Robert James Thompson (born 1959) is an American educator and

media scholar Media studies is a discipline and field of study that deals with the content, history, and effects of various media; in particular, the mass media. Media Studies may draw on traditions from both the social sciences and the humanities, but mostly ...

. He is the Trustee

Professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...

of Television and Popular Culture at the

S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications The S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, commonly known as Newhouse School, is the communications and journalism school of Syracuse University in Syracuse, NY. It has programs in print and broadcast journalism; music business; graphic ...

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...

and founding director of the ''Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture''. He is widely quoted in media. His areas of research are television history,

Popular Culture Popular culture (also called mass culture or pop culture) is generally recognized by members of a society as a set of practices, beliefs, artistic output (also known as, popular art or mass art) and objects that are dominant or prevalent in a ...

, media criticism, and TV programming. Thompson's various soundbites have been dubbed by the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

as "Thompson-isms". On February 4, 2009

Jon Hein Jon Hein is an American radio personality and former webmaster. He created the website jumptheshark.com and works for ''The Howard Stern Show''. Hein has written three books, ''Jump the Shark: When Good Things Go Bad'' as well as ''Fast Food Mani ...

the Howard Stern Show ''The Howard Stern Show'' is an American radio show hosted by Howard Stern that gained wide recognition when it was nationally syndicated on terrestrial radio from WXRK in New York City, between 1986 and 2005. The show has aired on Howard 100 a ...

announced that Thompson is his "arch nemesis," referring to popular culture trivia.

Biography

Thompson was born in

Westmont, Illinois Westmont is a village in DuPage County, Illinois, United States. Westmont is a community of 5.03 square miles in area with a 2010 population of 24,685. It is located approximately west of the Chicago Loop in the southeastern portion of DuPage Co ...

, a suburb of

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

to LeRoy Edward and Joan Alice Thompson. He holds a B.A. in political science from the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

(1981) and an M.A. (1982) and Ph.D. (1987) in radio, television and film from

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

. Thompson began his academic career at

SUNY Cortland The State University of New York College at Cortland (SUNY Cortland or Cortland State College) is a public college in Cortland, New York. It was founded in 1868 and is part of the State University of New York (SUNY) system. History The State Un ...

in 1987 and was hired by David Rubin at

in 1990. In 1997, he started the ''Center for the Study of Popular Television'' with a gift from former network executive and producer,

Fred Silverman Fred Silverman (September 13, 1937 – January 30, 2020) was an American television executive and producer. He worked as an executive at all of the Big Three television networks, and was responsible for bringing to television such programs as '' ...

. The center was renamed the ''Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture'' in 2006 for

Edward Bleier Edward Bleier (born October 16, 1929) is an American former television executive. He served as president of Warner Bros., and played a role in the development of cable television and pay TV. He served on the board of directors of RealNetworks and ...

, former

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

president.

Publications

Thompson has authored, co-authored, or edited six books and textbooks: ''Television Studies: Textual Analysis'' with Gary Burns (1989), ''Making Television: Authorship and the Production Process'' with Gary Burns (1990), ''Adventures on Prime Time: The Television Programs of Stephen J. Cannell'' (1990), ''Prime Time, Prime Movers'' (1992), ''Television's Second Golden Age'' (1997), and ''Television in the Antenna Age: A Concise History'' (2004). In 2018, Thompson launched his first podcast with Newhouse colleague Charisse L’Pree entitled, Critical and Curious, which explores pop “trash” through the lens of media history and theory as well as representations of race, class, and gender. The first season closely analyzed the

Fast and Furious ''Fast & Furious'' (also known as ''The Fast and the Furious'') is a media franchise centered on a series of action films that are largely concerned with street racing, heists, spies, and family. The franchise also includes short films, a ...

franchise. The second season features a star study of

Keanu Reeves Keanu Charles Reeves ( ; born September 2, 1964) is a Canadian actor. Born in Beirut and raised in Toronto, Reeves began acting in theatre productions and in television films before making his feature film debut in '' Youngblood'' (1986). ...

References

External links

Syracuse Homepage
*
Interview in 2022
with ''Pop-Talk Podcast'' of

WAER-FM WAER (88.3 FM) is a radio station in Syracuse, New York. It is located on the campus of Syracuse University, and is a part of the S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. The station features a jazz music and National Public Radio forma ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, Robert 1959 births American mass media scholars Media historians Living people Northwestern University School of Communication alumni Syracuse University faculty People from Hinsdale, Illinois University of Chicago alumni State University of New York at Cortland faculty