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Selected Images
Mary Tyler Moore, Dick Van Dyke, and Sheldon Leonard holding their awards backstage at Emmy Awards, 1964
From Los Angeles Time Photographic Collection, UCLA Library Digital Collections
Cast of "The Jeffersons," Los Angeles, 1980
From Los Angeles Time Photographic Collection, UCLA Library Digital Collections
Television station KTLA
From Security Pacific National Bank Collection, Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection
Actress Diahann Carroll, 1979
From Los Angeles Time Photographic Collection, UCLA Library Digital Collections
Cast of M*A*S*H television program, group portrait, 1973
From Los Angeles Times Photographic Collection, UCLA Library Digital Collections
Actors Lorne Greene and Michael Landon on the set of the television series "Bonanza," 1972
From Los Angeles Times Photographic Collection, UCLA Library Digital Collections
Getting Started
- What dates are you researching? Different databases, tools, and magazines cover specific periods of time.
- What names (showrunners, creators, directors, writers, actors, etc.) are associated with different television shows and networks? Adding these to searches can often bring up useful articles beyond those specifically associated with a program.
- Not every individual show will have extensive scholarship written about it. What genre(s), themes, trends, etc. associated with a show can help surface relevant criticism that you can then apply to your own analysis?
- UC Library Search This link opens in a new window
UC Library Search is the unified discovery and borrowing system for all 10 UC Campuses. Select the UCLA Library Catalog scope to search holdings of materials owned by the UCLA Library and other UCLA collections, whether online or in print. Does not contain full-text articles or article citations. Select the Articles, books and more scope to search for materials in all 10 UC campuses. More information in this guide.
These online sources are good places to start searching for articles and reference information on film and television. For quick reference, hold your mouse over a link for a brief description of the resource. All of these are subscription resources from the Library, so you will need to make sure your computer is configured for off-campus access if you are researching from home.
For more suggested sources, go to the tabs at the top of the page.
- Performing Arts Periodicals Database This link opens in a new window
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Articles and reviews from a broad spectrum of the arts and entertainment industry - including dance, drama, theater, stagecraft, circus, opera, pantomime, puppetry, magic, performance art, film, television, and more. Former database title: International Index to Performing Arts (IIPA) Full Text. - Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
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A multidisciplinary database that indexes over 10,000 publications, with the complete text of over 5,500 periodicals, including a mix of peer-reviewed journals, magazines, and newspapers. - JSTOR This link opens in a new window
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Full text of core scholarly journals from their beginning to approximately five years ago. Disciplines include botany, business, ecology, general science, humanities, mathematics, social sciences, statistics. Browsable by discipline and full-text searchable across all disciplines. UCLA has access to selected JSTOR e-books.
- Project MUSE This link opens in a new window
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Full text of current issues (from about 1990) of scholarly journals published by university presses, chiefly in the arts, humanities and social sciences. Browsable by discipline and full-text searchable across all disciplines. UCLA has access to Muse e-books published from 2017-present, plus a selected number of other e-book titles.
- MLA International Bibliography This link opens in a new window
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Indexes worldwide publications on literature, language, linguistics, folklore, film, television, and theater from 1923 to the present. See also the MLA Directory of Periodicals. - Entertainment Industry Magazine Archive (EIMA) This link opens in a new window
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EIMA is an historical archive of major trade and consumer magazines in film, television, music, radio, and theater, from their inception to 2000. Includes weekly Variety, Hollywood Reporter, American Cinematographer, Back Stage, Billboard, Broadcasting, Picturegoer, Screen International, Spin, and more. UCLA has access to parts I, II and III of this database.
- Media History Digital Library This link opens in a new windowFreely available online portal, featuring millions of pages of books and magazines from the histories of film, broadcasting, and recorded sound.
- ComAbstracts This link opens in a new window
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Abstracts of articles published in the primary professional literature of the communication(s) field. Abstracts may be searched by word, phrase, or author. The database is updated at intervals throughout the year with both older and newer materials.
- International Encyclopedia of Media Studies
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Encyclopedia arranged across 7 thematic volumes that explore media studies through history, production, content, audiences, effects, and futures.
The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946-Present by Call Number: Arts Library Reference ; PN1992.3.U5 B76 2007ISBN: 9780345497734Date: 2007-10-16Basic info on individual shows that is often more detailed than IMDb, reflecting change of network and broadcast times.
Encyclopedia of Television by Call Number: Arts Library Reference; PN1992.18 .E53 2004ISBN: 9781579583941Date: 2004-10-04Includes entries on different genres and some individual programs.
