WW
I thought it a topic devoted to books about television might be interesting.
I'll start the thread with The Universal Eye by Timothy Green. Published in 1972 (but still widely available used and in libraries), it's a lively journalistic account of the television landscapes of various countries and continents by a British author and provides a wonderful time capsule of that era more than four decades ago.
The book has chapters on: the United States, Canada, Latin America, Eurovision (the pan-European TV exchange run by the EBU, not just the song contest), the United Kingdom, West Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Scandinavia, the Netherlands, the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, East-West television propaganda, the Arab world and Israel, Asia (including detailed looks at Thailand, India, Hong Kong, and the Philippines), Japan, Australia, Africa, and the future of television (which discusses the advent of cable, satellite, and videotape).
Here's a typical excerpt from the chapter on Japanese television:
And TV news in the Philippines:
Any books on television -- current or long out of print -- that you've enjoyed (or, for that matter, didn't like at all)?
I'll start the thread with The Universal Eye by Timothy Green. Published in 1972 (but still widely available used and in libraries), it's a lively journalistic account of the television landscapes of various countries and continents by a British author and provides a wonderful time capsule of that era more than four decades ago.
The book has chapters on: the United States, Canada, Latin America, Eurovision (the pan-European TV exchange run by the EBU, not just the song contest), the United Kingdom, West Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Scandinavia, the Netherlands, the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, East-West television propaganda, the Arab world and Israel, Asia (including detailed looks at Thailand, India, Hong Kong, and the Philippines), Japan, Australia, Africa, and the future of television (which discusses the advent of cable, satellite, and videotape).
Here's a typical excerpt from the chapter on Japanese television:
Quote:
"[...] with Japanese flair they have developed simultaneous programmes and advertising; the message is superimposed over the continuing programme with no commercial break. So just as the samurai drama reaches its climax, a caption flashes up FLY JAPAN AIRLINES, BUY SAKURA COLOR FILM, or DRINK HONEY WINE, before the struggling swordsmen on the screens. Sponsors normally have three of these plugs in each half-hour. At news time, the sponsor's name is superimposed over the breast pocket of the news reader as he gives the headlines. The blending of ads with programmes may well seem the nadir of commercial television, yet in some ways it is much less distracting than an actual commercial break at the crucial moment in a film or play, especially as the ad is never more than a three, or four-word caption. It is not more worrying than a subtitle in a foreign movie."
And TV news in the Philippines:
Quote:
"In the early evening ABS-CBN run a two-hour programme called
Patrol
which is really just a public noticeboard for the city of Manila. All kinds of local titbits turn up. Insurance agents are advised that their exams have been postponed. Boy scouts are told where to report to a jamboree. Payment is offered for 500 cc of a rare type of blood urgently required to help a fourteen-year-old boy suffering from bone cancer; anyone who can offer a transfusion is asked to phone the studio immediately. Even photographs and descriptions of several children missing from home in the slums of Manila are given.
Patrol
calls itself 'the public service programme that makes a city move' and it outranks the imported
Bonanza
in the ratings."
Any books on television -- current or long out of print -- that you've enjoyed (or, for that matter, didn't like at all)?
Last edited by WW Update on 2 February 2013 7:27pm - 5 times in total