Taking TV Seriously

Taking TV Seriously 

Join apexart for a talk with two of TV's foremost critics!

NPR’s Fresh Air TV critic, David Bianculli, and founding director of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture, Bob Thompson, were some of the first advocates of “taking television seriously.” With an increasing number of critically acclaimed shows with internationally celebrated actors like Showtime’s Knick, HBO’s True Detective, and even web-based series like Amazon’s Transparent, it seems like the world is finally catching up with them.

Bianculli and Thompson will discuss what’s changed since they first started teaching classes on TV to college students, why these changes have occurred, and where they see this ubiquitous medium heading in the future.

David Bianculli has been the TV critic for National Public Radio’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross, where he also appears as occasional guest host, since 1987. He is editor and founder of the website TV Worth Watching, and author of Dangerously Funny: The Uncensored Story of ‘The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour,’ Teleliteracy: Taking Television Seriously, andDictionary of Teleliteracy. He now teaches TV and film as a tenured associate professor at Rowan University in Glassboro, NJ.

Robert Thompson is the founding director of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture and a Trustee Professor of Television and Popular Culture. He was a visiting professor for six summers at Cornell University and served for nine years as professor and director of the N.H.S.I. Television and Film Institute at Northwestern University.