Table of Contents

Contents.

Preface.

1. Television and Social Change.

The Times They Are a-Changin’.

Television as Public Discourse.

2. Life in the Information Age.

The Information Explosion.

Society through the Lens of Technocapitalism.

Social Anxieties in the Information Age.

3. Hyperconscious Television.

Embracing ‘the Future’: The Attitude of Yes.

The Simpsons as Exemplar.

Symbolic Equipments in Hyperconscious TV.

4. Nostalgia Television.

Celebrating ‘the Past’: The Attitude of No.

Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman as Exemplar.

Symbolic Equipments in Nostalgia TV.

5. Television and the Future.

(Re)Viewing the Small Screen.

Life and Television in the Twenty-First Century.

The Next Great Paradigm Shift?.

References.

Index

About the Author

Brian L. Ott is a Professor of Communication Studies at Texas Tech University, and Director of the TTU Press. His chief research interest concerns how media equip people to live their everyday lives.

Reviews

“In The Small Screen, Brian L. Ott explores how US television of the 1990s met the Information Age. With theoretical clarity and acute critical analysis of content and form in the television experience, Ott illustrates how some Americans embraced the future through hyperconscious television while others celebrated the past through nostalgia. A breakthrough study.”
Thomas W. Benson, Pennsylvania State University
“Brian L. Ott’s book is accessible to students and valuable for professional scholars. It integrates a wide range of contemporary scholarship at a high level of sophistication without ever falling into jargon or postmodern dogma. This volume will be cutting edge in the rhetorical study of television.”
Barry Brummett, University of Texas-Austin
"...ultimately what is pleasing about Ott's book is its willingness to take television seriously…"
M/C Reviews
“Ott…hints at the coming identity crisis as the connected age replaces the information age. Summing Up: Recommended.”
Choice

“Ott’s distinctions between hyperconscious and nostalgic programming serve as fine distinctions for considering the cultural significance of television.”
PsycCritiques