Cal and I were just recently discussing the woeful state of television studies of non-fiction television. We thought we might open the discussion up to SCREEN-L-ites. And we pick up the thread right about here: And if tv studies is a babe in arms, documentary may be something left at the curb for trash-pickers. The first years following the development of the technology of direct cinema (i.e. post-1960) were dynamic and exciting for docu. Subsequently most "documentary" that I see 'round-and-about is derivative of tv journalism. There are historical reasons for this, though. Until the late 'sixties the old studio system still prevailed; there was no cross-over from documentary in the United States. Post-Coppola the "studios" discovered film school graduates and the whole system opened up, so that one could do documentary to keep in practice, but the goal was the BIGTIME. As a result, there are few people dedicated to documentary solely. Or more precisely there are the people who look to Hollywood and the people who look to tv journalism (NOVA and AMERICAN EXPERIENCE included). Cal Pryluck, Radio-Television-Film, Temple University, Philadelphia <[log in to unmask]> <PRYLUCK@TEMPLEVM>