Writing for the Medium: Television in TransitionThomas Elsaesser, Jan Simons, Lucette Bronk This collection of essays, by well known writers on the subject of writing for television, is divided into three sections, with the first one devoted to the debates on quality television. The second one focuses on literature and television. The final section examines 'Science on television', with series editors from Britain and Germany giving first-hand accounts of the scope for serious science reporting on television. |
Contents
General Introduction | 7 |
Introduction | 15 |
Television in the Age of Consensus without Sense | 21 |
Quality Television | 35 |
Some Hopeful Reflections | 41 |
On the Quality of Soap | 49 |
Jon Cook and Thomas Elsaesser | 64 |
Questionable Quality or the Undiscoverable Quality of Television | 77 |
Speaking to Nations | 118 |
Television and Literature | 131 |
Author Authority Authenticity | 137 |
Unwritable Films Unfilmable Texts? | 149 |
Introduction | 159 |
Science on Television | 182 |
Citizen Scientist or A Dinosaur for All Seasons? | 191 |
| 203 | |
Literature on Television | 89 |
The Novelist and Television Drama | 98 |
On Achieving Good Television | 107 |
The Editors | 210 |
Common terms and phrases
adaptation advertising aesthetic Alan Plater Alan Yentob ARD and ZDF argument BBC2 Britain British television broadcasting companies channels cinema critical D.H. Lawrence debate definition of quality Dennis Potter developments director discussions documentary Dutch entertainment European Fay Weldon fiction film and television filmmakers genre Germany high culture imagination institution interest Jon Cook journalistic kind literary literature Malcolm Bradbury mass media means medium narrative Netherlands novel novelist political popular production programme makers public service broadcasting public service television quality of television quality television quality TV question role RTL4 science and technology science on television science programmes scientific scientists screen script sense single play soap opera social SOUTH BANK SHOW speak specific story tele television drama television programmes television science television's theatre Thomas Elsaesser tradition viewers vision visual writers