Corporate crime and conspiracy in contemporary television: Power, profits and paranoia

Abstract

Television’s status as a medium that is firmly regulated and at times derided as a ‘vast wasteland’ suggests that it is not necessarily the place in which to find cultural critiques. Yet, such a viewpoint is ahistorical; whether operating on a public service or commercial model, both UK and US television share a significant history of series – both sitcoms and dramas – which offered both occasional and sustained criticisms of the products and results of a corporate culture that only grew stronger throughout the twentieth century. In this article, we not only introduce the Special Issue ‘Corporate Crime and Conspiracy in Contemporary Television’, but offer an overview of both UK and US television, from their earliest forays to contemporary shows, that have addressed corporations’ bad behaviour across decades and genres.