Adventures on Prime Time: The Television Programs of Stephen J. Cannell

The author examines the work of Stephen J.Cannell, one of television’s most prolific and successful producers. Thompson uses theories of film authorship revised for application to television texts and provides close analysis of Cannell’s programs, including individual episodes of The Rockford Files , The A-Team and The Greatest American Hero . Moving away from the notion that a television series is the creation of an individual author, the book begins with a look at the televisionmaker. Thompson probes the polyauthorial nature of the medium and introduces a new method of studying television authorship. The book then turns to Cannell and a study of his career, focusing on how he developed the formula for his many highly rated television series. Students and teachers of television and television criticism should find Adventures on Prime Time a source of ideas about the nature of the medium.