1. 1 Lecture 01: Reading Television, Reading Culture The Honeymooners (CBS 1955-56) Chappelle’s Show (Comedy Central, 2003-6)

2. 2 Lesson 01 Agenda Course Business Why Study Television? In The Beginning –1948: The Pivotal Year Let’s Watch Some TV! –Television As Social Instruction –The Three “C’s” Neil Patrick Harris in Doogie Howser M.D. (ABC, 1989-1993) Neil Patrick Harris in How I Met Your Mother (CBS, 2005- )

3. 3 Section 1: Course Business Insert Image Here Add Image Caption w/ Credits Here The Martha Raye Show (NBC, 1955-56)

4. 4 Course Objectives Critical Thinking & Writing –Beyond Thumbs Up & Thumbs Down –Mobilizing Evidence to Support Your Ideas Great Critical Resource on Television, New Media And Beyond. http://flowtv.org/

5. 5 Course Objectives cont’d Reading Televisual Texts –Construction –Context –Taste Cultures –Socio-Historical Moment Saturday Night Live (NBC, 1975 - )

6. 6 Course Requirements Required Texts:

7. 7 Learning Tasks Participation –Thought Questions E-Board Responses –Communication with Instructor Individually Designed Topics –Paper Proposal –Final Paper Tests –Multiple Choice –Short Answer

8. 8 Section 2 Why Study Television Room 222 (ABC 1969-74) & Cultural Studies?

9. 9 What Is Cultural Studies? Cultural studies: –Describes (and intervenes in) the ways that cultural forms and practices are produced within, inserted into, and affect people’s daily lives and social formations. –Explores how people—often existing within conditions not of their own making—within and through cultural practices—impact and are impacted by specific historical formations.*

10. What Do You Actually Study In Cultural Studies? Cultural Studies allows us to interrogate how the stories that we tell ourselves about ourselves (and, about each other) are constructed and how they inform our senses of self and notions of identity. These stories, whether communicated through cultural practice or media texts, impact the possibilities of survival, resistance, and change. 10

11. 11 Culture, Media & Industry Reading Television: –Television As Cultural Artifact –Television As Creative Pursuit –Television As Industrial Product Father Knows Best (CBS, 1954-55, 1958-60 and NBC 1955-58) Twin Peaks (ABC 1990-91) American Idol (Fox, 2002 - )

12. 12 Television and American Culture Imparting Ideologies: American Dreaming Leave It To Beaver (ABC, 1957-63) Modern Family (ABC, 2009 - ) –“Although the American Dream was not invented for television, television appears to nourish and sustain it.” –Sut Jhally and Justin Lewis Media Scholars & Cultural Theorists

13. 13 Reflecting American Popular Consciousness If television programs are reflecting and providing a mirror image or “accurate” representation then… –Was the ranch house suburbia ideal of the Cleaver family representative of the 1950s American Dream? –Do the constructions of the three Modern Families speak to a more inclusive, new millennial American Dream?

14. Refracting American Popular Consciousness If refracting, for our purposes, is referring to how an image can be bent or distorted (refracted) when passing through another medium, then how can television programs refract the image of the ideal American family or the American Dream? 14 An image of the Golden Gate Bridge is refracted and bent by many differing three dimensional pools of water.Golden Gate Bridge Attribution: Mbz1 at en.wikipediaMbz1en.wikipedia

15. 15 Reflecting and Refracting? Leave It To Beaver (ABC, 1957-63) Modern Family (ABC, 2009 - ) –Was the mythic norm of suburban homogeneity on Leave it Beaver representative of the 1950s American Dream for most Americans? –Does the heterogeniety of the televisual world of Modern Family allow for an American Dream that is both expansive and exclusive?

16. 16 Congratulations, Media Babies! You have been doing research for this class for most of your lives. You are already a critical viewer. –You determine the verisimilitude of a text. –You express preferences regarding genre. –You acknowledge quality in myriad forms. You are media savvy. –You engage television via multiple platforms. –You engage in the critique of visual texts. –You understand that all visual texts are constructed.

17. New Ways of Watching TV & New Forms of Analysis 17 ASK YOURSELF: How Can I Examine These Series? How do I start the analytical process? Dark Shadows (ABC, 1966-71) Buffy The Vampire Slayer (WB 1997-2001; UPN 2001-3) True Blood (HBO, 2008 - )

18. New Ways of Watching TV & New Forms of Analysis 18 ANSWER: By thinking about VAMPIRES, of course. But, there is so much more: Issues of Genre, Representations of Gender, Sex and Sexuality, Race, Region, Class and Fandoms. Dark Shadows (ABC, 1966-71) Buffy The Vampire Slayer (WB 1997-2001; UPN 2001-3) True Blood (HBO, 2008 - )

19. 19 Section 3: In The Beginning Insert Image Here Add Image Caption w/ Credits Here The Electronic Hearth General Electric Ad, 1948

