Janet McCabe is Research Associate (TV Drama) at Manchester Metropolitan University. She is Managing Editor of Critical Studies in Television and author of Feminist Film Studies: Writing the Woman into Cinema (Wallflower, 2004). Kim Akass is Research Fellow (TV Drama) at Manchester Metropolitan University and is co-editor of Critical Studies in Television. Janet McCabe and Kim Akass are joint Series Editors of the Reading Contemporary Television Series at I.B.Tauris. They have co-edited and contributed to Reading Sex and the City (2004), Reading Six Feet Under: TV To Die For (2005), Reading The L Word: Outing Contemporary Television (2006) and Reading Desperate Housewives: Beyond the White Picket Fence (2006, all I.B.Tauris).

Dealing primarily with the post-1996 era shaped by digital technologies and defined by consumer choice and brand marketing, this book brings together leading scholars, established journalists and experienced broadcasters working in the field of contemporary television to debate what we mean by quality TV.

Preface:
Robert Thompson

Debating Quality . Introduction:
Janet McCabe and Kim Akass

'Quality TV' On Show
Karen Fricker

Part 1 Defining Quality . critical judgements and debate _____________________
Is Quality Television Any Good? generic distinctions, evaluations and the troubling matter of critical judgement.
Sarah Cardwell

Quality TV: from an American critic's perspective
David Bianculli

Quality TV Drama: a tale of two traditions (British and American)
Robin Nelson

As Seen on TV: women's rights and quality television
Ashley Sayeau

Sex, Swearing and Respectability: courting controversy, HBO's Original Programming and producing quality TV
Janet McCabe and Kim Akass

Part 2: Defining Quality . industry, policy and competitive markets_____________
Quality Control: The Daily Show, the Peabody and brand discipline
Jimmie Reeves, Michael Epstein and Mark Rogers

Inside American Television Drama
Peter Dunne

Quality US TV: a buyer's perspective
Dermot Horan

C.S.I. Crime Scene Investigation: quality, the fifth channel and 'America's Finest'
Ian Goode

The Problem of Quality Television: television schedules, audience demographics and cultural policy in New Zealand.'
Geoff Lealand

Part 3: Defining Quality .aesthetics, form, content ___________________________
HBO and the Concept of Quality TV
Jane Feuer

Seeing and Knowing: reflexivity and quality
Jonathan Bignell

Quality and Creativity in TV: the work of television storytellers
Máire Messenger-Davies

An interview with David Chase
Mark Lawson

Writing Music for Quality TV: An Interview with W. Snuffy Walden
Peter Kaye

'Read Any Good Television Lately? television tie-in books and quality TV
David Lavery

Afterthoughts: Defining Quality . into the future_____________________________
Lost in Transition: from post-network to post-television
Roberta Pearson

TV and Film Guide
Bibliography
Index?????