Television and Society

Criteria for Comedy Humor is an intellectual exercise Humor is an intellectual exercise Humor is human Humor is human Humor is mechanical Humor is mechanical There must be an established set of human or social norms There must be an established set of human or social norms Humor violates those norms Humor violates those norms The audience must perceive those violations are harmless The audience must perceive those violations are harmless

Humor is an intellectual exercise

Humor is human

Humor is mechanical

There must be a set of social or human norms that the audience is intimately familiar with

Humor violates the norms

The audience perceives the joke as harmless

The importance of knowing all this

Early Television

Era of Experimentation Used formats from radio Used formats from radio Musical shows Musical shows Interview shows Interview shows Dramas Dramas Soap operas Soap operas comedies comedies

Typical shows Musical variety Musical variety Talent Scouts Talent Scouts Arthur Godfrey and His Friends Arthur Godfrey and His Friends The Fred Waring Show The Fred Waring Show The Frank Sinatra Show The Frank Sinatra Show Small scale sports Small scale sports Boxing Boxing Wrestling Wrestling

Live Drama Ford Theatre Ford Theatre Philco Television Playhouse Philco Television Playhouse Studio One Studio One Kraft Television Theater Kraft Television Theater Armstrong Circle Theatre Armstrong Circle Theatre Sponsorships Sponsorships

12 Angry Men

Leave It to Beaver

The Donna Reed Show

Father Knows Best

Martin Kane, Private Eye – 1949

The Untouchables – 1958

Hopalong Cassidy / Roy Rogers / Gene Autry

Wyatt Earp / Bat Masterson / Cheyenne

Gunsmoke –

Have Gun, Will Travel

Wanted – Dead or Alive

The Rifleman

Hotel de Paree

Yancy Derringer

Maverick

Bonanza –

Joe McCarthy

The 1960s

The Andy Griffith Show – 1960

The Beverly Hillbillies – 1962

Petticoat Junction – 1963

Green Acres – 1965

Bewitched – 1964

I Dream of Jeannie – 1965

Dick van Dyke Show

Camp Runamuck / The Flying Nun Gilligan’s Island

My Mother the Car

The 1970s

The Mary Tyler Moore Show

All in the Family – 1971

M*A*S*H – 1972

Walter Cronkite

The Waltons – 1972

Three’s Company

Barney Miller – 1975

One Day at a Time – 1975

The 1980s

Magnum P.I. / Buck Rogers

Hill Street Blues – 1981

Dallas

The Cosby Show – 1984

Roseanne – 1988

Married…with Children – 1987

The Simpsons – 1989

The Rise of Cable Invented by John Walson in 1948 to bring TV to places that could receive broadcast signals Invented by John Walson in 1948 to bring TV to places that could receive broadcast signals FCC restricted it to prevent competition with broadcast stations until 1972 FCC restricted it to prevent competition with broadcast stations until 1972 HBO started in 1972 – first network to use satellite instead of phone lines to deliver content HBO started in 1972 – first network to use satellite instead of phone lines to deliver content Cable Act of 1984 – cable restrictions lifted and new networks could start Cable Act of 1984 – cable restrictions lifted and new networks could start

Sister, Sister

Will and Grace

Sex and the City – 1998

2000s

Reality (really?)

Itchy and Scratchy