Debates about the audience in Television Studies have historically centered on ‘the extent to which audiences are free to interpret’ television programmes (Williams, 2003: 191). Discuss with regard to both textual and empirical approaches to the TV audience.
References
Cardwell, Sarah (1997) ‘’Is Quality Television any Good? Generic Distinctions, Evaluations and the Troubling Matter of Critical Judgement’, in Akass, Kim and Janet McCabe (eds) Quality TV: Contemporary American Television and Beyond, London: IB Tauris, pp.19-34.
Mittell, Jason (2004) Television and Genre: From Cop Shows to Cartoons, London: Routledge.
Williams, Kevin (2003) Understanding Media Theory, Oxford, Arnold.
