This course examines the history, technology, and forms of television in the U.S. The course analyzes distinctive elements of televisual form (flow, liveness, seriality, advertising); TV's key genres (soap, sitcom, drama, news, reality); modes of reception (fandom, distraction, surfing); as well as television's construction of social difference in America.

Antirequisite(s): The former Film Studies 2194A/B if taken in 2009-10.

Extra Information: 3 lecture hours.