TV and Cars

The TV and... series provides a new approach to debates in Television Studies, using television's engagement with a particular object, emotion or topic to think across genres, forms, experiences and even disciplines. TV and Cars offers a compelling lens on television in a mobile media era. Cars are vehicles for television, a fixture of the shows and ads that drive TV. In this original approach to contemporary television, Paul Grainge looks beyond questions of speed, spoilers and cylinders to explore the small screen intimacy of cars - the way people interact, sing and dwell in the habitat of automobiles. Considering the industrial, cultural and aesthetic relation between television and cars, Grainge examines how comedy entertainment such as sitcoms, talk shows, web series and vlogs have been drawn to the practice of 'passengering'. Getting under the bonnet of popular 'drive-and-talk' series like The Trip, Carpool Karaoke, Peter Kay's Car Share and Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, this engaging interdisciplinary excursion finds new ways to look at both television and the social life of cars. Paul Grainge is Professor of Film and Television Studies at the University of Nottingham. He is the author and editor of six books, including Promotional Screen Industries (with Catherine Johnson) (2015), Ephemeral Media: Transitory Screen Culture from Television to YouTube (2011) and Brand Hollywood: Selling Entertainment in a Global Media Age (2008).