J201 Midterm 2 Study Guide Sitcoms main 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 in real 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 camp 70 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 80 s to present 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 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 into syndication markets eg Jeopardy Oprah Off net when older programs no longer run during prime time eg Everybody Love s Raymond Premium 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 consumers instead of citizens loss of local content Music origin of blues south most notably in the Mississippi Delta Delta Blues certain counties in Mississippi were 80 black acoustic blues The Bluesman a tolerant figure acoustic guitar in hand moving restlessly from place to place often