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.
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
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.
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.
Author: David Lavery
Publisher: Wallflower Press
ISBN: 9781903364444
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 308
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Book Description
As a work of popular culture, an innovative television series and a media phenomenon, 'The Sopranos' has made an impact throughout the world. This text investigates both the wide appeal and controversial reception of this highly-debated drama.
Author: Dana Renga
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
ISBN: 1487510470
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 459
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Book Description
The mafia has always fascinated filmmakers and television producers. Al Capone, Salvatore Giuliano, Lucky Luciano, Ciro Di Marzio, Roberto Saviano, Don Vito and Michael Corleone, and Tony Soprano are some of the historical and fictional figures that contribute to the myth of the Italian and Italian-American mafias perpetuated onscreen. This collection looks at mafia movies and television over time and across cultures, from the early classics to the Godfather trilogy and contemporary Italian films and television series. The only comprehensive collection of its type, Mafia Movies treats over fifty films and TV shows created since 1906, while introducing Italian and Italian-American mafia history and culture. The second edition includes new original essays on essential films and TV shows that have emerged since the publication of the first edition, such as Boardwalk Empire and Mob Wives, as well as a new roundtable section on Italy’s “other” mafias in film and television, written as a collaborative essay by more than ten scholars. The edition also introduces a new section called “Double Takes” that elaborates on some of the most popular mafia films and TV shows (e.g. The Godfather and The Sopranos) organized around themes such as adaptation, gender and politics, urban spaces, and performance and stardom.
Author: Franco Ricci
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
ISBN: 1442615710
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 335
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Book Description
In The Sopranos: Born under a Bad Sign, Franco Ricci presents an insightful analysis of the groundbreaking HBO series and its complex psychological themes.
Author: Brett Martin
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0143125699
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 337
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Book Description
The 10th anniversary edition, now with a new preface by the author "A wonderfully smart, lively, and culturally astute survey." - The New York Times Book Review "Grand entertainment...fascinating for anyone curious about the perplexing miracles of how great television comes to be." - The Wall Street Journal "I love this book...It's the kind of thing I wish I'd been able to read in film school, back before such books existed." - Vince Gilligan, creator of Breaking Bad and co-creator of Better Call Saul In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the landscape of television began an unprecedented transformation. While the networks continued to chase the lowest common denominator, a wave of new shows on cable channels dramatically stretched television’s narrative inventiveness, emotional resonance, and creative ambition. Combining deep reportage with critical analysis and historical context, Brett Martin recounts the rise and inner workings of this artistic watershed - a golden age of TV that continues to transform America's cultural landscape. Difficult Men features extensive interviews with all the major players - including David Chase (The Sopranos), David Simon and Ed Burns (The Wire), David Milch (NYPD Blue, Deadwood), Alan Ball (Six Feet Under), and Vince Gilligan (Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul) - and reveals how television became a truly significant and influential part of our culture.
Author: Matt Zoller Seitz
Publisher: Abrams
ISBN: 1683355261
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 748
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Book Description
In The Sopranos Sessions, renowned television critics—and New York Times bestselling authors—Matt Zoller Seitz and Alan Sepinwall celebrate the 20th anniversary of one of the greatest television series of all time. Foreword by Laura Lippmann On January 10, 1999, a mobster walked into a psychiatrist’s office and changed TV history. By shattering preconceptions about the kinds of stories the medium should tell, The Sopranos launched our current age of prestige television, paving the way for such giants as Mad Men, The Wire, Breaking Bad, and Game of Thrones. As TV critics for Tony Soprano’s hometown paper, New Jersey’s The Star-Ledger, Alan Sepinwall and Matt Zoller Seitz were among the first to write about the series before it became a cultural phenomenon. Sepinwall and Seitz have reunited to produce The Sopranos Sessions, a collection of recaps, conversations, and critical essays covering every episode. Featuring a series of long-form interviews with series creator David Chase, as well as selections from the authors’ archival writing on the series, The Sopranos Sessions explores the show’s artistry, themes, and legacy. “This amazing book by Alan Sepinwall and Matt Zoller Seitz has bigger twists than anything I could ever come up with.” —Sam Esmail, creator of Mr. Robot
Author: Donna Michelle Anderson
Publisher: Movie in a Box Books
ISBN: 0978715004
Category : Motion picture authorship
Languages : en
Pages : 95
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Book Description
Hundreds of books claim they can teach you how to write the perfect script. Listen up: your script doesnt need to be perfect to sell! It does need to include nine standard story elements. Producer, writer and story analyst Donna Michelle Anderson, best known in the industry as DMA, has been hammering this point home for more than a decade at UCLA Extension Writers Program, film fests, production companies and more, and as the founder and screenwriting instructor of the Movie in a Box one-day filmmaking seminars.With this concise guide, DMA brings you the simplest steps to unifying a theme, character arc and spine, then streamlining those elements into a sellable script. She calls it The 1-3-5 System. Youre going to call it a miracle.