20. 20 The Moment of Television: 1948- Setting the Stage Historical –Post War Project on the Homefront –Reset of Everyday Life & Cultural Practices Setting the Stage: Cultural –Birth of Ranch House Suburbia –Good-bye, Rosie. Hello, Organizational Man. Saturday Evening Post, 1943 The Man in The Grey Flannel Suit (Nunnally Johnson, 1956)

21. 21 The Moment of Television U.S. vs. Paramount (1948) –Paramount Decrees (a Justice Department action based on the Court’s decision against the Big Five major film studios and three minor studios) mandated that the production and exhibition functions of the film industry had to be separated—the end of vertical integration. –Block-booking of films was declared illegal and studios were forced to divest themselves of their studio-owned theatre chains. The “Freeze” (1948-1952) –FCC (formerly FRC) freezes the licenses for television stations (growing too fast)—protecting “our” airwaves. –Anti-trust violators need not apply.

22. The Moment of Television: Industrial cont’d Radio Wins! –NBC and CBS set trajectory that mirrors radio in terms of programming and sponsorship. A new Big Three was born: David Sarnoff of RCA fame at National Broadcasting Company, William S. Paley at Columbia Broadcasting System and, in a lower tier, Edward J. Noble at American Broadcasting Company. –There were 4 Networks: ABC (formed from NBC Blue in 1943), CBS, NBC (NBC Red) and Dumont (owned by Dumont Laboratories) Despite a great start—due, in part, to CBS/NBC talent raid—Dumont was gone by 1955. 22 On Cavalcade of Stars (Dumont, 1951) The Honeymooners (CBS, 1955)

23. 23 Isn ’t It Better To Stay At Home? Marked decline in “going out” for entertainment. The film industry’s revenue peak of $1.692 billion (1946) would decline by nearly 23% over the next decade. As attendance plummeted, ticket prices increased by nearly 40% -- giving the consumer yet another reason to stay home, listen to radio, or, even better, watch that “free TV.”

24. 24 The Nature of the Industry TELEVISION IS, FIRST AND FOREMOST, A COMMERCIAL MEDIUM—LIKE ITS PREDECESSOR RADIO, THE PROGRAMS EXIST TO MAKE AD REVENUE.

25. 25 Home & Electronic Hearth 14,000 sets in use in 1947 172,000 in use in 1948, By 1959, 90% of American homes had television sets.

26. Section 4: Let’s Watch Some TV! 26 Insert Image Here Add Image Caption w/ Credits Here Mr. Television: Milton Berle in Texaco Star Theater (NBC 1948-53), The Berle-Buick Hour (NBC 1953-55 and The Milton Berle Show (NBC 1955-56) Download Reading/Screening Sheet 1 from Learning Tasks

27. 27 Television As Social Instruction Domestic Medium –Nuclear Family & Electronic Hearth –Teaching new ideas as old ideas –Television Narratives as reset Button for American Popular Consciousness

28. 28 The Three C’s: Consumerism Consumerism –Capitalism is Patriotism –New Practices for A New Age – Differentiation from the Creeping Red Menace (Communism) SELLING THE AMERICAN DREAM

29. 29 The Three C’s: Conformity Conformity –Ranch House Suburbia –Assimilation –Creation of Mythic Norms The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet (ABC, 1952-66) and The Donna Reed Show (ABC, 1958-66)

30. 30 The Three C’s: Containment Containment –Addressing Fears –Addressing Difference –Producing “Solutions” The Jack Benny Show (CBS, 1950-65) Dragnet (NBC, 1951-59)

31. 31 Milton Berle –1 st Television Icon –Vaudeo –Appointment TV –The Whole Country Was Watching Pause Lecture & Watch For Your Viewing Pleasure: Texaco Star Theater

32. 32 In The Episode Sponsorship –Consumerism – Integrated Commercials Crossover –Molly with Uncle Milty –Conformity (Amusingly Ethnic) –We Like Ike

33. 33 Burns & Allen –Vaudeville –Radio –Transitional Television Pause Lecture & Watch More Viewing Pleasure: The George Burns & Gracie Allen Show

34. 34 In The Episode Teaching About Television –Transition from Vaudeo to Sitcom –How It Works by George Consumerism –Sponsorship –Gracie & Carnation Containment –Gender –TV Stars Are Everyday People

35. 35 Ralph, Norton, Alice & Trixie –From Cavalcade of Stars to Classic TV Pause Lecture & Watch Last but Definitely not Least… The Honeymooners

36. 36 In The Episode Working Class Dreams –Change of Habit –“I Want to See Liberace!” Ideological & Economic Reset –Why We Buy, How We Buy –Don’t Worry, Buy Happy Learning to Watch –The New Everyman –Great Comedy Holds Up

37. 37 Final Thoughts Think about what series you watch today. –What do they say about the current historical moment? Think about why you watch what you watch –What is your “pleasure in the text” ? Think about what shows you might like to write about.

38. 38 End of Lecture 01 Next Lecture: Back When Ethnic Was Funny Insert Image Here Add Image Caption w/ Credits Here