Author: CSTonline

The BBC’s coverage of the Queen’s Jubilee is an example of the megaspectacle that Douglas Kellner (2003) suggests dominates contemporary life. The coverage had all the ingredients of the heightened event and attempted to dazzle...

In a fascinating micro-study a couple of years ago, my colleague Karen Lury looked at how her neighbours were managing the digital transition (‘Close viewing: stories of technology in the move from analog to digital media’,...

Glee has almost all the elements of a perfect TV show for me: high school setting, teens bursting into song at the drop of a hat, lively dance numbers, generally up-beat storytelling, fast-paced dialogue and storylines that...

It’s suddenly a good time for documentary. The annual Sheffield Festival is about to kick off; ITV shows the latest in the 7-Up series (56-Up… can it really be that long; can Michael Apted really be 71 years old?); and in China,...

When I was younger, I used to plan my weeks around those Sunday night episodes of The Six Million Dollar Man.  After all, this was back in the days before VCRs, DVRs, and internet downloads, when “Must See TV” took on an...

Like any socialist who has lived where I have during Rupert Murdoch’s hegemony, I’ve taken immense delight these past months in his public humiliation over phone tapping and much, much more. Best of all, I finally understand one...

As I write this, the seconds are ticking away towards the first live show of BBC’s surprise ratings hit, The Voice.  Locked in a battle with ITV’s Britain’s Got Talent, The Voice is proving that Simon Cowell’s rule over Saturday...

The recent attention given to the various troubles associated with the Murdoch media empire, not to mention anxieties about the continued expansion of new media giants like Facebook and Google has had the effect, perhaps, of...

Ten years ago, I published a Television A-Z (Miller, 2002). A cute conceit, I thought, and one likely to attract attention. It didn’t. Complete failure. Hopeless joke, Toby. I tried revised versions a couple of times (Miller,...