In my dissertation entitled “The Critical Eye: Re-Viewing 1970s Television,” I argue that TV scholars would benefit greatly by engaging in a more nuanced consideration of the television critic’s industrial position as a key figure of negotiation. As such, critical discourse has often been taken for granted in scholarship without attention to how this discourse may obscure contradictions implicit within the TV industry and the critic’s own identity as both an insider and an outsider to the television business. My dissertation brings the critic to the fore, employing the critic as a lens through which I view television aesthetics, media policy, and technology. This study is grounded in the disciplines of television studies, media industries studies, new media studies, and cultural studies. Yet because the critic’s writing reflects the totality of television as an entertainment and public service medium, the significance of this study expands beyond disciplinary concerns to a reconsideration of the impact of television upon American culture. This project offers a history of the television critic during the 1970s, a decade in which the field of criticism professionalized and expanded dramatically. Methodologically, I am incorporating three approaches, including historical research of the 1970s television industry, textual analysis of critical writing, and interviews with critics working during that decade. I’ve identified the 1970s for a variety of reasons, including its parallels with today’s significant technological and industrial transformations. My central texts will be the industry trade publications, Variety and Broadcasting, and national daily newspapers including the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, and Chicago Tribune. Viewing TV criticism as a profession, a historical source, and a site of scholarly analysis, this project offers a series of interventions, including a consideration of how critical writing may serve as a primary source for historians and how television studies has overlooked the significance of the critic as an object of analysis in his/her own right.

This thesis examines two of the female-driven sitcoms from the 2011-2012 season, New Girl and Girls. I analyze both series from a third-wave feminist perspective, looking at how each series portrays its respective lead character, Jess and Hannah, and how each series portrays funny women in general. Through these analyses, I ultimately argue that Jess on New Girl represents a much more promising feminist icon than Hannah on Girls. This is mainly because Jess is driven by self-love and self-confidence while Hannah is so defined by her self-hatred that she becomes difficult for viewers to relate. Most disappointingly, I find that female-driven sitcoms use humor as a weapon to discipline its characters. / Literature review -- Critical orientation -- New girl : feminist role model or just another manic pixie dream girl? -- Girls : the future of television or whiny, selfish, entitled brats? / Department of Communication Studies

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Entre 1970 e 1984, a jornalista e escritora Helena Silveira dedicou-se à crítica televisiva nas colunas Helena Silveira Vê TV e Videonário, publicadas no jornal Folha de S.Paulo. A dissertação pretende resgatar essa produção jornalística, observando-a a partir do instrumental teórico dos estudos culturais. O primeiro capítulo trata dos conceitos de experiência e estrutura de sentimento, além de se referir a trabalhos dos estudos culturais acerca da experiência da televisão. O segundo capítulo apresenta um perfil da jornalista Helena Silveira e os diferentes momentos de sua atuação na empresa Folha da Manhã entre as décadas de 1940 e 1980. O terceiro capítulo procura refletir sobre a natureza da crítica televisiva, com destaque para o modo particular como Helena Silveira a desenvolveu, fazendo uso de um tom próximo da crônica. O quarto capítulo avalia como, no âmbito da crítica de TV, é possível reconhecer a promoção do prestígio da telenovela, sua fixação como produto capaz de produzir identificações e prazer. O quinto capítulo procura resgatar uma dimensão política latente em muitos textos em que Helena Silveira dialogou com o clima de expectativas e esperanças da chamada abertura política, considerando a importância da TV no contexto de redemocratização do país / Between 1970 and 1984, journalist and writer Helena Silveira devoted herself to television criticism in the columns Helena Silveira Vê TV and Videonário, published in Folha de S.Paulo newspaper. This dissertation aims to rescue this journalistic production, using the theoretical frame of cultural studies. The first chapter deals with the concepts of experience and structure of feeling and with works of cultural studies about the experience of television. The second chapter presents a profile of journalist Helena Silveira and the different moments of Folha da Manhã between the 1940s and 1980s. The third chapter seeks to think about the nature of television criticism, highlighting the particular way in Helena Silveira has developed it, making use of a chronicle tone. The fourth chapter analyzes how, in the context of television criticism, it is possible to recognize the promotion of prestige of a genre like telenovela and at the same time, its attachment as a product able to create identification and pleasure. The fifth chapter intends to rescue a latent political dimension in many texts in which Helena Silveira write about the climate of expectations and hopes for the end of the dictatorship in Brazil, considering the importance of TV in the context of re-democratization of the country

Diploma thesis Journalistic reflexion of selected films by Jiří Hubač is focused on the reflexion of Hubač's work coming from the 1970's Czech media. Jiří Hubač was the important figure in original work produced by Czechoslovak (ČST) and Czech TV. He was scriptwriter and dramaturgist, he has also written theatre scripts and is the author of two books. From his numerous work, I can name Ikarův pád, Babí léto,Nezralé maliny or famous serie Sanitka.This diploma thesis is focused on 1970 media and the way they reflected Hubač's work after its TV premiere. I chose following movies: Dlouhý podzimní den, Pozdní léto, Lístek do památníku and Ikarův pád. Analyzed journalistic reflexions were chosen from print media as was Rudé právo, Mladá fronta, Zemědělské noviny, Práce, Tvorba or Československá televize. The time period, 1970's, was chosen because of various factors - Hubač had to leave the ČST, but on the other hand the received multiple awards for this work. The analyzed media were choose for its availabilityand the focus their employees were standing for.

