Television's Second Golden Age: From Hill Street Blues to ER (Television and Popular Culture)

Tv 2nd golden age.

Televsion's Second Golden Age" by Robert Thompson.I didn't like the book because it was outdated,written in 1996.If I had known this,I wouldn't of bought it. I read a couple chapters,most of the info I knew about already.Its not worth buying. Sue Adams

Robert Thompson is an expert in his field and this book incorporates it all. His analysis is fascinating, brilliant and provides a trip down television's memory lane. Highly recommend!

It's all too easy to assume that simply because we vegetate in front of the TV all day, that we have some kind of understanding of its history and how it works. This book summarises the importance of several landmark shows of the 1980s and 1990s, helping to show how a few select producers (chiefly refugees from The Mary Tyler Moore Show) were able to transform the quality of television, at least for a while. Note that the shows are discussed in their American context -- British viewers may be surprised to hear that anything was innovative about the "MASH without the laughter track", because MASH was always broadcast in the UK without a laughter track. But for placing the history of American TV in its natural home habitat, this remains an important and interesting introduction to quality television.

I purchased this book primarily for it's advertised chapter on thirtysomething, since analysis of one of my favourite TV shows is rare. That the coverage here is disappointing is due probably more with my expectation, since the book covers a collection of shows that also include Hill Street Blues, St. Elsewhere, Twin Peaks, China Beach, Cagney and Lacey, Picket Fences, Moonlighting, Northern Exposure, and L.A.Law, none of which capture my imagination as much as thirtysomething, though I enjoyed reading about the evolution of Moonlighting. However, author Robert J Thompson does contextualise each series, and provides a fascinating epilogue in an exploration of the first "golden age of television". Thompson's thirtysomething chapter running at 8 pages, includes an acknowledgement of the show's written excellence much awarded and celebrated by a published anthology of scripts, the advertising controversies about gay issues, the show's innovative treatment of subject in spite of the cliched claim that "it's a show about nothing" (prefiguring the Seinfeld hook), a quote from a script ie Miles Dentrell about the nature of advertising, the series' cancellation and last-minute talks of making a fifth and final series. If Thompson relies a lot of quotes from critics and detractors of the show eg Jay Leno on the death of one of the principal characters "One down, six to go", his notes lead me to the two issues of Playboy magazine with relevant articles, The Thirtysomething Journal interview and The Creators and Cast of Thirtysomething.

This is a brief but entertaining and convincing argument for the artistic value of one of the most unfairly condemended media outlets -- television. Working from the hypothesis that the quirky dramas that dominated television from the '70s to the '90s (Hill Street Blues, St. Elsewhere, thirtysomething, ect.) actually made up television's second golden age, author Robert J. Thompson actually makes a pretty good argument for taking TV seriously. Each chapter provides detailed (and refreshingly witty) analysis of all the TV shows that we previously took for granted and shows how the writers and producers of those shows were able to create great art in the guise of great entertainment. Of particular worth was Thompson's long and informative chapter on St. Elsewhere, over the course of which he manages to break down a few of that show's intricate inside jokes and show how the show's controversial final episode actually served as a powerful and still-relavent statement on the state of television and American culture today. This book is a must read for anyone who sees television as more than just a distraction.