Based on Thomas Cripps’ article, how did the television show portray middle class African Americans? Discuss why the sitcom became the center of a hot public debate. What were some of the various arguments made about the show?
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Category: Early TV History
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On Liveness
What are some of the advantages of live television and why do you think it was the prevailing format during TV’s first decade? What are its disadvantages? How is “liveness” (or the illusion thereof) used by TV today?
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Consumerist Morals
What does George Lipsitz mean when he suggests that working class ethnic sitcoms of the 1950s put the borrowed moral capital of the past at the service of the values of the present? Based on his essay, how did these sitcoms demonstrate how “wise choices enabled consumers to have both moral and material rewards”?
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Vaudeville and Television
Vaudeville lost its popularity as broadcasting became central to American culture. Which genres of television seem most influenced by Vaudeville and how? Feel free to share a clip of a contemporary show that exhibits some of these influences and compare the two types of entertainment.
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Window on the World
How was early television figured as a “window on the world,” according to Lynn Spigel? Do you think television fulfills (or is portrayed as fulfilling) a similar role today? Take a look at this early broadcast and describe its aesthetics. How is the viewer positioned or addressed? How do the formal elements of this program compare to contemporary television?
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Traces of the Past
In the last paragraph of Lynn Spigel’s “Installing the Television Set,” Spigel quotes historian Carlo Ginzburg, who writes: “Reality is opaque; but there are certain points—clues, signs—which allow us to decipher it.” Why do you think Spigel closes her analysis of post-war television’s role in American domestic spaces with this quote? How does she describe her historical approach or methodology? What types of “traces” of the past does she examine in this essay and how does she use them? Do you agree with her approach to history?