Watching What We Watch: Prime-Time Television Through the Lens of Faith

"Watching What We Watch" is very readable, thought-provoking, and topical. The authors have put together a model for how to watch television, offering an insights that are sure to prompt discussion. From "The Simpsons" to "ER", from "Moesha" to "Will and Grace," the book gave me pause, asking questions about where God fit into my viewing habits. I passed this book along to our Discussion Group at church, with the strong recommendation that we use a chapter (or two) as a springboard for talking about spirituality and the media.

"Watching What We Watch deconstructs the magic of television and shows us how the creators of programming do their tricks and why they do them. With this knowledge we can apply of own 'lens of faith' to the magic lantern of television."--Michael Rhodes, television and film producer"A useful guide from a principled point of view for coming to grips with the TV ritual."--George Gerbner, Dean Emeritus, The Annenberg School of Communications, University of Pennsylvania"Television is a sizeable part of everyday life in America. This book shows provocatively, why and how television might be an important part of our everyday faith."--Tom Beaudoin, author of "Virtual Faith: Irreverant Spiritual Quest of Generation X"This is an engaging and throughly researched volume which brings together scholars in the fields of theological study, communication, and visual literacy in a compelling and easy-to- read volume."--Jeffrey H. Mahan, Professor of Ministry, Media and Culture, Iliff School of Theology"The value of 'Watching What We Watch' is that it makes us sit up and take notice of the cognitive and spiritual impact of even the most apparently trivial program. It has been estimated that the average viewer devotes eight years over a lifetime to gazing at the small screen, this book will help ensure that these are not wasted years."--Chris Arthur, Senior Lecturer in Religious Studies, University of Wales

In the maelstrom following the release of the Harry Potter film, it is refreshing to read such thoughtful analysis of our television culture. Harry not on the small screen yet? Oh yes, he is. Advertisments (Coke, literacy and HP), TV specials (Katie Couric looking for Platform 9 3/4 for an hour) and commercials galore, HP is everywhere.It's exactly this kind of awareness that can help parents, religious educators and pastoral ministers learn about media literacy themselves and then profit from a book like WATCHING WHAT WE WATCH. Take the chapter on ER for example. Mark Scalese disucusses how power relations function in television as a dominant culture and in how the program is crafted.More than anything, and to link this back to the Harry Potter phenomenon, is the commercialization: the commerce of television, and by extension, all information and entertainment media. It's useless to drone on about the "effects" or influence of television without considering the money... an issue this book deals with well.Most helpful are the appendices with guidelines on how to "read" television, worksheets for analyzing television (criteria) shows and various lesson plans. Any thoughtful parent or teacher can make this book work for them. And more than anything, for the media academic, it has an INDEX!I am glad I bought this book!