Lecture Outline
- 1950s
- Early TV was family friendly and clean such as “Ozzie and Harriet”, this was meant to attract families and reflected the conservative social outlook of the 1950s
- Early sitcoms focused on women as wives, mothers, and daughters.
- I Love LucyI Married Joan
- My Favorite Husband
- Father Knows Best
- Leave it to Beaver
- The Donna Reed Show
- 1955 - 72% of all characters on sitcoms were male
- 1950’s are recognized eras of the prevalence of black stereotypes on television
- 1960s
- By 1963, 96%
of American TV set are on for an average of 31 out of 72 hours during prime
time viewing
- As a result of the social turmoil of the 60’s, many sitcoms dealt with controversial issues
- During 60’s, the Networks realized that programming geared towards adults was more lucrative than family programming
- Women’s Roles on Tv
- 1964 TV guide article by Betty Frieden states, “Television has represented the American woman as a stupid, unattractive, insecure little household drudge who spends her martyred, mindless, boring days dreaming of love and plotting nasty revenge against her husband.”
- Women were portrayed as the weaker sex
- Male Dominance in household, workplace, and love relationships
-
Restlessness with domesticity is prevalent
- I Dream of Jeannie,
Bewitched
- Mary Tyler Moore
- Single Career woman
- Not traditional roles, but
still subservient to male boss Mr. Grant
- Women as smart, successful – Rhoda – smart and sarcastic
-
Reflections of Social Change
- In 1963 the FCC orders cigarette ads on television to warn about the dangers of smoking for the first time reflecting a growing sense of health and consciousness of its viewers age
- Violence on television became commonplace during the 1960s and 70s.
- Homosexuality on TV
- Documentary format showcases male homosexuality on CBS in 1967
- Homosexuality alluded to but not expressly mentioned with any regularity on sitcoms
- African Americans on TV
- The 1960’s and the power of the black power movement contributed to growth and visibility for African Americans on television.
- TV became more political and racial issues were addressed explicitly and implicitly throughout the decade.
- Black characters played more significant roles as the decade progressed.
- Star Trek was the first show to show an interracial kiss, between Uhura and Captain Kirk - the kiss received criticism, but criticism from an interracial kiss between a black man and a white woman would have received the harshest criticism
- 1970s
- Censorship and moral aspects of TV become a concern
- During the 1970s the FCC tried to force networks to improve educational programming and tried unsuccessfully to institute a “family hour” of non-offensive programming during primetime.
- As more
serious adult topics were explored on TV, parents became increasingly concerned
about the effects TV had on kids.
- In 1972, the
Surgeon General issued a report saying that watching televised violence could lead
to aggressive behavior.
- Incidents cited of children
copying the violence that they see on TV
- Sitcoms are becoming more liberal and catching up to the culture of the 70s
- Portrayal of women
-
More divorced women – Maude and Ann Romano
-
Maude had an abortion – one of the most controversial programs in tv history
-
1973 sitcom “Adam’s Rib”
-
women’s rights theme
- One Day at a Time
- women could
be married more than once, still raise kids, and stand up for their rights and
beliefs
- Some shows had lots of sex imagery
-
Charlie’s Angels
- Buck Rogers
- Homosexuality
- Disco era has overtly homosexual
males on television—Village People
- Single gay
characters appear on television (males)—appear unsexualized, the “boy next door
gone astray” type
- Backlash from community at large for homosexual portrayals
- African Americans
- All In the Family 1971
- Carol O’Connor played Archie Bunker who was a working-class bigot.
- His daughter’s husband, ‘Meathead’ (Rob Reiner) acted as a socially conscious voice in the series to fight against Archie’s racism
- Bunker’s neighbor, George
Jefferson (Sherman Helmsley) was an African American and absolutely racist
towards white people.
- Jefferson’s appearance brought great dynamics to racial issues in the program.
- The Jeffersons
- 1975 as a spin off series
- socially and racially progressive in its own right.
- humor in the show plays heavily on racial stereotypes
- celebrates black upward mobility from the ghetto and black independence.
- George Jefferson is the “black Archie Bunker”
- first television program to show an interracial couple on television.
- Sanford and Son 1972
- Sanford is anti-white.
- Independent from white society
- Show circulates mainly around African American characters
- first successful black sitcom
-1980s
- Continuing concern with censorship and morality
- The Reagan administration’s deregulation
program included television, and all requirements for educational programming
were removed.
