What are the relations between televisual politics and aesthetics, identity and representation, communication and critique? How has the pandemic renewed interest in conversations around TV’s modes of address and how viewers make meaning from particular kinds of programming content? At a time when fraught politics are, one might say, on the very surface of texts today, how should we best deploy and/or aim to transform ideological analysis? This episode includes a special discussion of ideology in relation to the protests following the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

In this episode, we discuss television and epistemology in a global pandemic: How do we know TV and how do we know through TV? What are the implications of people tuning in more and more to TV to attempt to gain knowledge (and cope with that knowledge) of the pandemic? What sorts of knowledges (or ignorances) might emerge, in various ways, from various genres on TV—not only news/documentary/public affairs but drama, comedy, fantasy, reality programming, etc.? What are the power effects of TV's production of knowledge and ignorance? How can we attempt to know television without just reproducing its own strategies, power dynamics, and blindspots?

Guest scholars: Herman Gray, Amelie Hastie, Taylor Cole Miller, Laurie Ouellette. Host: Lynne Joyrich.

For more on the participants, see http://www.aca-media.org/pandemic-tv

The start of something(s) new! Aca-Media continues remote broadcasting and introduces two new series for your listening – and streaming? – pleasure. First is a sneak peek of “Talking Television in a Pandemic,” a new series launching right here on Aca-Media, where television scholars Hunter Hargraves, Lynne Joyrich, and Brandy Monk-Payton discuss what it means to watch TV during the pandemic. Touching on everything from epistemology to pedagogy, this series will launch right here in your podcast feed, so don’t miss it! And not to be outdone, Chris begins an exciting new segment of Aca-Media and starts interviewing this year’s SCMS Award Winners, giving them a chance to claim the spotlight! This time we talk with Alisa Lebow, Patrick Brown, and Eliza Steinbock about their innovative and exciting scholarship and media projects.

SCMS is cancelled but the content rolls on! This episode of Aca-Media brings you a fascinating interview with Paul Taberham about animation and the avant-garde, including some great tips for teaching difficult media. Then Ryn Marchese discusses the amazing work being done at the American Archive of Public Broadcasting. Finally, Chris and Michael banter about how they are spending their self-isolation.

We move into fall with two fantastic interviews for you. First, Elizabeth Ellcessor talks with Margaret Price about disability and accessibility in academia, paying special attention to academic careers and the experiences of disabled faculty. We then talk with Catherine Grant in order to revisit the launch of [in]Transition five years on, discussing the state of videographic criticism as well as experiments with open access and peer review. Finally, Chris and Michael banter about “The Good Class,” Chris’s course (mentioned by THE Ted Danson!) on NBC’s The Good Place.

Chris has relearned how to sleep, and she’s back behind the Aca-Media mic. She and Michael bring you interviews with Alfred Martin and Michael Newman, members of the SCMS Katherine Singer Kovács Essay and Book Award committees respectively, as well as the inspiring backstory of the awards’ namesake. Then we head back in time to just before the 2014 SCMS conference, when we told you all about things to do in Seattle. Luckily, not that much has changed in the Emerald City since then, and Perry Como’s “Seattle” is still a killer earworm, so we’ve included the whole segment again on the eve of the 2019 SCMS conference. If you’re headed to Seattle, you’ll definitely want to listen to this one on your trip there to maximize the recommendations.