Television: A Biography
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4.0 • 1 Rating
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- $16.99
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- $16.99
Publisher Description
“The invention, or the quaint piece of furniture, wandered into our lives in the 1940s, as a primitive plaything, a clever if awkward addition to the household. It was expensive, unreliable and a bit of an invalid.” —Television, A Biography
In just a few years, what used to be an immobile piece of living room furniture, which one had to sit in front of at appointed times in order to watch sponsored programming on a finite number of channels, morphed into a glowing cloud of screens with access to a near-endless supply of content available when and how viewers want it. With this phenomenon now a common cultural theme, a writer of David Thomson’s stature delivering a critical history, or “biography” of the six-decade television era, will be a significant event which could not be more timely. With Television, the critic and film historian who wrote what Sight and Sound's readers called “the most important film book of the last 50 years” has finally turned his unique powers of observation to the medium that has swallowed film whole.
Over twenty-two thematically organized chapters, Thomson brings his provocatively insightful and unique voice to the life of what was television. David Thomson surveying a Boschian landscape, illuminated by that singular glow—always “on”—and peopled by everyone from Donna Reed to Dennis Potter, will be the first complete history of the defining medium of our time.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Prolific film critic and historian Thomson (How to Watch a Movie) ambitiously endeavors to map the history of television in this illustrated volume, but for those who don't admire the author's sauntering style, the results will be less than satisfying. Compiled into thematic chapters with catchy titles such as "The Sit and the Situation," "The Loneliness of the Role Model," and "Women, Wives, and Wonderers," it promises a fresh and practical analysis of the medium but lacks depth. The book looks at a wide assortment of subjects, including stars Donna Reed, Lucille Ball, Bill Cosby, and Jon Stewart, as well as hit shows such as MASH, Law & Order, Seinfeld, and Breaking Bad. However, its operating principle seems to be "throw it at the wall and see what sticks." The author has intriguing historical tidbits to share in this series of loosely organized essays, but his genuine insights are obscured by the slapdash narrative. This weightless study improves whenever the author's dry humor comes to the fore. Casual readers should enjoy this brisk read, but anyone expecting a comprehensive consideration of the medium will have to look elsewhere.
