Adventures on Prime Time

This volume provides an in-depth critical and historical examination of the TV programs of one of America's most prolific and successful producers. The book also breaks new ground in the development of the study of television authorship. It features discussion of specific episodes ofeach of Cannell's major series, including The Rockford Files, The A-Team, Greatest American Hero, and Private Eye.

Part of Praeger's Media and Society Series, this volume breaks new ground in television studies as the first booklength study of an individual television producer.

Part of Praeger's Media and Society Series, this volume breaks new ground in television studies as the first booklength study of an individual television producer. Robert J. Thompson examines the work of Stephen J. Cannell, one of television's most prolific and successful producers. Thompson uses theories of film authorship revised for application to television texts and provides close analysis of Cannell's programs, including individual episodes of The Rockford Files, The A-Team, and The Greatest American Hero.

Moving away from the notion that a television series is the creation of an individual author, the book begins with a look at the televisionmaker. Thompson probes the polyauthorial nature of the medium and introduces a new method of studying television authorship. The book then turns to Cannell and a study of his career, focusing on how he developed the formula for his many highly rated television series. Students and teachers of television and television criticism will find Adventures on Prime Time a source of stimulating ideas about the nature of the medium.