Television and TV viewing are not what they once were-and that’s a good thing, according to award-winning writer and critic Clive Adam. Since serving as tv columnist for the London Observer from 1972 to 1982, Adam has witnessed a radical switch in content material, format, and development and in the manner in which television is watched. Right here he examines this unique cultural revolution, providing an excellent, eminently entertaining analysis of many from the medium’s most notable twenty-first-century accomplishments and their not-always-subtle impact on contemporary society-including such acclaimed serial dramas as Breaking Poor, The Western Wing, Mad Men, as well as the Sopranos, as well as the humor 30 Rock.

With intelligence and wit, James explores a television panorama expanded by wire and broadband and profoundly altered from the advent of Netflix, Amazon, and other “cord-cutting” systems which have helped to usher within a golden age of unabashed binge-watching.