to acquaint students with a broad outline of television history (with a particular focus on British and American contexts)
to provide a more detailed understanding of moments of significant aesthetic, social, industrial and technological change in the development of television
to introduce the basic concepts, methods and terminology necessary for the understanding and systematic analysis of television as a distinct medium
Module learning outcomes
By the end of the module students will be expected
to have a broad familiarity with the history of television from its birth as a technology in the 1920s to its contemporary manifestations as a mass medium over a number of different platforms
to have a more detailed understanding of the ways in which television is studied as both an industry and a cultural form
to be familiar with significant concepts and debates within Television Studies as they emerged (and continue to emerge) at key points of change in television history
to be able to draw upon and apply a range of conceptual resources for the analysis of television
Indicative assessment
Task
% of module mark
Essay/coursework
100
Special assessment rules
None
Additional assessment information
In-class exercises will help to strengthen research skills.
Indicative reassessment
Task
% of module mark
Essay/coursework
100
Module feedback
Students will receive written feedback on all assessments and reassessments.
Indicative reading
Assigned readings will be made available on a week by week basis. The key texts throughout the module will be:
Jonathan Bignell, An Introduction to Television Studies. Third Edition. London: Routledge, 2012
Christine Geraghty and Lusted, David The Television Studies Book. London: Arnold, 1999
Jonathan Gray and Amanda D. Lotz, Television Studies, London: Polity, 2012
Robert Allen and Annette Hill, The Television Studies Reader, London: Routledge, 2004
Lez Cooke, British Television Drama: A History, London: BFI, 2003
Catherine Johnson and Rob Turnock, ITV Cultures ITV Cultures: Independent Television over 50 years, Maidenhead: Open University Press 2005
Paddy Scannell, Radio, Television and Modern Life, Oxford: Blackwell, 1996
Toby Miller, Television Studies: The Basics London: Routledge, 2010
John Caughie, Television Drama: Realism,Modernism and British Culture, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000
Glen Creeber and John Tulloch (ed) The Television Genre Book, London: BFI, 2008
Glen Creeber (ed) Tele-Visions: An Introduction to Studying Television, London: BFI, 2006
John T. Caldwell, Televisuality: Style, Crisis and Authority in American Television, New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 1995
Su Holmes and Deborah Jermyn (eds) Understanding Reality Television London: Routledge, 2004
Graeme Turner and Jinna Tay (eds) Television Studies After TV: Understanding Television in the Post-Broadcast Era London: Routledge, 2009
James Bennett and Niki Strange (eds) Television as Digital Media, London: Duke University Press, 2011
Charlotte Brunsdon, Screen Tastes: Soap Opera to Satellite Dishes, London: Routledge, 1997
Marc Leverette, Brian L. Ott and Cara Louise Buckley (eds) It s Not TV:Watching HBO in the Post-television Era London: Routledge, 2008
JanetMcCabe and KimAkass (eds) Quality TV: Contemporary American Television and 29 Beyond, London: I.B. Tauris, 2010
Horace Newcomb (Ed.), Television The Critical View, Sixth Edition, Oxford: OUP, 2000
Toby Miller Ed., Television Studies, London: BFI, 2002
Other reading will be indicated at appropriate moments during the module.