Television Directors, Race, and Gender

Written Out of the Story

Jonathan J. Cavallero

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Paperback

Forthcoming
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English

Routledge
26 December 2025

Art & Architecture; Humanities; TV & society; Gender studies, gender groups; Radio & television industry

Series: Routledge Advances in Television Studies

This book challenges the predominant framing of US television as a writer’s or producer’s medium by suggesting that television directors are a vital component of TV artistry.

Looking beyond a perspective that favors the narrative and economic aspects of television but undervalues the medium’s formal elements, the book explores how directors use the visual and aural to contribute layers of meaning that add to the thematic development of television texts. Starting from the belief that television aesthetics partially reveal the ways in which directors (and their collaborators) contribute to the overall thematic development of a program, the author offers five case studies that map out the ways that directors have contributed to television drama throughout the medium’s approximately 80-year history. By devoting special attention to the presence and voices of directors from marginalized backgrounds, the book creates opportunities to discuss television from perspectives that emphasize issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

This original and insightful work will appeal to students and scholars of television studies, television production and media production, critical media studies, media authorship, gender studies, and race and media.

By: Jonathan J. Cavallero
Imprint: Routledge
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 234mm, Width: 156mm,
ISBN: 9781032630090
ISBN 10: 1032630094
Series: Routledge Advances in Television Studies
Pages: 226
Publication Date: 26 December 2025
Audience: College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , Primary , Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Jonathan J. Cavallero is Professor of Rhetoric, Film, and Screen Studies at Bates College and the Founding Director of the Bates Film Festival. He is the author of Hollywood’s Italian American Filmmakers: Capra, Scorsese, Savoca, Coppola, and Tarantino (2011) and the co-editor (with Laura E. Ruberto) of Italian American Review’s special journal issue on “Italian Americans and Television” (2016). His scholarship has appeared in a number of journals including Cinema Journal/Journal of Cinema and Media Studies, Journal of Film and Video, Journal of Popular Film and Television, The Journal of Popular Culture, MELUS, and Diasporic Italy.

Reviews for Television Directors, Race, and Gender: Written Out of the Story

""Cavallero's book is not only a welcome addition to his previous scholarship, but also an insightful and novel method for examining the aesthetics of television. Hopefully, this book will serve as the impetus for future works in the field of television studies."" -- William J. Lorenzo, Independent scholar