10
Television and American Culture
M AR 375: Television & US Culture
on-line site: D2L.arizona.edu
Professor M B Haralovich
School of Media Arts
241 Marshall Building
621-7800
Office hours
walk-in hours: tba
advising hours, by appointment: tba
make appointments through Media Arts Main Office
Graduate Teaching Assistants: Information tba
Course Format
lecture: 1 hour
discussion: 1 hour
screening: 2 hours
Course Description and Objectives
“Television & US Culture” surveys the three major eras of U.S. television with attention to each era’s key programs, technology, critical reception, assumptions about audience, and relation to other arts:
· broadcast television era: bringing programming into the home (1950s and 1960s), considered both a “window on the world” and a “vast wasteland”;
· cable era: the diversity of cable television content and the expanding boundaries of broadcast television (1970s,1980s, and 1990s);
· transmedia era: television in the 21st century, where television converges with digital platforms.
The course objectives are:
· examine the three major eras of U.S. television with attention to each era’s key programs, technology, critical reception, assumptions about audience, and relation to other arts;
· consider the public and critical debates and issues about the role that U.S. television plays in American culture;
· survey the historical development of television forms of storytelling and entertainment;
· gain experience discussing and writing about U.S. television.
After taking “Television & US Culture,” students will be able to:
· identify the basic components of each era of U.S. television history;
· identify the formal elements of television entertainment: comedy, drama, and specialty forms;
· analyze a television program based on the formal elements and structures of television entertainment;
· identify the cultural and historical factors that contribute to the creation and reception of television;
· appraise and interpret the cultural significance of a television program;
· in writing and speaking about television, use appropriate vocabulary and concepts;
· recognize the relationship of television to other arts: film, theater, art, and dance, as well as literature.
Assignments and Grades:
Exam #1 (Broadcast Era) 100 points
Exam #2 (Cable Era) 100 points
Exam #3 (Transmedia) 100 points
Essay #1 (Broadcast Era) 100 points
Essay #2 (Cable Era) 100 points
Essay #3 (Transmedia) 100 points
12 Quizzes on Readings & Lectures (20 points each) 240 points
Participation 160 points
TOTAL 1000 points
A = 900-1000
B = 800-899
C = 700-799
D = 600-699
E = 599 and below
A = Excellent: course work is performed at a clearly outstanding level.
B = Good: course requirements are met at a level measurably above the average.
C = Adequate: course work is completed at an adequate level.
D = Poor: course work is completed at a level measurably below adequate or many assignments are not completed.
E = Failure: much of the course work is not completed, assignments are completed inadequately, or both.
Incomplete. The grade of “I” will be awarded only when all but a minor portion of the course work has been satisfactorily completed. Students should make arrangements with the instructor to receive an “Incomplete” grade before the end of the semester.
Exams: Take-Home Essay and In-Class:
Each unit ends with a one-hour in-class exam (identification and short answer) and a take-home essay. Exams cover all course material: lecture, discussions, readings, on-line study materials, clips and screenings.
The take-home portion of the exam is an essay, 500 words, due at the beginning of the in-class portion of the exam.
Sketch of take-home essay topics:
· Essay #1 (broadcast era): application of broadcast era concepts, “window on the world” and “vast wasteland,” to the student’s own experience with television
· Essay #2 (cable era): assessment of a cable phenomenon of the student’s choice, such as sports coverage, comedy shows, premium channel dramatic series, music television
· Essay #3 (transmedia): description of a transmedia phenomenon, a story told in multiple platforms
Exam #1 is day and date
Exam #2 is day and date
Exam #3 is day and date
Note the dates of the exams. There are no make-up exams or substitutions. If you cannot take the exams due to other commitments, take the course when it is more convenient for you.
Participation, Attendance, and Classroom Behavior:
The participation grade is based on
· active and attentive attendance at lectures, discussion and screenings [60 points]. For each absence from discussion section, 5 points will be deducted. For each late arrival or early departure from discussion section, 3 points will be deducted.
· quality and frequency of participation in discussion [100 points]. Mere attendance, without participation, can earn no more than 70 points.
All holidays and special events observed by organized religions will be honored for those students who show affiliation with that particular religion. Absences pre-approved by the UA Dean of Students (or Dean designee) will be honored.
During screenings, the only screen is the classroom projector. To respect the screening environment, to prevent light pollution, and to promote an optimal screening situation for everyone, all other screens – including cells and laptops – must be closed.
During lectures and discussion, students may use laptops and pdas to take notes.
See also policies on “exams” (above) and “quizzes” (below).
Quizzes:
Each week, take an on-line quiz at the course site at D2L.arizona.edu. Each quiz covers readings and lectures for the week.
Each week, the quiz is available from Xday morning at 8:00 am until the following Xday at noon. To receive credit for a quiz, it must be taken during this period. At noon on Xday, the quiz will close.
