A historical, theoretical and critical survey of U.S. television from 1945 to the present from the public's perspective, with emphasis on the early influences of radio (e.g., Federal regulation and sponsorship), film and theatre; TV's rapid rise as the U.S. public's prime source of entertainment, news and information; TV's rise as a key cultural, economic and political phenomenon; TV's more recent accommodations to the forces of globalization, new technologies/media, and new business models through convergence. Discussion and screening of representative TV texts as seen against the backdrop of the theories and critical views of TV scholars ranging from Raymond Williams and John Fiske to Henry Jenkins. LEC.