TV FAQ: Uncommon Answers to Common Questions About TV

Contents......Page 4
I. Questions about TV as a medium......Page 6
1. What is this book about?......Page 7
2. What is 'television'?......Page 12
3. Is there such a thing as 'good TV'?......Page 18
4. Does TV 'dumb us down'?......Page 23
5. Does TV distort what it shows?......Page 27
6. Can we trust anything we see on TV?......Page 32
7. Has TV changed politics?......Page 39
8. Is TV rubbish?......Page 45
9. Is TV an agent of globalisation?......Page 50
10. Does TV exploit people?......Page 56
11. Does TV make you fat?......Page 61
12. Is there too much violence on TV?......Page 65
13. What's the point of Jane Goody?......Page 69
14. Who was that?......Page 74
II. Questions about TV genres......Page 77
15. Does the news make us anxious?......Page 78
16. Does too much horror stop people caring?......Page 82
17. Why do TV stories never seem to come to an end?......Page 91
18. Why are sitcoms not as good as they used to be?......Page 95
19. Why are there so many detective series?......Page 100
20. What is a 'precinct drama'?......Page 104
21. Why are there so many soap operas?......Page 111
22. Whatever happened to the single TV play?......Page 118
23. Is there too much sport on TV?......Page 123
24. What is 'reality TV'?......Page 129
25. Why are there so many challenge shows?......Page 133
III. Questions about using TV......Page 137
26. Why is foreign TV such rubbish?......Page 138
27. Why do they keep breaking the rules?......Page 141
28. Why don't you switch off and do something interesting instead?......Page 144
29. Why did they axe my favourite series?......Page 147
30. Why are there so many repeats?......Page 150
31. How do I find my way around the repeats?......Page 153
32. Will any TV last?......Page 156
33. Is any TV actually live anymore?......Page 158
34. Why does all TV look the same?......Page 162
35. Why does old TV look so weird?......Page 166
IV. Questions about technology and the TV industry......Page 170
36. How does this stuff get made anyway?......Page 171
37. What is a channel?......Page 176
38. What is a schedule?......Page 180
39. Does TV exist to sell audiences to advertisers?......Page 187
40. Why aren't there any ads on the BBC?
......Page 192
41. How can I get a job in TV?......Page 197
42. Who pays for TV?......Page 201
43. Who regulates TV... and why?......Page 209
44. How do you work the remote control?......Page 217
45. Is TV bad for the environment?......Page 222
46. Will downloading replace broadcasting?......Page 225
Notes......Page 229
Where can I find out more?......Page 235
Index......Page 239