Television Finales: From Howdy Doody to Girls

Television Finales: From Howdy Doody to Girls
ISBN-10
0815636040
ISBN-13
9780815636045
Category
Performing Arts
Pages
544
Language
English
Published
2018-10-15
Publisher
Syracuse University Press
Authors
David Bianculli, Douglas L. Howard

Description

Today more than ever, series finales have become cultural touchstones that feed watercooler fodder and Twitter storms among a committed community of viewers. While the final episodes of The Fugitive and M*A*S*H continue to rank among the highest rated broadcasts, more recent shows draw legions of binge-watching fans. Given the importance of finales to viewers and critics alike, Howard and Bianculli along with the other contributors explore these endings and what they mean to the audience, both in terms of their sense of narrative and as episodes that epitomize an entire show. Bringing together a veritable "who's who" of television scholars, journalists, and media experts, including Robert Thompson, Martha Nochimson, Gary Edgerton, David Hinckley, Kim Akass, and Joanne Morreale, the book offers commentary on some of the most compelling and often controversial final episodes in television history. Each chapter is devoted to a separate finale, providing readers with a comprehensive survey of these watershed moments. Gathering a unique international lineup of journalists and media scholars, the book also offers readers an intriguing variety of critical voices and perspectives.

Get the book

Amazon.com
Amazon.com
Search the book
eBay.com
eBay.com
Search the book

Other editions

Similar books

  • TV Finales FAQ: All That's Left to Know About the Endings of Your Favorite TV Shows
    TV Finales FAQ: All That's Left to Know About the Endings of Your Favorite TV Shows
    By Stephen Tropiano, Holly Van Buren

    In his autobiography, Barry Morse shares with his readers some anecdotes regarding the final episode. He and Janssen jokingly suggested that the show should end with Kimble waking up in bed with his wife Helen and crying out, “Oh! Oh, ...

  • Season Finale: The Unexpected Rise and Fall of the WB and UPN
    Season Finale: The Unexpected Rise and Fall of the WB and UPN
    By Susanne Daniels, Cynthia Littleton

    Unfolding amid this backdrop of high-stakes business ventures, fanatical creative struggles, and corporate power plays, Season Finale traces the parallel stories of the WB and UPN from their prosperous beginnings to their precipitous demise ...

  • Melodrama in Contemporary Film and Television
    Melodrama in Contemporary Film and Television
    By M. Stewart

    Melodrama in Contemporary Film and Television debates the ways in which melodrama expresses and gives meaning to: trauma and pathos; memory and historical re-visioning; home and borders; gendered and queer relations; the family and psychic ...

  • Complex TV: The Poetics of Contemporary Television Storytelling
    Complex TV: The Poetics of Contemporary Television Storytelling
    By Jason Mittell

    ... 319, 333,336,339, 351–352 series reboots, 47–48, 169,297 Sewell, Philip W., 369n4 Sex and the City, 150 Shapiro, ... 353, 372n9 Sixth Sense, The, 32, 51 Sliding Doors, 274 Smallville, 173 Smith, Aaron, 377n7 Smith, Anthony, 356n6, ...

  • Post-Object Fandom: Television, Identity and Self-narrative
    Post-Object Fandom: Television, Identity and Self-narrative
    By Rebecca Williams

    O'Brien, L. (2013), 'Damon Lindelof quits Twitter', IGN.com. http://uk.ign.com/ ... Pearson, R. (2007), 'Lost in transition: From post-network to post-television', in J. McCabe and K. Akass (eds), Quality TV: Contemporary American ...

  • Television’s Streaming Wars
    Television’s Streaming Wars
    By Arienne Ferchaud, Jennifer M. Proffitt

    ... TV Brought Zombies, Dragons and Androids into the Mainstream Andrew Lynch 21 Speculative Television and the Doing and Undoing of Religion Gregory Erickson 22 Post-heritage Perspectives on British Period Drama Television Will Stanford ...

  • Prime Time Soap Operas
    Prime Time Soap Operas
    By Douglas M. Snauffer

    A three-hour prequel entitled Dallas: The Early Years was aired by CBS on March 23, 1986, and told how the Ewing-Barnes feud first began back in the 1930s. The Ewing saga itself continued on CBS for an amazing fourteen seasons and 357 ...

  • Loose-leaf Version for Introductory Statistics: A Problem Solving Approach
    Loose-leaf Version for Introductory Statistics: A Problem Solving Approach
    By Stephen Kokoska

    exerCISeS example 1.7 Most-Watched television Finales According to Koldcast Entertainment Media, the final episode of M*A*S*H, with almost 106 million viewers, is still the most-watched television finale ever.6 Other top television ...

  • American Militarism on the Small Screen
    American Militarism on the Small Screen
    By Stacy Takacs, Anna Froula

    3. James H. Wittebols, Watching M*A*S*H, Watching America: A Social History of the 1972–1983 Television Series (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1998), 53. 4. “Fallen Idol,” season 6, episode 2, M*A*S*H: Season 6 Collector's Edition, ...

  • The Way We All Became The Brady Bunch: How the Canceled Sitcom Became the Beloved Pop Culture Icon We Are...
    The Way We All Became The Brady Bunch: How the Canceled Sitcom Became the Beloved Pop Culture Icon We Are...
    By Kimberly Potts

    Interviews conducted by the author Alyssa Albarella Marc Berman Jennifer Elise Cox Allie Dinan Greg Garber Stephen Garvey Vince Gilligan Nicholas Hammond Ben Houser Stacey James Matt Jisa Hope Juber Christopher Knight Jerry London Susan ...