J201 Midterm 2 Study GuideSitcomsmain facts about trends in history of sitcom: 50’s: ethnic and middle class sitcoms (initially on the radio)-focused on east coast audience who were primary buyers of TV sets-Beulah (1950-1953): only show to feature African Americans. Hattie McDaniel played role of maid to white family 60’s: not path-breaking, partly because TV had not caught up with changing values inreal life (civil rights, women’s liberation, anti-war)-5 types: family, rural, goofy, occult, military-Family: Leave it to Beaver, Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, Dick Van Dyke Show (most popular; 1961-1966; set in suburban NY; feat. successful media person-Rural: CBS was network associated with this drama-The Big Three Rural: Paul Henning guiding force; mastermind of Big 3-Beverly Hillbillies (1962-1971): most popular; seen by 60 mill in 1st 2 seasons-Petticoat Junction (1963-1970): set in Hooterville-Green Acres (1965-1971): featured a NY lawyer (Eddie Arnold) and his wife who relocated to Hooterville-Rural sitcoms operated with social contradicting-Classic operations between slick, over-smart city types and down to earth wise farm characters -Goofy: light hearted-Gilligan’s Island (1964-1967): staple for the boomer generation-Get Smart (1965-1970): spoof on James Bond type shows-Occult: a way to express something that cannot be expressed. Thus, science fiction often expresses the impossible-Bewitched (1964-1972)-The Addams Family (1964-1966)-The Munsters (1964-1966)-Military: most popular WWII themed sitcom was Hogan’s Heroes (1965-1971)-comedy set among a group of allied prisoners of war in Nazi prison camp70’s: Revolution of sitcoms-Brady Bunch premiered (1969-1974): only notable new show-Norman Lear turned out to be most successful sitcom producer of the decade; Maude, Golden Girls, and the Jeffersons-MTM 2nd major show of 70s was about women; Rhonda (1974-1978)-ABC: focused directly in entertainment -Brady Bunch followed by Happy Days (1973-1984), show about teens in the 50s-spin-off called Shirley and Laverne (1975-1980)-NBC: different “light” shows-Different Strokes (1978-1986): white father adopts 2 black kids-MASH (1972-1983): last of “quality” sitcoms; based on 1970 film by Robert Altman; set in Korean war that featured an iconoclastic medical unit that saw thought the pretense of warmongering-finale was the highest rated television broadcast ever (60 million viewers)80’s to present-seasons began in 1982-1983 with Cheers (1982-1993) and Family Ties (1982-1989), family sitcoms prospered (Growing Pains, Full House, Home Improvement, Mad About You, etc)-race and gender of 80’s to present: The Cosby Show (gender), feminist sitcom Murphy Brown, Rosanne (working class woman)Television -VHF: very high frequency-UHF: ultra high frequency-1951: 1.5 million TV sets, 1st broadcast transcontinental -1952: 14-69 channels set aside for TV-1954: advertising revolution surpasses radio-Zworkin: invented the TV camera tube-Farnsworth: designed the “image dissector” TV (1992)-transmitted the first televised picture in 1927-Nielsen: does audience research to measure viewership-2 important statistics measured from this: rating and share.-rating: how many households are viewing a program -share: % of TV sets in use during a given program-Ex: 900/1000 households had TV sets on, 200 are watching CSI. share is 90, rating is 20. -Highest Ratings: MASH (60), Dallas, Fugitive, Cheers, Seinfeld, Survivor -Maxwell: discovered existence of radio waves-Hertz: tested Maxwell’s theory by using electrical sparks to emit electromagnetic waves-RCA broadcasts experimental TV image “Felix the Cat” (1931)-structure in the US: stations are either independent or network affiliates-independent: no affiliated with any broadcast network-affiliates: are affiliated with a broadcast network-Occasional production by networks (ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, CW) and local stations-Most content produced by 4 major networks:-4 Major Networks: Time Warner, Viacom, NBC, Disney-2/3 of approximately 1,100 stations in the country are affiliated to one of the 4-Benefits of Networks: free programming, receive a fee from network, larger audience which results in higher advertising rates-Disadvantages of Networks: cable providers (eg: Comcast) get its content from broadcast networks (CBS), cable networks (ESPN), superstations (WTBS), and premium channels (HBO)-1967 president Lyndon Johnson set up the corporation of public broadcasting-CPB initiated creation of PBS 1969 and the National Public Radio 1970-CPB is responsible for almost 20% of the funding that runs public broadcasting stations-Superstations: TV station that broadcasts widely via cable or satellite Deficit production/financing: production company leases show to a network for a license fee that is less than the cost of production Syndication: sale of the right to broadcast programs without going through a network eg. Seinfeld-First-run: any non-network program specifically produced for sale only intosyndication markets eg. Jeopardy, Oprah-Off-net: when older programs no longer run during prime time eg. Everybody Love’s RaymondPremium channels: subscription based television services (Movie channels, sports channels, CMT, etc.)Media Economics-commodities: good or service produced for the purpose of exchange-markets: questions place, people, abstractions-industries: the aggregate of productive activity in a particular field. Media industries broadly or video game industry specifically-conglomerates: combination of corporations operating under a single ‘parent’ company-oligopoly: few firms dominate a market-monopoly: one firm-duopoly: two firms-limited competition: many buyers and sellers, but they only have a few products-synergy: the promotion and sale of different versions of a media product across a conglomerates various subsidiaries. Eg: Mario- movie, video game, figures, etc.-Big 5 conglomerates: new corporation, Disney, time warner, Comcast/GE, Viacom/CBS-CBS and Viacom: owned privately by National Amusements, which is owned by the Redstone Family, therefore the Redstone family controls Viacom/CBS-intellectual property: the core commodity for the conglomerates. This can be exploited across various subsidiaries and licensed to other companies for additional income-critiques of media concentration: limits the range of perspectives, susceptible to corruption, increased lobbying power, profit motives instead of public need,
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