TV History
How does Richard Dyer define cross-over?
"A cross-over star is the one who appeals to more than one culture, one who though rooted in a particular tradition and audience manages to appeal and sell beyond the confines of that audience."
The Beulah Show
(ABC 1950-1952) - first show with African American lead, had 3 different Beulah's, 'safe' black role - the help, has its roots in vaudeville blackface minstrel shows, started as radio show with white man (Marlin Hurt) doing blackvoice.
The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet
(ABC 1952 - 1966) - created by Ozzie Nelson, starring real life Nelson family, longest running live action sitcom
Donna Reed Show
(ABC 1958 -1966) - first TV family sitcom to feature mother as center of the show, 2 children, doctor husband
My Three Sons
(ABC 1960-65, CBS 1965-72) - sitcom, widower and aeronautical engineer as he raises his 3 sons, 2nd longest running live action sitcom
Happy Days
(ABC 1974 - 1984) - concerted effort to go back to the good old days when women knew their place, created by Garry Marshall, starring Ron Howard, Henry Winkler, takes place from mid 50s to mid 60s, but is an idealized version
Laverne and Shirley
(ABC 1976 - 1983) - created by Garry Marshall, Lowell Ganz, Mark Rothman, starred Penny Marshall and Cindy Williams as single roommates who work as bottle cappers at a Milwaukee brewery, spin off of Happy Days, set in the late 50s - late 60s
Three's Company
(ABC 1977 - 1984) - developed by Don Nicholl, Michael Ross, Bernie West, starring John Ritter, based on British sitcom Man About the House, centers on 3 single roommates in Santa Monica
Roseanne
(ABC 1988 - 1997) - created by Matt Williams, starring Roseanne Barr and John Goodman, blue collar American family, overweight, female-dominated household, husband works to make wife happy, job + family = miserable?
American Crime
(ABC 2015 - present) - created by John Ridley
Leave it to Beaver
(ABC, CBS, 1957-1963) - created by Joe Connelly and Bob Mosher, American dream, Cleaver family, Beaver is youngest, explicitly details values of Middle america, plot was about taking girl to dance
The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show
(CBS 1950-1958) - Burns and Allen were vaudeville stars in the 1920s and radio stars in the 1930s and 40s
Amos 'N Andy
(CBS 1951 - 1953) - adapted from a radio show - Freeman Gosden and Charles Cornell ( 2 white men) created Amos and Andy and performed them in blackvoice in 1936, the TV show had black actors but they were coached to perform it in minstrel style
I Love Lucy
(CBS 1951-1957) - first scripted TV show shot on 35mm in front of studio audience, real life husband and wife team, shot in LA, Desi Arnaz one of first Latino performers on TV, most watched TV series 4 of 6 seasons
Father Knows Best
(CBS 1954 - 1963) - see mother working in the house but never see father working, capitalist ideals - everything must be earned through hard work, created by Ed James, originally as radio show (1949 - 1954)
The Honeymooners
(CBS 1955 - 1956) - working class ethos, gritty non-idyllic manner, speaks to consumeristic ideal, starring Jackie Gleason, set primarily in cramped Brooklyn apartment
The Smother Brothers Comedy Hour
(CBS 1967 - 1969) - slightly hip version of variety show, Tom and Dick Smothers, started very cleancut with blazers, ended with facial hair, more casual clothes, did not set out to make political show/was pitted against number one show Bonanza on Sunday nights, show began to evolve as their politics evolved
Mary Tyler Moore Show
(CBS 1970 - 1977) - created by James L. Brooks and Allan Burns, was 1st TV show with never-married independent career woman as central character
All in the Family
(CBS 1971-1979) - remake of British tv show Til Death Do Us Part, famous for articulating deep-seated racial ideas, protag Archie Bunker is racist, his son-in-law is anti-war, wife and daughter subservient to him, daughter becomes more socially aware throughout the series, developed by Norman Lear Bogle argues that All in the Family de-idealized the white American middle class family
MASH
(CBS 1972 - 1983) - created by Larry Gelbart and Gene Reynolds, adapted from 1970 feature film which was based on 1968 novel
The Jeffersons
(CBS 1975 - 1985) - their neighbors are an interracial couple, developed by Norman Lear, one of the longest running sitcoms in the history of American TV, about affluent African American couple living in NYC, was a spin-off of All in the Family
Cagney and Lacey
