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

media scholar Media studies is a discipline (academia), discipline and field of study that deals with the content, history, and effects of various media (communication), media; in particular, the mass media. Media studies may draw on traditions from both the ...

. He is the Trustee

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

of Television and Popular Culture at the

S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications The Newhouse School of Public Communications (formally S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications; also as the Newhouse School) is the communications and journalism school of Syracuse University in Syracuse, New York. The school was named af ...

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

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 pop culture or mass culture) is generally recognized by members of a society as a set of cultural practice, practices, beliefs, artistic output (also known as popular art

f. pop art F is the sixth letter of the Latin alphabet. F may also refer to: Science and technology Mathematics * F or f, the number 15 (number), 15 in hexadecimal and higher positional systems * ''p'F'q'', the hypergeometric function * F-distributi ...

or mass art, sometimes contraste ...

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

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...

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 Ma ...

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

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. It is a southwest suburb of Chicago. History The area known as Westmont earlier had been inhabited by the Potawatami. After several failed attempts by the U.S. government to p ...

, a suburb of

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

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, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

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

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

. Thompson began his academic career at

SUNY Cortland The State University of New York at Cortland (SUNY Cortland, C-State, or Cortland State) is a public university in Cortland, New York. It was founded in 1868 and is part of the State University of New York (SUNY) system. History The State Univ ...

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, former

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

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 an American action media franchise centered on a series of films revolving around street racing, heists, and spies. The franchise also includes short films, a television se ...

franchise. The second season features a star study of

Keanu Reeves Keanu Charles Reeves ( ; born September 2, 1964) is a Canadian actor and musician. The recipient of numerous accolades in a career on screen spanning four decades, he is known for his leading roles in action films, his amiable public imag ...

References

External links

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