The Television Will be Revolutionized (Paperback)

by Amanda Lotz (Author)
Key Phrases: subcultural forum, new distribution windows, other production components, The Shield, Making Television, Television Outside the Box (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"American television is undergoing profound transitions in the digital age, transforming both the television industry and our viewing experiences. Lotz has written the definitive guidebook to the medium in transition, offering a road map to where we've been, where we're going, and why it matters. Anyone with an interest in television's present and future will find The Television Will Be Revolutionized required reading and an indispensable reference in the coming years." JASON MITTELL, Middlebury College"

Product Description

Choice Outstanding Academic Title for 2008

After occupying a central space in American living rooms for the past fifty years, is television, as we’ve known it, dead? The capabilities and features of that simple box have been so radically redefined that it’s now nearly unrecognizable. Today, viewers with digital video recorders such as TiVo may elect to circumvent scheduling constraints and commercials. Owners of iPods and other portable viewing devices are able to download the latest episodes of their favorite shows and watch them whenever and wherever they want. Still others rent television shows on DVD, or download them through legal and illegal sources online. But these changes have not been hastening the demise of the medium. They are revolutionizing it.

The Television Will Be Revolutionized examines television at the turn of the twenty-first century — what Amanda D. Lotz terms the “post-network” era. Television, both as a technology and a tool for cultural storytelling, remains as important today as ever, but it has changed in fundamental ways as the result of technological innovations, proliferating cable channels targeting ever more specific niche audiences, and evolving forms of advertising such as product placement and branded entertainment. Many of the conventional practices and even the industry’s basic business model are proving unworkable in this new context, resulting in a crisis in norms and practices.

Through interviews with those working in the industry, attendance of various industry summits and meetings, surveys of trade publications, and consideration of an extensive array of popular television shows, Lotz takes us behind the screen to explore what is changing, why it’s changing, and why these changes matter.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 321 pages
• Publisher: NYU Press (November 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0814752209
• ISBN-13: 978-0814752203
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #340,882 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the Smartest books on Present day Television!, November 21, 2008

By	Jane M. Shattuc - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Television Will be Revolutionized (Hardcover)

I recently sat down and read the book end to end because it was so intelligent and well written. She does a cogent job of envisioning what the experience of "television" is as it converges with the computer and film. Lots thoughtful ideas.I plan to have my students read it as a textbook. But I think they will enjoy it as opposed to most textbooks.

5.0 out of 5 stars Defining Book on TV Industry in the 2000s, March 20, 2009

By	Jeff Jones (Norfolk, VA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

If Todd Gitlin helped us understand the TV industry in the 1980s, and John Caldwell in the 1990s, Lotz's book is the defining book about the state of the industry in the 2000s. Superbly researched and written. Will be assigned in many a TV Studies classroom. The book is largely focused on prime-time, but Lotz has a follow-up edited collection coming out this summer that looks outside those programming hours. A must-read for anyone wanting to understand the industry amidst such revolutionary changes.