(CBS 1981 - 1988) - police procedural, created by Barbara Avedon and Barbara Corday, starring Tyne Daly and Sharon Gless (2-7), Meg Foster (1), Cagney was single career woman and Lacey was married working mother, set in NY
Murphy Brown
(CBS 1988 - 1998) - protag is in her 40s, works for a newsroom, is the boss (bitch), is single mom, created by Diane English VP Quayle called this mocking the role of fathers
Key and Peele
(Comedy Central 2012 - 2015) - creators, producers, and stars Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele, sketches centered on American pop culture and race relations
In Living Color
(Fox 1990-1994) - direct competitor of SNL, hip hop point of view/aesthetic, satirized social issues, very topical, predominantly black cast, launched the Wayans brothers, David Alan Grier, Jim Carrey (went by James Carrey), Jamie Foxx, was a major contributor to making Fox the fourth major network
The Nat King Cole Show
(NBC 1954 - 1957) - variety show, Nat King Cole presented sophisticated image of African Americans
I SPY
(NBC 1965 - 1968) - starring Bill Cosby and Robert Culp, part of interracial buddy genre, developed by David Friedkin and Morton Fine
Rowan and Martin's Laugh In
(NBC 1968-1973) - Dan Rowan and Dick Martin, rotating cast including Lily Tomlin and Goldie Hawn, was quite popular, announcer lists out the cast like SNL, created by Ed Friendly and George Schlatter, title was joking not to love-ins, be-ins of the 1960s hippie culture
Flip Wilson Show
(NBC 1970-1974) - first sketch comedy with black actor in title role, crossover success, 1st 2 seasons it was the 2nd highest rated TV show, never challenged the status quo of stereotypes about black Americans, plays into them, seen as 'safe' and 'non-threatening', drag character Geraldine - sassy stereotype, no social commentary, humor based on crude situations
Sanford and Son
(NBC 1972 - 1977) - remake of British TV show called Steptoe and Son, sitcom, starring Redd Foxx, edgy racial humor
Good Times
(NBC 1972 - 1977) - set in Chicago projects, created by Eric Monte and Michael Evans, developed by Norman Lear, is a spin-off of Maude, which itself is a spin-off of All in the Family
SNL
(NBC 1975 - present) - sketch - Down by the River, originally called NBC's Saturday Night, created by Lorne Michaels, filmed in NY in front of studio audience, hosted by celebrity who gives monologue, rotating cast includes John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Chevy Chase, Bill Murray, Eddie Murphy, Billy Crystal, Martin Short, Robert Downey Jr, Mike Myers, Adam Sandler, Chris Farley
The Richard Pryor Show
(NBC 1977) - Pryor was very famous, hosted the Oscars, was #1 comedian in the nation was using comedy to wage a discursive combat, NBC advertised him as totally outrageous but also wanted him to conform to their standards, 8PM 'family viewing hour' was not a good fit, NBC self-sabotaged the show, created by Richard Pryor
Girlfriends
(UPN, CW 2000-2008) - created by Mara Brock Akil, women in workplace - boys club law firm, women's health - ovarian cyst, sexual harassment
Mr. Robot
(USA 2015 - present) - created by Sam Esmail, starring Rami Malek, concept of being alone together, very little human to human contact, F Society - reverse income inequality, very subjective - audience is made up person, Evil Corp - is ever present, grand menacing score
When was TV invented?
1920s
Montgomery Bus Boycott
1955-1956, 381 days, 2nd wave of civil rights movement
Vision of unified nation was so important for ______
50s liberal thinkers
When is prime time?
7-11
Big 6 Media Conglomerate makes up what percent of American media?
90
What was the most conservative of all the networks?
CBS
What are the 3 C's?
Capitalism, Consumerism, Conservatism
Who argued the merits of Sanford and Sons?
Christine Acham in "Revolution Televised"
Who wrote the ep The Interview of the series Julia?
Creator Hal Kanter
Who wrote the pilot of Mr. Robot?
Creator Sam Esmail
Who wrote the pilot of the Mary Tyler Moore Show?
Creators James L. Brooks and Allan Burns
Who wrote Edith's Winning Ticket of All in the Family?
Don Nicholl
What was America's first commercial electronic TV set?
Dumont Model 180, invented in 1938
Who wrote Michael Gets Suspended of Good Times?
Eric Monte
Feminist Discourses
First Wave (late 19th Century - early 20th Century) Second Wave (1960s-70s) Third Wave (early 1990s - present)
Who makes up Big 6 media conglomerate?
GE, Newscorp, Disney, Viacom, Time Warner, CBS
Who wrote Fred Sanford, Legal Eagle of Sanford and Son?
