Science, Entertainment and Television Documentary

✍ Scribed by Vincent Campbell (auth.)

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan UK
• Year: 2016
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 234
• Edition: 1
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

The shift from traditional documentary to “factual entertainment” television has been the subject of much debate and criticism, particularly with regard to the representation of science. New types of factual programming that combine documentary techniques with those of entertainment formats (such as drama, game-shows and reality TV) have come in for strident criticism. Often featuring spectacular visual effects produced by Computer Generated Imagery--these programmes blur the boundaries between mainstream science and popular beliefs. Through close analysis of programmes across a range of sciences, this book explores these issues to see if criticisms of such hybrid programmes as representing the “rotting carcass of science TV” really are valid. Campbell considers if in fact; when considered in relation to the principles, practices and communication strategies of different sciences; these shows can be seen to offer more complex and rich representations that construct sciences as objects of wonder, awe and the sublime.

✦ Table of Contents

Front Matter....Pages i-ix
Introduction: The Changing Landscape of Television Science....Pages 1-25
Analytical Frameworks: Science, Documentary and Factual Entertainment....Pages 27-62
Space Sciences: Wonders of the Cosmos....Pages 63-93
Palaeontology: Monsters from Lost Worlds....Pages 95-124
Archaeology: Ancient Secrets and Treasures....Pages 125-154
Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Extreme Weather and Natural Disasters....Pages 155-184
Pseudoscience and Popular Beliefs....Pages 185-215
Back Matter....Pages 217-228

✦ Subjects

Library Science; Film and Television Studies; Media Studies