Fans
of 'quality TV drama series' will have a field day with Syracuse
University professor Thompson's multidisciplinary examination of 'the
return of the seri-ous, literary, writer-based drama' over the past 15
years. Allotting full chapters to breakthrough series Hill Street Blues
and St. Elsewhere, Thompson reviews a bit more briefly the histories of
1980s classics Cagney & Lacey, Moonlighting, L.A. Law,
thirtysomething, and China Beach and their 'quirky' 1990s successors
Twin Peaks, Northern Exposure, and Picket Fences. 'The Future of
Quality' chapter describes the networks' retreat from writer-based
drama in the early 1990s and the return to it in series like NYPD Blue,
Law & Order, Homicide: Life on the Street, Chicago Hope, and the
number one hit, ER. This survey will appeal to several audiences:
People readers will relish the gossip; Fortune readers will zero in on
the economics of quality versus junk-food television; and readers
monitoring media transmogrifications will find Thompson's analysis of
TV's institutionalization of quality drama fascinating."-Booklist
