Complex TV: Evaluation

06Jun12

It’s time for another chapter of Complex TV – this one focuses on questions of evaluation in television scholarship. Here’s the abstract: Television studies, as forged by the influence of cultural studies, has been loath to include critical evaluation in its toolbox, as television’s own spot on the receiving end of numerous aesthetic condemnations has […]

Filed under: Academia, Complex TV, Media Studies, Narrative, Taste, Television, TV Shows   |  Leave a Comment
Tags: breaking bad, Mad Men, The Wire

The Scenic Rhythms of Game of Thrones

05Jun12

I finished watching the second season of Game of Thrones last night, which I enjoyed, but liked less than the first season (no spoilers forthcoming if you’re not caught up yet). I think a large part of that distinction came from how I watched them – like many, I came to season one late, bingeing on […]

Filed under: Narrative, Television, TV Shows   |  11 Comments
Tags: breaking bad, Days of Our Lives, Game of Thrones, Lost, Mad Men, quantitative analysis, Scenes per Hour, soap opera, The Wire

When is a Publication Not a Publication?

01Sep11

August was quite a month for me personally, precluding any blogging here – moving to Germany and adjusting to life abroad has been my primary occupation (as documented on our family blog). I’m not acclimated enough to understand German television sufficiently to blog about it (although I did learn the word Schnabeltier from my kids […]

Filed under: Academia, Media Studies, Meta-blogging, Publishing   |  10 Comments
Tags: Mad Men

On Disliking Mad Men

29Jul10

As a scholar and fan of contemporary narratively complex television serials, one of my blindspots has been Mad Men, a show about which I’ve mentioned on this blog has little appeal to me. Thus it was a bit surprising months ago when I was invited to contribute to a forthcoming book of collected essays on […]

Filed under: Fandom, Media Studies, Narrative, Taste, Television, TV Shows, Viewers   |  120 Comments
Tags: Mad Men