Gilligan’s Island, created by Sherwood Schwartz, aired for three seasons between 1964 and 1967 on the CBS network. While the series was typically dismissed for its episodic inanity, author Walter Metz
Television’s longest-running chase story, The Fugitive was a dramatically charged show that followed Dr. Richard Kimble on his quest to prove his innocence and find his wife’s one-armed killer. A prod
By dramatizing the intersection of self-interested capitalism and foundational violence in a mining camp in 1870s South Dakota, the HBO series Deadwood reinvented the television Western. In this volum
Few American television series are as deeply entrenched in twentieth-century popular culture as M*A*S*H, a Korean War medical comedy characterized by its dark tone and finesse in tackling serious soci
Hogan’s Heroes originally aired between 1965 and 1971 on CBS, corresponding to the most uncertain years of America’s involvement in the Vietnam War. In an era when attitudes about the military, patrio
At a time when television offered limited opportunities for women, Donna Reed was an Oscar-winning Hollywood actress who became both producer (though largely uncredited) and star of her own television
Airing on ABC from 1957 to 1962, Maverick appeared at a key moment in television Western history and provided a distinct alternative to the genre’s usual moralistic lawmen in its hero, Bret Maverick.
I Love Lucy aired for six seasons between 1951 and 1957 as a top-rated weekly sitcom, and its characters appeared in thirteen hour-long specials between 1958 and 1960. In I Love Lucy, author Lori Land
The highest-rated network program during its first three seasons, comedy-variety show Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In (NBC, 1968–1973) remains an often overlooked and underrated innovator of American tele
One of the most successful series of its time, Have Gun—Will Travel became a cultural phenomenon in the late 1950s and made its star, Richard Boone, a nationwide celebrity. The series offered viewers
Airing on CBS for fourteen seasons (1979–93), Knots Landing was a spinoff of the popular dramaDallas, but ultimately ran longer and took a very different tone on domestic, social, and economic issues
Although the iconic television series Father Knows Best (CBS 1954–55; NBC 1955–58; CBS 1958–60) has enjoyed a long history in rerun syndication and an enduring fan base, it is often remembered as cult
Frequently described by creator David Simon as a novel for television, The Wire redefined the police serial format by unfolding its narrative across many episodes, constructing themes for each of its
Examines the TV show Sopranos, with emphasis on its affects on HBO's business model, the autobiographical influences of show creator David Chase, the show's sense of place, its impact on the gangster
Although it lasted only four seasons and just forty-four episodes, The Killing attracted considerable critical notice and sparked an equally lively debate about its distinctive style and innovative ap
Abbott (film and television studies, Roehampton U., London) analyzes the television series that began in 1999 as a spin-off from the successful teen series Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003) and ran
There may be no more iconic image of mid-1980s network television than Sonny Crockett and Ricardo Tubbs speeding down Biscayne Boulevard in Crockett’s sleek black Ferrari on Miami Vice. With its unpre
