Television and New Media Audiences

Why is talk about television forbidden at certain schools? Why does a mother feel guilty about watching Star Trek in front of her four-year-old child? Why would retired men turn to daytime soap operas for entertainment? Clichés about television mask the complexity of our relationship to media technologies. Through case studies, this book explains what audience research tells us about the uses of technologies in the domestic sphere and the classroom, the relationship between gender and genre, and the varied interpretation of media technologies and media forms. This book reviews the most important research on television audiences and recommends the use of ethnographic, longitudinal methods for the study of media consumption and computer use at home as well as in the workplace. The book discusses reactions of audiences to many internationally known television programmes including The Flintstones, The Jetsons, Street Fighter, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, X-Men, Sesame Street, Dallas, Star Trek, The Cosby Show, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and National Geographic.