Changing Channels: America in TV Guide - 1st Edition/1st Printing

Altschuler, Glenn C., and David I. Grossvogel

ISBN 10: 025201779X / ISBN 13: 9780252017797

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

About this Item

An attractive first edition/first printing in Near Fine condition in alike dust jacket with light edgewear; The changing face of television is chronicled in this book. It covers topics such as the early days of TV, the rise of cable, the impact of broadcast deregulation, and the current state of the industry.; 8vo; 214 pages.

Seller Inventory # 35062

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Changing Channels: America in TV Guide - 1st Edition/1st Printing
• Publisher: University of Illinois Press, Urbana, IL, and Chicago, IL
• Publication Date: 1992
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 025201779X
• ISBN 13: 9780252017797
• Binding: Cloth
• Edition: First Edition; First Printing.
• Condition: Near Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine
• Seller catalogs:
  • Collection Starter::Hundred Dollars or Less

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.