Abstract

The excitement and naiveté of early viewers have become central to narratives of the Australian viewing past. These stories are of simpler times when the pleasure of watching television was unmediated by modern self-consciousness and cynicism. This popular way of ‘remembering’ television seems both natural and inevitable, but its role as a discursive strategy is highlighted by the alacrity with which TV columnists sought to bestow a sense of experience on fledgling Sydney viewers. In this paper, I focus on the way that the regular TV column worked to stitch readers into the daily business of television. Moreover, from the beginning of regular broadcasting, TV columnists challenged the idea that watching television was an identitysubsuming process and invited their readers to assume an active connection with television and its culture.

Keywords: TV Columns, Everyday Life, Australian Television, Audiences

How to Cite:

Bye, S., (2017) “Watching Television in Australia: A Story of Innocence and Experience”, Westminster Papers in Communication and Culture 4(4), 65-83. doi: https://doi.org/10.16997/wpcc.113