Welcome to the Television community! We’re so happy you’re here and we want you take full advantage of the opportunities our new platform provides. Please read over the code of conduct so we can continue to ensure a safe and supportive space for all. Thank you for your dedication to the Popular Culture Association!

The Television Area for PCA/ACA welcomes work on any aspect of television— including investigations of television as a medium, televisual content and textuality, the business of media industries, television consumers, and television and society across all genres and eras of television. 

Topics of interest:

● The Golden Age(s) of Television, Network Era, Peak/Prestige TV, Trough/Mid TV

● Global and local implications for broadcast, digital, streaming TV

● The political economy of television and structures of production

● The significance of popular culture in understanding television

● Pedagogical approaches to teaching television

● Television as a distinct academic discipline

● Genre, narrative complexity, forms and formats

○ Ads, jingles, breakouts, sellouts: the soundtracks of television

○ Animation, children’s programming, education, and cultivation

○ Authenticity, identity, and exploitation of the reality TV subject

○ Comedy, variety, standups, specials: humor on television

○ Crime/fire/medicine, and the occupational-procedural drama

○ History, enduring appeal, and revival of the game show

○ Journalism, fake news, infotainment, and misinformation

○ Prequels, sequels, spinoffs, reboots, remakes

○ (Sur)realism and the mockumentary 

● Cultural and social impacts on/of interpreting television texts

○ Gender, domesticity, and the history of “home and family” viewing

○ Queer imagery, Bury Your Gays, and other LGBT/V tropes

○ Representation and constructions of race

○ Empathy, distortion, and disability

○ Religion and spirituality

○ Class (in)visibility

Proposals may address the above areas or explore new ones. All theoretical viewpoints and methodologies are welcome, as well as international and intercultural perspectives and practitioner contributions.

Important Dates to Remember:

• Database opens for Submissions - Sept. 1, 2025
• Early Bird Registration Begins - Sept. 1, 2025
• Deadline for Paper Proposals - Nov. 30, 2025
• Travel Grant Applications Due - Dec. 15, 2025
• Early Bird Registration Ends for Presenters - Dec. 31, 2025
• Regular Registration Begins for Presenters - Jan. 1, 2026 
• Travel Grant Decisions / Notifications - Jan. 31, 2026
• Regular Registration Ends for Presenters - Jan. 31, 2026
• Late Registration Starts for Presenters - Feb. 1, 2026
• Preliminary Program draft available - Feb. 6, 2026

Those Presenters Not Registered by Feb. 15 Will be Dropped from the Program

CONFERENCE IN ATLANTA, GA - April 8-11, 2026