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The Platinum Age of Television

From I Love Lucy to The Walking Dead, How TV Became Terrific

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The Platinum Age of Television

By: David Bianculli
Narrated by: David Bianculli
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About this listen

 Television shows have now eclipsed films as the premier form of visual narrative art of our time. This new book by one of our finest critics explains—historically, in depth, and with interviews with the celebrated creators themselves—how the art of must-see/binge-watch television evolved.

Darwin had his theory of evolution, and David Bianculli has his. Bianculli's theory has to do with the concept of quality television: what it is and, crucially, how it got that way. In tracing the evolutionary history of our progress toward a Platinum Age of Television—our age, the era of The Sopranos and Breaking Bad and Mad Men and The Wire and Homeland and Girls—he focuses on the development of the classic TV genres, among them the sitcom, the crime show, the miniseries, the soap opera, the western, the animated series and the late night talk show. In each genre, he selects five key examples of the form, tracing its continuities and its dramatic departures and drawing on exclusive and in-depth interviews with many of the most famed auteurs in television history.

Television has triumphantly come of age artistically; David Bianculli's book is the first to date to examine, in depth and in detail and with a keen critical and historical sense, how this inspiring development came about. Art Entertainment & Performing Arts Film & TV History & Criticism Social Sciences Thought-Provoking Television History

Critic reviews

“Laid out encyclopedically and ranging from the 1950s through today, [Bianculli’s] account of TV's evolution is as dizzying in scope as it is intimate in detail — and it highlights television's undying appeal against a broader backdrop of culture and history….He writes big, but he's also not afraid to get personal….Through its dozens of whip-smart yet personable entries, The Platinum Age weaves a narrative about how television connects us, not just to each other, but to the culture at large. More than a mere guidebook, this is Bianculli's bible of TV — a wise, engaging celebration of a type of entertainment that's as much of an art form as it is a pastime.”
⎻⎻ Jason Heller, NPR.org

"David Bianculli’s excellent The Platinum Age of Television (Knopf/Doubleday) offers a rousing rundown of the history of the medium and how it became the pop-cultural, multi-platform programming colossus of today. Through thoughtful, engaging, entertaining essays on sitcoms, crime shows, soap operas, westerns, cartoons and late-night, plus a roster of exclusive interviews, he guides readers though an ever-changing road map of themes, formats, stars and styles for a comprehensive overview of an entertainment juggernaut that continues to grow and evolve."
⎻⎻ Neil Pond, Parade
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