and booksellers; sidebars featuring real-life publishing success stories; sample proposals, query letters, and an entirely updated resources and publishers directory.

Satire TV

Satire TV PDF Author: Jonathan Gray
Publisher: NYU Press
ISBN: 0814731996
Category : Humor
Languages : en
Pages : 298

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Book Description
This work examines what happens when comedy becomes political, and politics become funny. A series of original essays focus on a range of programmes, from 'The Daily Show' to 'South Park'.

The HBO Effect

The HBO Effect PDF Author: Dean J. DeFino
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 1623561272
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 323

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Book Description
No advertisers to please, no censors to placate, no commercial interruptions every eleven minutes, demanding cliffhangers to draw viewers back after the commercial breaks: HBO has re-written the rules of television; and the result has been nothing short of a cultural ground shift. The HBO Effect details how the fingerprints of HBO are all over contemporary film and television. Their capability to focus on smaller markets made shows like Sex and the City, The Sopranos, The Wire, and even the more recent Game of Thrones and Girls, trigger shows on basic cable networks to follow suit. HBO pioneered the use of HDTV and the widescreen format, production and distribution deals leading to market presence, and the promotion of greater diversity on TV (discussing issues of class and race). The HBO Effect examines this rich and unique history for clues to its remarkable impact upon television and popular culture. It's time to take a wide-angle look at HBO as a producer of American culture.

The Year of the Bomb

The Year of the Bomb PDF Author: Ronald Kidd
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1416958924
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 210

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Book Description
It's 1955, and Paul and his friends are excited when filming of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" begins in their small California town. But they soon become involved in a conspiracy that puts them in real danger.