Critiquing the Sitcom: A ReaderJoanne Morreale This is the first anthology that examines the TV sitcom in terms of its treatment of gender, family, class, race, and ethnic issues. The selections range from early shows such as I Remember Mama (George Lipsitz’s “Why Remember Mama? The Changing Face of a Woman’s Narrative”) to the more recent Roseanne (Kathleen Rowe Karlyn’s “Roseanne: Unruly Woman as a Domestic Goddess”). The volume also looks unflinchingly at major controversies; for example, the NAACP boycott of the stereotypical yet wildly popular Amos ‘n’ Andy and the queer reading of Laverne and Shirley. These diverse essays constitute a veritable history of postwar American mores. Some are classic, some forgotten, but all indicate the importance of considering text and subtext (social, historic, industrial) in the critical study of television. A final chapter by Joanne Morreale bids sitcoms adieu with the “cultural spectacle of Seinfeld’s last episode.” |
Contents
Part One Television in the 1940s and 1950s | 1 |
Amos n Andy and the Debate over American Racial Integration | 25 |
Discourses of Gracie and Lucy | 41 |
Jackie Gleason and the Carnivalesque | 56 |
Positioning the 1950s Homemaker | 69 |
Part Two Television in the 1960s | 87 |
From Gauguin to Gilligans Island | 116 |
Is This What You Mean by Color TV? | 129 |
Part Four Television in the 1980s | 209 |
Bill Cosby and Recoding Ethnicity | 224 |
Part Five Television in the 1990s and Beyond | 247 |
The Triumph of Popular Culture | 262 |
The Cultural Spectacle of Seinfelds Last Episode | 274 |
Notes | 289 |
Bibliography | 321 |
339 | |
Part Three Television in the 1970s | 151 |
Lesbian Narratives Queer Pleasures and Television Sitcoms | 187 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
American Amos Amos n Andy audience Beaver Beverly Hillbillies body broadcast castaways characters codes comic context Cosby Show critics Designing Women discourses discursive hierarchies domestic dominant episode ethnic family sitcom Father Knows Best female feminist film friends gender genre George Gilligan's Island girl Gleason Gracie Hansen heterosexual homemaker Honeymooners humor ideology Jerry jokes Julia Kanter Katrin Laverne and Shirley lesbian living Lou Grant Love Lucy Lucy's male married Mary Tyler Moore Mary's middle-class mother myth NAACP narrative Negro newsroom nuclear family Phyllis play pleasure political popular culture position Press production queer racial radio Ralph relationship Remember Mama representation Rhoda Ricky role Roseanne Roseanne's season Seinfeld sexual show's Simpsons sitcoms situation comedy social space star stereotypes story structure suburban super media tion traditional TV Guide TV Treasures Tyler Moore Show Univ women writers York