The 25 Sitcoms That Changed Television (eBook, PDF)

Turning Points in American Culture
Redaktion: Barlow, Aaron; Westengard, Laura

• Format: PDF

Produktbeschreibung

This book spotlights the 25 most important sitcoms to ever air on American television-shows that made generations laugh, challenged our ideas regarding gender, family, race, marital roles, and sexual identity, and now serve as time capsules of U.S. history. What was the role of The Jeffersons in changing views regarding race and equality in America in the 1970s? How did The Golden Girls affect how society views older people? Was The Office an accurate (if exaggerated) depiction of the idiosyncrasies of being employees in a modern workplace? How did the writers of The Simpsons make it acceptable to air political satire through the vehicle of an animated cartoon ostensibly for kids? Readers of this book will see how television situation comedies have consistently held up a mirror for American audiences to see themselves-and the reflections have not always been positive or purely comedic. The introduction discusses the history of sitcoms in America, identifying their origins in radio shows and explaining how sitcom programming evolved to influence the social and cultural norms of our society. The shows are addressed chronologically, in sections delineated by decade. Each entry presents background information on the show, including the dates it aired, key cast members, and the network; explains why the show represents a notable turning point in American television; and provides an analysis of each sitcom that considers how the content was received by the American public and the lasting effects on the family unit, gender roles, culture for young adults, and minority and LGBT rights. The book also draws connections between important sitcoms and other shows that were influenced by or strikingly similar to these trendsetting programs. Lastly, a section of selections for further reading points readers to additional resources.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Bloomsbury eBooks US
• Seitenzahl: 384
• Altersempfehlung: ab 7 Jahre
• Erscheinungstermin: 1. Dezember 2017
• Englisch
• ISBN-13: 9781440838873
• Artikelnr.: 68217499

Autorenporträt

Laura Westengard is assistant professor of English at New York City College of Technology, City University of New York. Aaron Barlow is associate professor of English at New York City College of Technology, City University of New York.

Inhaltsangabe

Introduction
Laura Westengard and Aaron Barlow
Part One: The Fifties and Sixties
Chapter 1
I Love Lucy: An Appreciation
Aaron Barlow
Chapter 2
The Honeymooners: American Dreaming Scaled Down to the Small Screen
Martin Kich
Chapter 3
Leave It to Beaver: The Long and Memorable Life of Eddie Haskell
Aaron Barlow
Chapter 4
Big Lessons from a Small Town: The Andy Griffith Show
Cynthia J. Miller and Tom Shaker
Chapter 5
Spy Versus Reality: Get Smart, Satire, and Absurdity
A. Bowdoin Van Riper
Part Two: The Seventies
Chapter 6
The Brady Bunch: A Thoroughly Modern Family?
Laura Westengard
Chapter 7
All in the Family: A Sitcom about a Changing America That Changed America
Martin Kich
Chapter 8
"I'm Every Woman": The Cultural Influence and Afterlife of Florence
Johnston of The Jeffersons
Stacie McCormick
Chapter 9
Writing One Day at a Time: Reflections on a Life Inside the Tube
Christine Tibbles McBurney
Chapter 10
Lights Out in the Newsroom: The Mary Tyler Moore Show's WJM and the Decline
of Television News
Aaron Barlow
Chapter 11
Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman: The 1970s and the Birth of the Surreal Sitcom
Jerry G. Holt
Part Three: The Eighties and Nineties
Chapter 12
More Than Friendship: The Golden Girls as Intentional Community
Jill Belli
Chapter 13
Cheers: Where Everybody Knows Your Name
Michael Katims
Chapter 14
Feeling Some Type of Way: Whatever Happened to Murphy Brown?
Monique Ferrell
Chapter 15
It Still Matters: The Cosby Show and Sociopolitical Representation on
Television
Jacqueline Jones
Chapter 16
"The Reagans Have Had a Very Bad Effect on You": Neoliberalism and Queer
Possibilities in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
Jessica Best
Part Four: The Oughts and Teens
Chapter 17
Nearly 30 Years of "D'oh!": The Animated Legacy of The Simpsons
Paul Cheng
Chapter 18
No Hugging, No Learning: Seinfeld between the Yuppies and Slackers
Kevin L. Ferguson
Chapter 19
Ellen: America's Coming Out Party
Laura Westengard and Aaron Barlow
Chapter 20
Beyond Wedlock: Developing Romance in Will & Grace
Emily Mattingly
Chapter 21
Ask and Tell: Ambiguity and the Narrative Complexity of Sex and the City
Kimberly Hall
Chapter 22
The Office: Broadcast Television in the Digital Era
Leah Shafer
Chapter 23
Black Lives Matter: Even in The Boondocks World
Julian Williams
Chapter 24
Broad City Scrambles the Formula
Robert Lestón
Chapter 25
"This Is What Happens When They Let Men Marry Men": Assimilative Politics
and Liberal Identity in Modern Family
Laura Westengard
Postscript
Laura Westengard and Aaron Barlow
About the Contributors
Index