[3][4][5] His areas of research are television history, Popular Culture, media criticism, and TV programming.
[7][8] On February 4, 2009 Jon Hein of the Howard Stern Show announced that Thompson is his "arch nemesis," referring to popular culture trivia.
[11] Thompson began his academic career at SUNY Cortland in 1987 and was hired by David Rubin at Syracuse University in 1990.
[3][4] In 1997, he started the Center for the Study of Popular Television with a gift from former network executive and producer, Fred Silverman.
[14] 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.