Tip: do the reading before taking the quiz.
Collaboration on quizzes is a violation of the University of Arizona Code of Academic Integrity (see below).
Readings:
The readings for each week are identified in the syllabus. Readings include essays and links to sites. All readings and links are posted on this course’s D2L and they are listed at the end of this syllabus.
UA Student Code of Conduct:
The aim of education is the intellectual, personal, social, and ethical development of the individual. The educational process is ideally conducted in an environment that encourages reasoned discourse, intellectual honesty, openness to constructive change, and respect for the rights of the individual. Self-discipline and a respect for the rights of others in the university community are necessary for the fulfillment of such goals.
The University seeks to promote a safe environment where students and employees may participate in the educational process without compromising their health, safety or welfare. The Arizona Board of Regents’ Student Code of Conduct, ABOR Policy 5-308, prohibits threats of physical harm to any member of the University community, including to one’s self.
UA Code of Academic Integrity:
Integrity is expected of every student in all academic work. The guiding principle of academic integrity is that a student’s submitted work must be the student’s own.
The UA Code of Academic Integrity applies to all graded assignments in M AR 100A: quizzes, essays, and exams. Violations will be disciplined accordingly.
This principle is furthered by the Student Code of Conduct and disciplinary procedures established by ABOR Policies 5-308/5-403, all provisions of which apply to University of Arizona students.
The Code of Conduct and the Code of Academic Integrity can be found at: www.deanofstudents.arizona.edu.
UA Students with Disabilities:
If you anticipate the need for reasonable accommodations to meet the requirements of this course, you must register with the Disability Resource Center and request that DRC send to Professor Haralovich official notification of your accommodation needs no later than 4:00 pm on Xday and Xdate. Plan to meet with Professor Haralovich by appointment or during office hours to discuss accommodations and how M AR 100A course requirements and activities may impact your ability to fully participate in the course.
Subject to Change Statement
Information contained in the course syllabus, other than the grade and absence policy, may be subject to change with advance notice, as deemed appropriate by the instructor.
Course Schedule
Unit 1 – the broadcast era of the 1950s & 1960s: tv comes into the home
Week 1: radio and vaudeo
War of the Worlds (Mercury Theater of the Air, 1938)
Texaco Star Theater a/k/a The Milton Berle Show (NBC, 1948-1956, 1958-1959)
Kathryn H. Fuller-Seeley, “Learning to Live with Television: Technology, Gender, and American’s Early TV Audiences,” The Columbia History of American Television, Gary R. Edgerton, ed. (New York: Columbia University Press, 2007), 91-110 and 438-42.
Susan Murray, “Ethnic Masculinity and Early Television’s Vaudeo Star,” Cinema Journal 42:1 (Fall 2002), 97-119.
Quiz #1
Week 2: experimental tv and anthology drama
The Ernie Kovacs Show (CBS, 1952-1953; NBC, 1956)
Requiem for a Heavyweight (1956), episode of Playhouse 90 (CBS, 1956-1961)
Christine Becker, “The Star and the Story: Anthology Drama Hosts,” It’s the Pictures That Got Small: Hollywood Film Stars on 1950s Television (Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 2008), 105-45 and 265-68).
William Boddy, “Live Television: Program Formats and Critical Hierarchies,” Fifties Television: The Industry and Its Critics (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1993), 80-92.
Quiz #2
Week 3: tv production center moves from NY to LA
The Goldbergs (CBS, 1949-1951; NBC, 1952-1953; DUM, 1954)
Father Knows Best (CBS, 1954-1955; NBC, 1955-1958; CBS, 1958-1962; ABC, 1962-1963)
I Love Lucy (CBS, 1951-1959, 1961)
Peter Gunn (NBC, 1958-1960; ABC, 1960-1961)
William Boddy, “’The Honeymoon is Over’: The End of Live Drama,” Fifties Television: The Industry and Its Critics (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1993), 187-213.
Mary Desjardins, “Lucy and Desi: Sexuality, Ethnicity, and TV’s First Family,” Television, History, and American Culture: Feminist Critical Essays, Mary Beth Haralovich and Lauren Rabinovitz, eds., (Durham: Duke University Press, 1999), 56-74.
Quiz #3
Week 4: vast wasteland & scandal
The $64,000 Question (CBS, 1955-1958)
Quiz Show (Robert Redford, 1994) [excerpts]
The Untouchables (ABC, 1959-1963)
William Boddy, “The Seven Dwarfs and the Money Grubbers: The Public Relations Crisis of U.S. Television in the Late 1950s,” Logics of Television, Patricia Mellencamp, ed., (Indiana University Press, 1990), 98-116.
Tise Vahimagi, “ABC TV and Television Violence,” The Untouchables (London: British Film Institute, 2008), 82-86.
