This paper is an initial examination of prime time television's response to the events of September 11, 2001. Based on a review of the 2001-2002 television season's prime time programs, the study identifies 15 programs (out of 65 that ran the entire season) that incorporated September 11th elements. Themes of these programs are discussed as are…

Following a content analysis, 85 children's programs were assigned a pacing index derived from the following criteria: (1) frequency of camera cuts; (2) frequency of related scene changes; (3) frequency of unrelated scene changes; (4) frequency of auditory changes; (5) percentage of active motion; (6) percentage of active talking; and (7)…

In 1994 the Kaiser Family Foundation commissioned a monitoring project which assessed the frequency and representation of sexual behaviors in five daytime television soap operas. A new study sought to provide up-to-date quantitative information and to extend the previous project by examining more specifically the representation of planning for and…

Like other industries, television has its own version of the used-car dealership or second-hand store: off-network syndication. Since researchers who study television have rarely investigated the market for these programs, a study examined program and marketplace characteristics to determine which contributes most to the successful syndication of…

This paper addresses the television program "Cheers" and demonstrates one way of interpreting the complexity of messages within the program. The interplay of visual messages within the "Cheers" programming is referred to as intertextuality, or the relation of one text to another to express an idea. Two basic types of…

A study examined the effectiveness of the Children's Television Act of 1990 in altering the marketplace for informational and educational children's programming on commercial broadcast television. Producers and distributors of nationally available series that commercial broadcasters were using in 1993 to meet the requirements of the Act were…

Because of the close proximity of countries in the Middle East, broadcast signals freely cross national boundaries, bringing not always friendly endemic populations into contact with each other through radio and television programming--a fact that has not been lost on the governments which fund broadcasting facilities. National anthems are…

A study examined viewer recall of television commercial content as influenced by both commercial spot positioning within breaks and the congruence or dissonance of the affective (emotionally evocative) formats of the program contexts and commercials. Objectives were to determine whether commercials will have greater rates of viewer recall if: (1)…

A study examined the effects of the Children's Television Act of 1990 on television stations' freedom to schedule programs. Subjects were programming directors responsible for scheduling children's blocks in the Flint-Saginaw-Bay City, Michigan, TV market, the nation's 60th largest. The four program directors, whose stations were major network…

When there is something we want to know, we usually ask experts, but rarely do we ask children about their own childhood. This paper looks at children's perceptions and responses in relation to programming on children's television. Topics include: (1) what are children's programs?; (2) when do children become adults?; (3) criteria for quality; (4)…

Teachers are challenged by contradictory demands on curricular time. The social needs children bring to school sometimes collide with basic literacy instruction priorities. This research addressed concerns about television violence via a project that encouraged children to log their television viewing and write in daily journals their perceptions…