Section Prompt Oct. 29: Blue Skies and Smothers Brothers

Hello friends,

My apologies for this post coming up late.

Tomorrow in section we will be looking at Streeter's "Blue Skies and Strange Bedfellows" and Bodroghkozy's "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour and the Youth Rebellion." As you're prepping, start thinking about examples from any TV era that relate to the concepts, theories, and ideas that you're reading about - let's make some connections!

Discussion questions:

1. What are the blue skies discourses Streeter discusses? What different organizations, groups of people, and other stakeholders promoted these discourses, and for what reasons? 
2. Who are the strange bedfellows when it came to pushing for cable policy and distribution? Why are they so strange? What about cable made it possible for these disparate groups to agree with each other?
3. Who was the audience of the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour? How did the show's audience contribute to the show becoming a political battleground? What changes did they make to the traditional variety show form as part of their audience-getting strategy? 
4. Outline the trajectory of the Hour's comedic material/intention. How did it reflect or channel social changes happening in the US at the time? What taboo topics did the show engage with that drew in particular audiences? When and how did entertainment slip into editorialization? 

See y'all soon! 

Josh

PS: Your bonus fun video for today: the every important Buggles. Cable's coming, and it's allllll changing from here on out.

"Low Brow" Genres

How does Horace Newcomb's essay complicate Newton Minow’s assessment of television as a “vast wasteland”? Why does he believe that 'low brow' genres such as the western can be more complicated than they seem?  Do you agree?  Perhaps give an example of a contemporary 'low brow' show and explain why it might or might not have social relevance. 

Blue Skies

Why do you think that Thomas Streeter titles his essay the way he does?  What do “blue skies” and “strange bedfellows” have to do with 1960s discussions about the possibilities of cable television?  Does the language used around cable at that time sound similar to the way new media technologies are discussed today? Explain. 

Section Oct. 22

Hello all!

My apologies for not posting this last night; I totally forgot. But it's not to worry - since the only reading assigned between last section and this one is being tested on the midterm today, we are going to use tomorrow's section as a writing lab. I will tell you about my observations of common writing issues from the short paper, and talk about how to research for the final paper, as you should be getting that process under way before your proposal comes in. Please come with an idea of what two shows you might want to compare, and be ready to talk about good/bad advice for writing that you've received in the past.

Good luck today!

Josh

PS: Here's one of my "I'm gonna rock it" jams to motivate you for the midterm. It features the luminous Clarence Clemons in his last performance before he passed, a true loss for music in this world.

Section Prompt for Oct. 15: Westerns and Review

Hello!

This week we will spend the first half of section talking about Newcomb's essay "From Old Frontier to New Frontier," then spend the second half reviewing for the midterm. Here's what I'd like you to do to prep for section:

Newcomb Discussion Questions:

1. How did (TV) Westerns dramatize issues of race, nationalism, and citizenship? (Or, what is the "old frontier" Newcomb is discussing? What content is on the surface of these shows?)
2. How were these dramatizations of race/nationalism/citizenship related to social and cultural changes of the 60s? How did they represent these changes? (Or, what is the New Frontier in the Kennedy era, and how does Newcomb argue TV Westerns are connected to it?)

Review: 

• Bring your review questions with you, including any you posted to the blog. Between section Wednesday and lecture Thursday we should get to everything. 
• IMPORTANT: also bring with you any study notes you've made, and, if possible, a way to access course readings and your lecture/section notes. 
• This review will be a peer knowledge-sourcing exercise. I am not going to give you the answers; if you have a question, bring it, and one of your peers can probably answer it from their studying, while you can answer one of theirs. We will work as a group to prep for the exam. 

Additional exam resources:

Check out the folder "Josh's Study Tips" under the Resources tab of the class CTools page, and you'll find three handouts I've uploaded with tips on taking multiple choice exams, effective study tips, and other useful info heading into the midterm. 

Optional (hilarious) watching for the week: 

If you're into westerns and think you might want to write on them for the final paper, here's S05E28 "A Pink Cloud Comes From Old Cathay" of Bonanza, one of the most famous TV westerns, which illustrates the complicated and problematic nature of the genre that Newcomb discusses. 

Don't forget that I have office hours this Thursday from 130-330pm; come see me if you have exam questions!

Cheers, and happy Canadian Thanksgiving!

Josh

Questions about the midterm!!!!!/One Free Blog Entry Pass

Dear Class,

You must respond to one of the three previous prompts by next Wednesday's section (I've given you a two day extension in observance of the fall break).

However, I would also encourage EVERY student to post one question here that they have about material on the midterm.

