My research interests include Hollywood and popular cinema, television studies, and the cultural history of media and entertainment. My work focuses on the value and meanings created at the conjuncture of cultural, institutional, and textual practice. My book Television in Transition: The Life and Afterlife of the Narrative Action Hero (Wiley-Blackwell, 2010) combines and connects analysis of the contemporary television industry with close readings of four individual programs to explain how innovation takes place and meaning is produced amidst changing institutional configurations. My work has also appeared in Cultural Studies, Social Semiotics, American Quarterly, and such collections as Media and Public Spheres (Palgrave Macmillan, 2007) and the Handbook of Media Audiences (Wiley-Blackwell, 2011).