Gene Farmer and Paul Mooney
Who wrote the ep Happy Birthday of Roseanne?
Geraldine Barr and Maxine Epstein
Who writes of the "national imaginary"?
Herman Gray in "Television and Politics of Difference"
Who was assassinated in the 1960s?
Iniejro Asanuma, political leader of Japan assassinated live on TV, Patrice Lumumba, Medgar Evans - leader of NAACP, JFK, Malcolm X, Che Guevara, MLK, former attorney general and presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Fred Hampton
Who wrote Episode 8 of Season 1 of American Crime?
Julie Hebert
Who wrote about architecture in early sitcoms?
Mary Beth Haralovich in "Sitcoms and Suburbs: Positioning the 1950s Homemaker"
Bathrick argues that the Mary Tyler Moore show is not feminist because
Mary brings her familial skills to the workplace
Who wrote the ep Career Woman of Donna Reed Show?
Nate Monaster and creator William Roberts
Who wrote George's Family Tree of The Jeffersons?
Perry Grant and Dick Bensfield
Which American inventor, in 1927, invented the video camera tube/image dissector?
Philo T. Farnsworth
Focus of 2nd wave of feminism
Reaction to the post WWII emphasis on domesticity denaturalize women's place equal pay reproductive rights
Standards and practices
TV police, censorship to keep things in line
What tension is Herman Gray concerned with?
The tension between television as a transmodern media of representation and the liberal pluralist desire for a national identity
Why did variety shows fizzle out in the 70s?
appealed to older demo, which are not an appealing demo for advertisers - the older you get, the more fixed you become in your choices, not as influenced by ads, younger people don't necessarily have brand loyalty
Blacksploitation films
black 'heroes' are pimps, drug dealers
Gray writes that audiences didn't seem comfortable with minorities onscreen unless they were portrayed as
comic or absurd
Early TV worked to
construct national identity, promote conceptions of the American dream, usher in precepts of the 3 C's
According to Herman Gray, whites are the ideal subjects of
consumerism and representation
1960s social climate
decade of social turbulence, struggle against oppression, repression, unjust wars
Sketch comedy is not a genre that is easily ___ made a resurgence in _______
duplicated talent-wise, there have been several failures 1990s
TV studies are interdisciplinary by nature - including such topics as
ethnography, sociology, production studies, aesthetics, textual analysis, political economics
Sketch comedy
focuses on short comedy scenes/vignettes, called 'sketches' which run between 1 and 5 minutes and are a comedic exploration of a concept, character or situation
Sketch comedy historically has been a vehicle to _____
inject hidden transcripts into the social discourse
Focus of 3rd wave feminism
intersectionality and inclusion
What is a cross-over?
journey of being an outside/obscurity/margin crossing into mainstream, applies to marginalized voices, negotiated level of conformity and co-optation when you cross into mainstream - 'selling out'
Hollywood is about _______, not driving _______
money, social causes
What are the 3 kinds of relationships that Serafina Bathrick says are the subject of many feminist debates and provided the Mary Tyler Moore Show and Rhoda with some of their central themes and incidents?
mother-daughter, sister, and relationship between a woman and her profession
There is no such thing as ______, TV is global
national unity
Sitcom trope: men read _____
newspapers
2 factors that can dictate programming
politics and economic status
In the 50s, sitcoms were being used to
re-engineer social positions
The variety show
reaches its peak in the 1960s, made up of several different acts, large reliance on music, typically has a host, began at the inception of TV, people went vaudeville to radio to variety, helped make TV popular - live broadcasting, fizzled out around the 1970s
People who've been marginalized communicate their _____ via ________
resistance, hidden transcripts
The name for television literally means
sight from far away
According to Bogle, black performers first appeared on TV as
singing and dancing guest stars on variety shows
Suburbia created partially by ______ and constructed to be ________
sitcoms, whites only
What is a sitcom?
the ideal illusion of what family should be
What does Acham consider traditional African American comedy?
using humor to deal with harsh realities
Focus of first wave feminism
voting rights Susan B Anthony formed National Women's Suffrage Association in 1861 Victoria Woodhull ran for president is 1872 under Equal Rights Party with Frederick Douglas as VP, was arrested days before the election for 'publishing obscene materials'
Richard Pryor SNL Skit
written by Paul Mooney, began Pryor's tenuous relationship with NBC, 1st time in TV history there was a tape delay in live TV because of Richard Pryor, aired in 1975, commentary about microaggressions in the workplace