- Onset of AIDS leads to greater media attention to homosexual issues
- Homosexuals appear in cases of “mistaken identity”
- Homosexuals appear as a gimmick, for a cheap laugh about lack of interest in a sexualized woman, etc.
- Racial Issues are still very prevalent
- Many shows were composed of a mix of the two races – but there were no serious social problems and no race relation problems – old stereotypes were used to personify African Americans
- The A Team
- Mr. T – wore gaudy jewelry - always help out the team, lacked aggression in anything other than the missions, so he was not threatening to whites – he was a joke
- The Cosby Show
- 1984 - 1st depiction of a upper middle class African American family
- an African American psychiatrist read all scripts and cut anything that wasn’t positive about African American life
- father talks with kids about problems they were facing
- 1985 – 1989 rated # 1 show
- criticized
- same set-up of a white TV show, only with African American stars
- patriarchal
- no real social problems, never dealt with what was going
on in society and in politics
- references to culture:
- Cliff (Cosby) wore t-shirts of things like African American schools
- art work done by an African American
- posters of Martin Luther King Jr
- references to Black writers and jazz artists
- singers that were African American on posters in kids rooms
- show appealed to both races
- incorporated African Americans into what were considered experiences of whites (middle class)
- Clair – wife – professional, younger and thinner than previous stereotypes of African American mothers, speaks her mind, keeps house clean and is in a reciprocal relationship
- new masculinity – father – listens to wife, admits to being wrong, and still stays manly
- After Cosby show – bunch of African American middle class family shows – didn’t do too well, had plots that belonged in 1950s shows
- A Different World – a Cosby spin-off
- plots not too great
- Whitley – a African American southern belle, haughty, not inferior to anyone – this character broke stereotypes
- focused on the cultural differences within the African American community
- Urkel – a joke, a clown, but very smart (not a stereotype)
- 1990s
- Growing prevalence
of censorship and family value issues in the 1990s
- the violence
and adult content of television shows continued to increase.
- In 1990
Congress voted to force the networks to show a certain amount of educational programming.
- Since efforts
to censor violent TV were unpopular, the government and the networks agreed on
a system of television ratings and a device called the V-Chip that allows
parents to block adult shows from their kids.
- Women on TV have completely evolved
- Women portrayed more positively and as more independent
- Designing Women, Golden Girls, Roseanne, Murphy Brown
- Producers also began to feature single father households, although statistics show that this was uncommon in reality
- Full House, My Two Dads, Empty Nest, Blossom, The Nanny
- Single fathers still often had a great nanny or housekeeper (woman) to help out
- Many homosexual breakthroughs occur during this time period
- Roseanne-1994-first primetime same-sex kiss
- Ellen-1997-Ellen Degeneres outs herself on television, becoming the first openly gay lead character—doesn’t conform to the stereotypical “butch” lesbian image
- Will and Grace—show contains a very stereotypical gay character—non-lead Jack McFarland, but also has a gay lead character who does not conform to many gay stereotypes, Will
- Spin City—this show has an African-American homosexual, not common on television, and he is very politically involved in the NYC mayor’s office—Carter Haywood’s homosexuality is not his defining characteristic, but it is used for a cheap laugh during most episodes
- Shows about African Americans are becoming even more common
- Mid 1990s, in 8-9 pm time slot was where the sitcoms without any substance were placed
- WB and UPN – new channels that sought to find their audience in the African American community – shows tended to be about sexist, energetic, young urban males that think about sex at all times and speak in vernacular
- In Living Color
- composed of skits that were creative, energetic, and clever
- made fun of icons of African American community(Mike Tyson, Oprah, Don King)
- message that women’s appearance important and stereotyped and made fun of homosexuals
- problem w/ out of 13 writers, only 3 were African American
- grossly exaggerated stereotypes – like African American men were petty thieves
- Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
- family seems like a white family not a Black Upper Class family w/ own culture
- main star a clown
- Carlton had good qualities like being smart and ambitious but was the jerk
- Civil Rights – turned into a joke
- Hanging with Mr. Cooper
- male star immature and ogles women
- Martin
- sexist, hyper, crazy characters
- sex main focus of men
- color caste system in place where the light skinned African American women were beautiful
- Living Single
- 4 women talking about men at all times
- a little bit of stereotyping – women take care of everyone else (nurturers) and want to marry rich men
- avoid color caste system
- Moesha
- girl’s perspective