Entre 1970 e 1984, a jornalista e escritora Helena Silveira dedicou-se à crítica televisiva nas colunas Helena Silveira Vê TV e Videonário, publicadas no jornal Folha de S.Paulo. A dissertação pretende resgatar essa produção jornalística, observando-a a partir do instrumental teórico dos estudos culturais. O primeiro capítulo trata dos conceitos de experiência e estrutura de sentimento, além de se referir a trabalhos dos estudos culturais acerca da experiência da televisão. O segundo capítulo apresenta um perfil da jornalista Helena Silveira e os diferentes momentos de sua atuação na empresa Folha da Manhã entre as décadas de 1940 e 1980. O terceiro capítulo procura refletir sobre a natureza da crítica televisiva, com destaque para o modo particular como Helena Silveira a desenvolveu, fazendo uso de um tom próximo da crônica. O quarto capítulo avalia como, no âmbito da crítica de TV, é possível reconhecer a promoção do prestígio da telenovela, sua fixação como produto capaz de produzir identificações e prazer. O quinto capítulo procura resgatar uma dimensão política latente em muitos textos em que Helena Silveira dialogou com o clima de expectativas e esperanças da chamada abertura política, considerando a importância da TV no contexto de redemocratização do país / Between 1970 and 1984, journalist and writer Helena Silveira devoted herself to television criticism in the columns Helena Silveira Vê TV and Videonário, published in Folha de S.Paulo newspaper. This dissertation aims to rescue this journalistic production, using the theoretical frame of cultural studies. The first chapter deals with the concepts of experience and structure of feeling and with works of cultural studies about the experience of television. The second chapter presents a profile of journalist Helena Silveira and the different moments of Folha da Manhã between the 1940s and 1980s. The third chapter seeks to think about the nature of television criticism, highlighting the particular way in Helena Silveira has developed it, making use of a chronicle tone. The fourth chapter analyzes how, in the context of television criticism, it is possible to recognize the promotion of prestige of a genre like telenovela and at the same time, its attachment as a product able to create identification and pleasure. The fifth chapter intends to rescue a latent political dimension in many texts in which Helena Silveira write about the climate of expectations and hopes for the end of the dictatorship in Brazil, considering the importance of TV in the context of re-democratization of the country

The thesis examines the relationship between Martha Stewart's rendition of domesticity and a broader cultural trend of the late 1990s U.S. domestic retreatism. It argues that the mode of construction and representation of the "domestic dream" in Stewart's programs cannot be examined outside of such concepts as class and ethnicity, whose understanding depends on the cultural, social, and political context of a given era, a context, in which they become transparent as aspects of the Western (white, patriarchal) status quo. Performing a deconstructive reading of these categories as employed by Stewart in the process of creation of her media persona, the thesis examines what the negative as well as positive reactions to "Martha Stewart" convey about the condition of American society of the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Thesis deals with basic tendencies and preconditions of the aesthetic development of Czechoslovak television drama of the 50s and 60s through its specialist reflection. The method of a discourse analysis which is applied to the area of aesthetics and inspired by the concepts of Michel Foucault and Achim Landwehr maps locally- and time-based field of the discourse about television drama and penetrates surface relations between subdiscourses (television criticism, television theory and influences of institutions) with the aim to capture the formative order of the discourse. A basic axis of the analysis is the evolution of the concept of television specifity which will be tracked through the crucial discussions of the period. They reflects a gradual revision of initial assumptions about the formal emancipation and the legitimacy of art of television. The next step of the analysis is the mutual comparison of solutions at which these discussions arrived via various aspects and methods. This way a second goal of the discourse analysis will be fulfilled - to trace the essential unity of the discourse which is represented by the complex of jointly asserted requirements about the ideal form of the television drama. The complex is possible to consider as an implicit poetics of Czechoslovak television drama...

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This study sought to determine if and how television texts produced since September 11, 2001, reflect and address cultural concerns by analyzing patterns in their theme and narrative style. Three American television serials were examined as case studies. Each text addressed a common cluster of contemporary issues such as trauma, death, and loss.