First, I have decided to change my topic (or rather, focus) slightly. To demonstrate how HBO has changed Network Television, I will compare one season from Hill Street Blues with a season of NYPD Blue (most likely a later season that came out after 1997). This will be particularly interesting as both shows were created by Steven Bochco and both are considered groundbreaking shows. NYPD BLue, however, was much more critacized for its racy content, and I will argue that this “pushing of the envelope” was directly related to the emergence of HBO and its racy, but highly succesful, series (most notably, The Sopranos). With that in mind, here is my annotated bibliography:
Barnouw, Erik. Tube of plenty the evolution of American television. New York: Oxford UP, 1990. Print. This book deals with how television has changed over the course of its existence. I will focus on the later chapters, which deal with the changes that have taken place in the last 20 years and illustrate how these changes have corresponded to the emergence of HBO. In addition, I will use the chapter at the end of the book that attempts to predict how television will continue to change, to address this same issue that I plan to cover in my essay.
Bochco, Steven. “Censorship Chronicles: Steven Bochco.” Interview. Odeo. 26 May 2006. Web. 27 Oct. 2009. This interview deals with the censorship issues Bochco has faced in making television, particularly with NYPD blue. This will be helpful as it illustrates the issues of censorship on network television and also how these issues had changed from when Bochco was making HIll Street Blues.
Carter, Bill. “A Cable Show Networks Truly Watch.” NY Times on The Sopranos 2002 Edition. By New York Times. New York: I Books, 2002. Print. This article talks about how network television stations have attempted to emulate the Sopranos after seeing the success it had. For this reason, it will be very helpful for my topic as I will use it to demonstrate how HBO and, specifically The Sopranos, changed the way network television stations worked.
Carter, Bill. “Concerns About Content Prove Ready for Prime Time.” New York Times 25 July 1989. Web. 27 Oct. 2009. This article deals with the growing anxieties and criticism network television stations were facing for their controversial shows (in 1989). It will be helpful as it indicates how the culture of television was changing at that time (and will also be useful in showing how much more it has changed since)
Carter, Bill. “Police Drama Under Fire for Sex and Violence.” New York Times 22 June 1993. Web. 27 Oct. 2009. This article deals with the criticism NYPD Blue faced because of its controversial language and topics. The article will be helpful for my essay as it illustrates how NYPD Blue pushed the envelope and how people reacted to this.
Delaney, Sam. “HBO: Television will never be the same again.” Telegraph. 25 Feb. 2009. Web. 27 Oct. 2009. <Telegraph.co.uk>. This article will be extremely useful as it deals directly with my topic: how HBO has changed television. In the article, Delaney writes about the ways HBO and its groundbreaking shows have changed television and what viewers expect from television. I will use this article to show how these changes in expectations altered network television as well.
Heil, Douglas. “Creating the Prime-Time Novel Interview with Michael Kozoll.” Prime Time Authorship Works About and by Three TV Dramatists (The Television Series). New York: Syracuse UP, 2002. 281-310. Print. In this chapter, Michael Kozoll speaks directly about working on Hill Street Blues and writing for network television in general. Both topics will be very helpful in illustrating how writing for network television is different from HBO and how it has changed.
Kolbert, Elizabeth. “Not Only Bochco’s Uniforms Are Blue.” The New York Times 26 July 1993. Web. 27 Oct. 2009. This article deals with the controversy surrounding NYPD, calling it “the raciest show on television” at the the time it came out. This will help illustrate how network television began to change and become more racy as HBO and its controversial shows began to have so much success
Lotz, Amanda D. “If It’s Not TV, What Is It? The Case of U.S Subscription Television.” Cable Visions Television Beyond Broadcasting. By Sarah Banet-Weiser, Cynthia Chris, and Anthony Freitas. New York: NYU, 2007. Print. This chapter deals with how HBO, because of its structure and content, is different from television. In the chapter, Lotz argues that these differences separate stations such as HBO from other television stations. I will use this chapter to demonstrate how HBO and other television stations, particularly network stations, are still very different both in style and in what they show.
Marc, David. “Steven Bocho: Yuppie Catharsis.” Prime time, prime movers from I love Lucy to L.A. law–America’s greatest tv shows and the people who created them. Boston: Little, Brown, 1992. 218-30. Print. I will use this chapter about Steven Bocho as it provides critical information about his career in television (including his work in both HIll Street Blues and NYPD). In addition, the chapter talks about how both these shows pushed the envelope of network television.
Silverman, David S. You Can’t Air That Four Cases of Controversy and Censorship in American Television Programming (Television and Popular Culture). New York: Syracuse UP, 2007. Print. I will use this book to illustrate how network television is limited by censorship. In addition, I will use the chapter that follows the history of network television censorship to illustrate how this censorship has changed, and how these changes correspond with the emergence of HBO
Thompson, Robert. “David Chase, The Sopranos and Television Creativity.” This thing of ours investigating The Sopranos. By David Lavery. New York: Columbia UP, Wallflower, 2002. 18-26. Print. In this essay, Lavery and Thompson demonstrate how The Sopranos forever changed HBO and television in general. It will be helpful for me as this directly relates to my topic. I plan to use their essay to show how the introduction of the show corresponded to changes in network television.
Thompson, Robert. “HIll Street Blues: The Quality Revolution.” Television’s Second Golden Age. New York, NY: The Continuum Company, 1996. 59-74. Print.This chapter talks specifically about Hill Street Blues and how it was so vastly different from network television before it. It will be useful as I will be able to show how much has changed since it (especially in relation to NYPD Blue and the advent of HBO series that happened in between these two shows)