There has been plenty of discussion on this blog and elsewhere about the difficulty that many of us have as television scholars ‘keeping up with television’. It’s certainly something that comes up repeatedly as a topic of conversation in meetings of the Midlands Television Research Group.

A furry number 2, perched on a neatly-draped table set with fruit and little cakes, peers at a bowl of strawberries. In the background birthday cards pinned to a cheerful yellow wall spell out the number 50.  But with its colourful balloons and table full of goodies, this is more like a nursery party than a marker of maturity.

I thought this time I would take a moment to reflect on some of the ideas generated by three recent CST blogs: TEACHING TELEVISION: WHERE DO I START? by Elke Weissmann, THE PLACE OF THE PROGRAMME IN TELEVISION TEACHING by Catherine Johnson TRUE DETECTIVE AND PRACTICAL CRITICISM by Jason Jacobs.

I remember watching ‘Mystery Men’ the fourth episode of* Mad Men*’s extraordinary fifth season and being struck by the moment when Joan at the breakfast table, tells her husband Greg, an army surgeon who is voluntarily returning to Vietnam, to leave.  ‘If I walk out that door, that’s it,’ he shouts at her; ‘That’s it,’ she replies, effectively ending their marriage.

Recently I re-watched Battlestar Galactica.  No, not that one, but the 1978-1979 series that originally aired on ABC, complete with tinny Cylons, hysterically questionable ‘triad’ costumes and a ‘daggit’ named Muffy.  A while ago Kim Akass pointed out that she grew up alongside Dr Who.

I was not interested in the Sixties.  I was interested in the Fifties.  It’s an important distinction. — Matthew Weiner, Austin Film Festival, 26 October 2009 *Mad Men *creator Matthew Weiner had little idea of what exactly he wanted to do after graduation as he began his senior year at Wesleyan University in August 1986.  He wrote poetry in college and thought he might get into publishing or work for a magazine.

The current U.S. television season has seen the introduction of two new network sitcoms with the same basic premise: Fox’s Dads and CBS’s The Millers both revolve around retired parents who, due to a change in their own circumstances, move in with their grown-up children – a situation that results in constant intergenerational conflict.

At the end of March I was invited to take part in the University of Glasgow’s RSE funded workshop series “Shaping Scotland’s Talent: Change, Flexibility and New Pathways in the Screen Industries”. It was a fascinating event with a broad range of policy makers, broadcasters and academics giving position pieces on their experiences with fostering creative talent and open discussions about how, in particular, diversity of talent can be

‘A good bake’ As regular viewers of The Great British Bake Off will know, ‘a good bake’ is the highest praise indeed. It is a perfect pastry base: short, smooth and golden; it is a crisp, evenly-coloured biscuit; it is a cake of even crumb and airy texture. A good bake is the pinnacle of technique.

BBC2’s Big Allotment Challenge pushes the TV challenge format to breaking point.  This six-part series pits nine contestant pairs against each other each week in three contests: growing a prize specimen; arranging a bouquet; preparing or preserving their produce.

It’s a very long time since I’ve really WANTED to write about something I saw on television, and just couldn’t wait to get started on it. In fact, I recently told my friends and colleagues on the ‘Television for Women’ project, Helen Wheatley and Helen Wood, that I didn’t feel able to contribute to the CSTonline blog, mainly because I felt that, since becoming a parent and returning to full-time work, I am managing to watch so