Action TV: Tough-Guys, Smooth Operators and Foxy Chicks

by Anna Gough-Yates (Editor), Bill Osgerby (Editor), Anna Gough Yates (Editor)

Overview

From re-runs of 'TV classics' like The Avengers or Starsky and Hutch, to soundtracks, club nights and film remakes such as Mission Impossible II, the action series is enjoying a popular revival. Yet little attention has been paid to the history, nature and enduring appeal of the action series, and its place in popular culture, past and present.
Action TV traces the development of the action series from its genesis in the 1950s. From The Saint to Knigh t Rider, contributors explore the key shows which defined the genre, addressing issues of audiences and consumption, gender and sexuality, fashion and popular culture. They examine the institutional and cultural factors influencing the action series, and relate shifts in the genre to other forms of popular culture including film, pop music, fashion and popular literature.
Chapters include:
* Of leather suits and kinky boots: The Avengers, style and popular culture
* 'Who loves ya, baby?': Kojak, action and the great society
*'A lone crusader in a dangerous world': heroics of science and technology in Knight Rider
* Angels in chains? feminism, femininity and consumer culture in Charlie's Angels
* 'Who's the cat that won't cop out?' Black masculinity in American action shows of the sixties and seventies

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780415226219
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	11/22/2001
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

About the Author

Bill Osgerby is Senior Lecturer in Cultural Studies at the University of North London. He is the author of Youth in Britain Since 1945 (1998) and Playboys in Paradise: Masculinity, Youth and the Rise of American Leisure-Style., Anna Gough-Yates lectures in the Sociology of Culture and Communication at Brunel University. She is the author of Understanding Women's Magazines (Routledge 2001).

Table of Contents

List of Figures; Acknowledgements; Notes on Contributors; Introduction: Getting into Gear with the TV Action Series, Anna Gough-Yates and Bill Osgerby; Part I: Situating the TV Action Series 1. The Business of Action: Television History and the Development of the TV Action Series, Bill Osgerby, Anna Gough-Yates and Marianne Wells; 2. 'So You're the Famous Simon Templar': The Saint, Masculinity and Consumption in the Early 1960's, Bill Osgerby; 3. 'Who Loves Ya, Baby?': Kojak, Action and the Great Society, Paul Cobley; 4. 'A Lone Crusader in the Dangerous World': Heroics of Science and Technology in Knight Rider, Nickianne Moody; Part II: Representation and Cultural Politics in the TV Action Series; 5. Angels in Chains?: Feminism, Femininity and Consumer Culture in Charlie's Angels, Anna Gough-Yates; 6. 'Who's the Cat That Won't Cop Out?': Black Masculinity in American Action Shows of the Sixties and Seventies, Elaine Pennicott; 7. Re-Orientating the Television Western: Kung Fu, Yvonne Tasker; 8. 'Drop Everything. Including Your Pants!': The Professionals and 'Hard' Action TV, Leon Hunt; Part III: Audiences Reading and Re-Reading the TV Action Series; 9. The Games We Play(ed): TV Westerns, Memory and Masculinity, Martin Pumphrey; 10. The Persuaders! : A Girl's Best Friends, Joke Hermes; 11. King and Queen: Interpreting Sexual Identity in Jason King, Andy Medhurst; Part IV: The Cultural Circulation of the TV Action Series; 12. TV Gets Jazzed: The Evolution of Action TV Theme Music, Elizabeth Withey; 13. The Comics Connection: Low Culture Meets Even Lower Culture, Roger Sabin; 14. Of Leather Suits and Kinky Boots: TheAvengers, Style and Popular Culture, Marc O'Day; 15. The Sixties in the Nineties: Pastiche or Hyperconsciousness?, John Storey