The International Encyclopedia of Communication by Call Number: Arts Library Reference; P87.5 .I58 2008ISBN: 9781405131995Date: 2008-04-28
Movies Made for Television 1964-2004 by Call Number: Arts Library Reference; PN1992.8.F5 M337 2005ISBN: 9780810851740Date: 2005-08-26
Special Edition: A Guide to Network Television Documentary Series and Special News Reports, 1955-1979 by Call Number: Arts Library Reference; PN1992.8.D6 E56 1987ISBN: 0810818981Date: 1989-02-01
Special Edition: A Guide to Network Television Documentary Series and Special News Reports, 1980-1989 by Call Number: Arts Library Reference; PN1992.8.D6 E56 1997ISBN: 0810832208Date: 1996-12-26- Syndicated Television: The First Forty Years, 1947-1987 by Call Number: Arts Library Reference; PN1992.55 .E67 1989ISBN: 0899504108Date: 1989-07-01
Television Program Master Index by Call Number: Arts Library Reference; PN1992.9 .D56 2014ISBN: 9780786472451Date: 2014-01-28Very useful guide to books with content on individual television shows.
TV Genres: A Handbook and Reference Guide by Call Number: Arts Library Reference; PN1992.3.U5 T88 198ISBN: 9780313237249Date: 1985-12-23
All of these online journals contain emerging scholarship in media studies. Also visit the "Articles" tab to search across many different journals.
- Antenna"[A] collectively authored media and cultural studies blog committed to timely yet careful analysis of texts, news, and events from across the popular culture spectrum." Closed in 2016, but archived content still available.
- Critical Studies in Mass Communication
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From Taylor & Francis. UCLA has online access from 2000-present. Older issues in YRL stacks. - Diffractions: Graduate Journal for the Study of CultureOnline, peer reviewed and open access graduate journal, published under the editorial direction of the Catholic University of Portugal/Lisbon Consortium. Includes media studies articles.
- Flow"an online journal of television and media studies"
- In Media Res"dedicated to experimenting with collaborative, multi-modal forms of online scholarship."
- [in]Transition: A Media Commons and Cinema Journal ProjectPeer-reviewed academic journal of videographic film and moving image studies, encouraging video essays and exploration of digital technologies in research
- Journal of Communication Inquiry
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Sage journal, published 1974-present. - Journal of Popular Culture
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Includes many articles on popular television. Available online 1967-present. - Journal of Popular Film & Television
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Available online and in print several different ways. - Media, Culture, & Society
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Online journal from Sage, published 1979-present. - MediascapeArchived page from UCLA journal of Cinema and Media Studies.
- Realscreen"the best in non-fiction"
- Spectator
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The University of Southern California Journal of Film and Television, available online 1997-present. Older print issues located in Arts Library. - Transformative Works and Cultures"publishes articles about transformative works, broadly conceived; articles about media studies; and articles about the fan community."
- Film/Media Journals: SCMS ListA-Z list of recommended film and media studies journals from the Society for Cinema & Media Studies.
Connecting from Off-Campus: VPN and Proxy Tutorials
The Library's online subscription resources can always be accessed from computers and wireless networks on campus. However, off-campus access is restricted to current UCLA, students, faculty, and staff who have set up their computer using one of the methods below. Click on the other tabs to see how four Bruins got their computers set up and ready to go for remote access!
If you still need help, you can contact the UCLA IT Support Center at (310) 267-4357 or help@it.ucla.edu. They provide 24/7 phone support.
- Virtual Private Networking (VPN)A program you can download and install, or use the built-in version on many computers or mobile devices. VPN software must be logged on manually before you access a restricted site, but works for all programs on your computer. It stays connected until you log off.
- UCLA Online Proxy ServerA simple browser setting which will automatically divert you to a UCLA logon page when you first access a restricted site.
VPN on Mac with Natalie
"I chose VPN for my mac because I need to be able to access the full text of articles on different browsers." - Natalie, Environmental Science
VPN on Windows with Michael
"I chose VPN because I like the security it provides and the control it gives me as a user to manually enable or disable it when I'm browsing online." - Michael, Public Affairs
VPN on Chromebook with Nadia
"I chose VPN because it is really simple to use!" - Nadia, Public Affairs
Proxy on Mac with Kate
"I chose Proxy because I prefer logging in through a web browser without having to download any software on my computer." - Kate, Ethnic Studies