Changing Channels

Altschuler, Glenn C. and Grossvogel, David I.

ISBN 10: 025201779X / ISBN 13: 9780252017797

Published by University of Illinois Press, Urbana and Chicago, 1992

About this Item

1992. 1st Printing. Near Fine hardback book. No dust jacket. A square, tight and clean copy. 214pp. Sm 4to. (HW).

Seller Inventory # 016113

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Changing Channels
• Publisher: University of Illinois Press, Urbana and Chicago
• Publication Date: 1992
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 025201779X
• ISBN 13: 9780252017797
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Printing
• Condition: Near Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: No Jacket
• Seller catalogs:
  • Hollywood

About this title

Synopsis

A forty-year history of the largest circulated magazine in the United States reveals TV Guide's erratic stances on social issues and chronicles how the publication moved from an industry watchdog to a more commercial, popular format.

Reviews

Two academicians tune in to TV Guide and assess how well everyone's favorite boob-tube digest, which boasts the highest circulation in publishing history (about 20 million copies sold weekly), has tuned in to America. Grossvogel (Comparative Literature/Cornell) has done this sort of highbrow/pop-culture analysis before, in Dear Ann Landers (1987); here, he teams with Altschuler (American Studies/Cornell). The profs work well together. Their premise is obvious--that TV Guide mirrors the changing values of its readership--but it's fascinating nonetheless to see how the magazine's 40-year history perfectly conforms to that of the nation. Born in the Eisenhower/Father Knows Best years, TV Guide began with sanitized puff pieces on the stars (no divorce, alcohol, or sex). In the 60's and 70's, it grew self-consciously cynical, skewering celebrities with tough profiles by Dick Gehman and Edith Efron. The 1988 purchase by Rupert Murdoch turned back the clock, and now TV Guide offers a sexed-up version of its 50's cream-puff diet. Along with this history, the authors track the magazine's record on three social issues: feminism, civil rights, and treatment of the news. Despite founder Walter H. Annenberg's reputation as an archconservative, Grossvogel and Altschuler find TV Guide to be ``complex, occasionally confused, and even self-contradictory'' in its political positions. By dishing up celebrity gossip on a scholarly platter, this deserves the guilty-pleasure-of-the-month award. One of the better highbrow studies of pop Americana. (Eight photographs and three linecuts.) -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.