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As the title implies, the business of television rather than its programming is the focus of this historical dictionary... Slide has produced another hit, another basic source on one of America's basic industries. Wilson Library Bulletin

Table of Contents

Preface Entries Appendix Television Reference: A Bibliography Name Index TV Program Index Bibliography Index

About the Author

ANTHONY SLIDE has held executive positions with both the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the American Film Institute. He is the author or editor of more than forty books on the history of popular entertainment, including The American Film Industry (Greenwood Press, 1986) and The International Film Industry (Greenwood, 1989). Aside from his activities as a writer, Slide is also the editor of the Filmmakers series, and has produced and directed documentaries on Blanche Sweet, Viola Dana, Karl Brown, and early women directors.

Reviews

?. . . an essential reference tool for any scholar, student, or librarian in the study of the television industry.?-Popular Culture in Libraries

?. . . will serve as an essential reference tool for any scholar, student, or librarian in the study of the television industry.?-Popular Culture in Libraries

?As the title implies, the business of television rather than its programming is the focus of this historical dictionary. Its entries briefly relate the histories of production companies, networks, cable stations, industry associations, and public interest pressure groups. The focus is on the American television industry from its origins through early 1991, but it also selectively covers the industry worldwide. A few anomalous entries crop up, anomalous not so much because of their nature as because of their rarity. . . . Slide has produced another hit, another basic source on one of America's basic industries.?-Wilson Library Bulletin

?With this volume the prolific Slide completes his unofficial trilogy of "what's what" historical dictionaries, following The American Film Industry and The International Film Industry. More than 1,000 entries briefly and concisely describe "production companies, distributors, organizations, genres, technical terms, and much, much more," the latter including such diverse topics as "T 'N' A" and "Couch Potatoes" (among the missing: "Sound Bites" and "Lexiconing"). Entries for still-active companies or organizations include addresses: bibliographies are frequent. Emphasis is on the US but other countries receive varying degrees of treatment. The appendix "provides brief biographical essays on the three major network figures in American television history: Leonard H. Goldenson, William S. Paley, and David Sarnoff." The name and program indexes are essential: the Emmy Award for instance, has neither separate entry nor cross-reference, but the index leads to its treatment under "The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences." Much of this information can be found in more specialized sources, but Slide has compiled a commendable ready reference.?-Choice

." . . an essential reference tool for any scholar, student, or librarian in the study of the television industry."-Popular Culture in Libraries

." . . will serve as an essential reference tool for any scholar, student, or librarian in the study of the television industry."-Popular Culture in Libraries

"As the title implies, the business of television rather than its programming is the focus of this historical dictionary. Its entries briefly relate the histories of production companies, networks, cable stations, industry associations, and public interest pressure groups. The focus is on the American television industry from its origins through early 1991, but it also selectively covers the industry worldwide. A few anomalous entries crop up, anomalous not so much because of their nature as because of their rarity. . . . Slide has produced another hit, another basic source on one of America's basic industries."-Wilson Library Bulletin

"With this volume the prolific Slide completes his unofficial trilogy of "what's what" historical dictionaries, following The American Film Industry and The International Film Industry. More than 1,000 entries briefly and concisely describe "production companies, distributors, organizations, genres, technical terms, and much, much more," the latter including such diverse topics as "T 'N' A" and "Couch Potatoes" (among the missing: "Sound Bites" and "Lexiconing"). Entries for still-active companies or organizations include addresses: bibliographies are frequent. Emphasis is on the US but other countries receive varying degrees of treatment. The appendix "provides brief biographical essays on the three major network figures in American television history: Leonard H. Goldenson, William S. Paley, and David Sarnoff." The name and program indexes are essential: the Emmy Award for instance, has neither separate entry nor cross-reference, but the index leads to its treatment under "The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences." Much of this information can be found in more specialized sources, but Slide has compiled a commendable ready reference."-Choice