I will be covering the Classic Network Era, the magazine style of advertising, and Bodroghkozy's article on Thursday.  Between your Wednesday section and Thursday's lecture we'd like to answer any questions you may have.

If you post a question about the midterm content here, you receive one PASS for a blog post (thus, you do not have to post one week of your choice during the semester).   Please post! :)  It will only help you and everyone else.  There are no stupid questions.  Fire away!

Best,
Candace

Socially Relevant Coverage in the 1960s

Why did the networks begin to lengthen their news coverage, broadcast presidential debates, and program more socially-relevant documentaries like Crisis during the 1960s?  How did this material illuminate civil rights issues and inflect the way that people understood national politics? 

Dobie!

We can see subculture beginning to be featured in Dobie Gillis. How was this evidenced in the episode we viewed?

Intense Anxieties

Based on your viewing of The Outer Limits episode “The Bellaro
Shield” and understanding of Jeffrey Sconce’s essay on the show,
explain how The Outer Limits expresses and potentially
intensifies particular anxieties prevalent during the early 1960s.

Spigel and Sconce

Hello class,

Here's what we came up with today in section. If the Spigel groups could respond with their answers to the last few questions, that would be swell.

Cheers,
Josh

Section Oct. 8

Announcements, paper collection (5 mins)

Group work: 2 groups in small section 4 in large one (should be about 5 people each) (20 mins)

Sconce “Outer Limits”

How did The Outer Limits make social commentary through its pessimistic perspective? How did this set it apart from other TV shows of the time?

Cynical criticism of nuclear family, domesticity - domestic asylum of american home (middle class, suburban)

addressed technology: skepticism/fear of what advances in technology will mean - nuclear fallout, etc. 

oblivion/void - turning the seeing other places through the TV back on itself - self-reflexive of TV optimism, thinking the TV is an amazing technology, asking questions about its downsides 

How did The Outer Limits explore and exploit fears about TV technology? Other technological advances of the time (for example: surveillance, nuclear, etc.)?

surveillance tech: if we can see into the tv, who says the tv can’t see back? 

Testing the Tanner Electronic Survey Tabulator (TEST) - seeing what channel you’re watching when

nuclear weaponry: “The Premonition”: time stops, frozen animals/things - looks like the Yucca Flats

KLEE TV/Lost Station - lost TV signal that shows up later, a person was captive in the void of electromagnetic spectrum 

What does Sconce argue TOL says about the nuclear family and suburbia? How does “The Bellero Shield” support or contest his argument?

Suburbia as domestic asylum (key term) - housewives trapped in the home 

In Bellero Shield, wife acts outside her role and is punished

Shield as metaphor for TV - she bangs on the shield and it looks like she’s hitting the tv set

Spigel “White Flight”

What is “white flight”? How is it related to (suburban) zoning laws? 

white people moving (fleeing/flying) to the suburbs - urban america/people of colour 

red lining (review from Harolovich) 

What was the space race? How does Spigel connect that to race, gender, and class? 

America and USSR competing to get to the moon - democracy/capitalism vs. communism - major public metaphor for the cold war

USSR is winning with Sputnik - “Flopnik” US is not winning

America trying to find a new frontier - where race and class and gender don’t matter

white astronauts heading into space; many people attached race to this - white people can flee the crappy earth, or send people of colour away so we don’t see them

What is cultural colonialism? How does Spigel connect this concept to the Space Race under the Kennedy administration’s “New Frontier”?

related to cultural imperialism: colonialism - imposition of ideas and people into/onto another people or territory - using culture, the media to colonize other cultures, influence them - main target: USSR, cold war weaponry 

New Frontier: Kennedy’s new technological, scientific, cultural (foreign) policy with a resurgence of manifest destiny 

How does Spigel argue the domestic suburban home and nuclear family were connected to the space race? (hint: mobile privatization, defamiliarization)

defamiliarization: Jetsons - showing futuristic representations OF the nuclear family in space - but then it leads to questioning our values now because of how out of place they are

What criticisms of the space race/new frontier did Ebony and other African American groups/publications have? 

Section Oct. 8

Hi class,

Given that your paper is due tomorrow, no specific prompt today. We'll run tomorrow's section as more of a low-stress workshop/study session focusing on Sconce's Outer Limits article and Spigel's "White Flight" essay. Please be sure to bring a way to access those readings with you as you will need to go into them in section.

I'm excited to read your papers! Good luck!

Here's some essay encouragement for your Tuesday morning inspired by all my thinking about Baz Luhrmann lately.

And for the sap in all of us (just in case of too many essay feels):