Tise Vahimagi, “’The Scarface Mob (1959),” The Untouchables (London: British Film Institute, 2008), 10-21.
Quiz #4
Week 5: tv’s “window on the world” -- the US presidency
Primary (Robert Drew, 1960)
Tour of the White House (Jacqueline Kennedy, 1962)
Mary Ann Watson, “Television and the Presidency: Eisenhower and Kennedy,” The Columbia History of American Television, ed. Gary R. Edgerton (New York: Columbia University Press, 2007), 205-33 and 451-53.
Exam #1
Unit 2 --- cable era: it’s not tv
Week 1: quality television – commercial and public
The Mary Tyler Moore Show (CBS, 1970-1971)
The Cosby Show (NBC, 1984-1992)
Upstairs, Downstairs (PBS, 1971)
Janet Staiger, “The Cosby Show” Blockbuster TV: Must-See Sitcoms in the Network Era (New York: New York University Press, 2000), 141-59 and 199-203.
Laurie Ouellette, “Oasis of the Vast Wasteland,” Viewers Like You? How Public TV Failed The People (New York: Columbia University Press, 2002), 23-66 and 232-40. [excerpt]
Quiz #5
Week 2: relevance tv
The Mod Squad (ABC, 1968-1973)
The Oprah Winfrey Show (syndicated, 1986-present)
Oprah.com - “live your best life”
Aniko Bodroghkozy, “Negotiating the Mod: How The Mod Squad Played the Ideological Balancing Act in Prime Time,” Groove Tube: Sixties Television and The Youth Rebellion (Durham: Duke University Press, 2001), 164-98 and 291-94. [excerpt]
Beretta E. Smith-Shomade, “You’d Better Recognize: Oprah the Iconic and Television Talk,” Shaded Lives: African-American Women and Television (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2002), 148-76 and 212-16.
Quiz #6
Week 3: comedy – late night and on the fringe
HBO Comedy Specials (HBO, 1972-present)
Monty Python’s Flying Circus (PBS, 1974-)
[NBC’s] Saturday Night Live (NBC, 1975-present)
Jeffrey S. Miller, “NBC and Satire,” NBC: America’s Network, Michele Hilmes, ed. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007), 192-208.
Horace Newcomb, “’This is Not Al Dente …’: The Sopranos and the New Meaning of ‘Television,’” Television: The Critical View, 7th ed., Horace Newcomb, ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007), 561-78.
Quiz #7
Week 4: R-rated tv & unruly tv
NYPD Blue (ABC, 1993-2005)
Roseanne (ABC, 1988-1997)
Kathleen Karlyn Rowe, “Roseanne: Unruly Woman as Domestic Goddess,” Screen, 31:4 (Winter 1990), 408-19.
Elayne Rapping, “Aliens, Nomads, Mad Dogs, and Road Warriors: Tabloid TV and the New Face of Criminal Violence,” Law and Justice As Seen on TV (New York: New York University Press, 2003), 48-70 and 274-78.
Quiz #8
Week 5: MTV style — then and now
music video program (MTV, 1981-present)
Miami Vice (NBC, 1984-1989)
The Hills (MTV, 2006-present)
Elizabeth Affuso, “’Don’t just watch it, live it’ – technology, corporate partnerships, and The Hills” ejumpcut 51 (Spring 2009) [ejumpcut.org]
Exam #2
Unit 3 – transmedia: tv stories on multiple platforms
Week 1: vast narrative -- worldbuilding in Hawaii
Magnum, p.i. (CBS, 1980-1988)
Lost (ABC, 2004-present)
David Lavery, “Lost and Long-Term Television Narrative,” Ed. Pat Harrigan and Noah Wardrip-Fruin, ed., Third Person: Authoring and Exploring Vast Narratives (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2009), 313-322.
Henry Jenkins, “Transmedia Storytelling 101,” Confessions of an Aca-Fan (henryjenkins.org).
Quiz #9
Week 2: fans and/as producers
Reality series of choice
Star Trek (NBC, 1966-1969)
Fanfiction.net
Henry Jenkins, “Star Trek Rerun, Reread, Rewritten: Fan Writing as Textual Poaching,” Critical Studies in Mass Communication (June 1988), 85-107.
Jeffrey Sconce, “See You in Hell, Johnny Bravo!” Reality TV: Remaking Television Culture (New York: New York University Press, 2004), 251-67.
Quiz #10
Week 3: make your own -- tv and avatars
YouTube program
The L Word (Showtime, 2002-2009)
The L Word in Second Life (secondlife.com)
Henry Jenkins, “What Happened Before YouTube,” YouTube, John Burgess and Joshua Green (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2009), 109-25.
Kelly Kessler, “Where Does a Girl Have to Go to Find a Pool Table: Gender Performance, Leisure, and The L Word in Second Life,” mediacommons.futureofthebook.org (22 April 2008).