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A review by nilocennis
The Platinum Age of Television: From I Love Lucy to the Walking Dead, How TV Became Terrific by David Bianculli
3.0
I don't think it really coalesced into any kind of grand thesis other than "art is iterative, so too is television," but it's a fun enough survey of different genres of television. Bianculli is comprehensive, though I'm sure it's inevitable that every reader will feel a certain show has been excluded (where's my Lost?), but in terms of genres, the only obvious place I feel Bianculli skipped is reality TV. Would be easy enough to trace it from something like this:
- The Real World
- Survivor
- American Idol
- The Apprentice
- Keeping up with the Kardashians
I know the above list is mostly competition, while the last is something different entirely, but I think that, regardless of what you think of the genre, the reality TV phenomenon has shaped the American landscape more than maybe any other genre; Bianculli was writing in 2015 and 2016, witnessing a former TV host on his way to the presidency . . . his due date was likely long before anyone realized Trump would win (he references the writing during his profile on Garry Shandling, who died that year, and opens the Cosby Show section with a long section on how Cliff Huxtable and the show itself might be viewed in light of Cosby's then-alledged crimes . . . the pre-#MeToo profiles of Kevin Spacey and Louis C.K. contain nothing of the sort. Can't blame him for not knowing, but damn, talk about bad timing), but given the size of programs like Survivor and American Idol and their responsibility for the current moment, it feels like a miss.
The writing itself is bright and cheery, Bianculli's enthusiasm for the work shines through, and it's readable throughout -- even if there is a bit of a tendency to name-drop. To be fair, the guy built a hell of a career from a $5 SNL review. Maybe this is just envy - if only there had been a Platinum Age of TV Criticism as well.
- The Real World
- Survivor
- American Idol
- The Apprentice
- Keeping up with the Kardashians
I know the above list is mostly competition, while the last is something different entirely, but I think that, regardless of what you think of the genre, the reality TV phenomenon has shaped the American landscape more than maybe any other genre; Bianculli was writing in 2015 and 2016, witnessing a former TV host on his way to the presidency . . . his due date was likely long before anyone realized Trump would win (he references the writing during his profile on Garry Shandling, who died that year, and opens the Cosby Show section with a long section on how Cliff Huxtable and the show itself might be viewed in light of Cosby's then-alledged crimes . . . the pre-#MeToo profiles of Kevin Spacey and Louis C.K. contain nothing of the sort. Can't blame him for not knowing, but damn, talk about bad timing), but given the size of programs like Survivor and American Idol and their responsibility for the current moment, it feels like a miss.
The writing itself is bright and cheery, Bianculli's enthusiasm for the work shines through, and it's readable throughout -- even if there is a bit of a tendency to name-drop. To be fair, the guy built a hell of a career from a $5 SNL review. Maybe this is just envy - if only there had been a Platinum Age of TV Criticism as well.