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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Meta Television: A History of US Popular Television's Self-Awareness

Meta Television: A History of US Popular Television's Self-Awareness

Giannini, Erin

Paperback

Series: Routledge Advances in Popular Culture Studies

TelevisionGeneral Sociology

ISBN10: 1032366354
ISBN13: 9781032366357
Publisher: Routledge
Published: Jul 30 2025
Pages: 156
Weight: 0.53
Height: 0.35 Width: 6.14 Depth: 9.21
Language: English

The idea of metatextuality is frequently framed as a recent television development and often paired with the idea that it represents genre exhaustion. US television, however, with its early live performances and set-bound sitcoms, always suggested an element of self-awareness that easily shaded into metatextuality even in its earliest days. Meta Television thus traces the general history of US television's metatextuality throughout television's history, arguing that TV's self-awareness is nothing new--and certainly not evidence of a period of aesthetic exhaustion--but instead is woven into both its past and present practice, elucidated through case studies featuring series from the 1970s to the present day--many of which have not been critically analyzed before--and the various ways they deploy metatext to both construct and deconstruct their narratives. Further, Meta Television asserts that this re- and de-construction of narrative and production isn't just a reward to the savvy and/or knowledgeable viewer (or consumer), but seeks to make broader points about the media we consume--and how we consume it.

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