Questions for Final Exam Review

Please post your questions to this thread. You can post more than 1 question, but make sure that they are specific and indicate what you don't understand about them. for example "what is the telecommunications act" is a question that can be answered by looking at the lecture slides and does not tell me what part of the telecommunication act you are confused with or need clarification on.

The History of the Present

It's always difficult to write the history of the present. However, if you were attempt to look at television today through the lenses used in this course, how would you describe it?  Take one example of a current trend in television and analyze it.  

Convergence Television (Last blog post due anytime before final exam)

Discuss how you see two of John Caldwell’s five elements of convergence television (outlined on page 46 of his essay) applying to the television you consume today. 

Webisodes and Clips (Last blog post due anytime before course final exam)

Please post a webisode or youtube video that's entertained you lately.  Don't worry about commenting much on it in introduction, but please use your 200 words to comment on a clip that another class member uploads.  Last blog post due anytime before course final exam.

Take-aways

Now that we're near the end of the semester, what have you learned or taken away from the study of Television History?  Feel free to focus on one topic or provide a short summary of various points. 

Effects of the Telecommunications Act of 1996

Discuss one or more of the major effects of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 on technology, content, or industrial policy.  Why do you think the FCC enforced more regulation on content at the same time that they ushered in less regulation on media corporations? What seems different in today's media environment concerning this/these issues? 

Every Single Week

According to Anna McCarthy, ABC’s president, Robert A Iger, said of Ellen that it “became a program about a character who was gay every single week, and… that was too much for people.”  McCarthy describes this perspective as maintaining the “fantasy of queer identity as something that can be switched on for special occasions” along with a “fear of a quotidian, ongoing lesbian life on television.”  Since Ellen’s coming out episode in 1997, a number of queer characters, generally secondary characters, have appeared on both broadcast and cable television.  Choose a program with a queer character from the 2000s that you are familiar with and examine whether or not that character’s relationship to their sexuality is truly serialized or only focused on during “special occasions,” whether to play up a particular stance on sexual identity or for eroticizing reasons.

Synergetic Practices

What is synergy?  How does it operate within a contemporary media environment primarily run by large conglomorates?  Give one example of synergy (you can use an example from the present if you wish). 

Yuppie Guilt

Based on your viewing of our screening of Thirtysomething as well as Feuer's analysis of the program--what role do you think yuppie guilt plays on the show and how is it represented?  

'80s TV--worth two blog posts!

Watch one of the three 1980s television episodes linked below and write 400 words on the representations of class within Roseanne, LA Law, or COPS.  This post will count as two blog posts.  

LA LAW, s.1, ep.1

Roseanne, s.1, ep. 1

COPS, pilot (please watch all of the parts on youtube)

MTM vs. Lear

From your viewings of All in the Family, Good Times, and The Mary Tyler Moore Show and your reading of Kirsten Lentz’s essay, how do you think Norman Lear’s shows differed from MTM’s?  Why do you think the term “quality” was often used to refer to MTM’s shows and “relevance” to label Lear’s programs?  How does Lentz see these productions as differing?  

Smothering TV

Why did CBS censor The Smothers Brothers? How did The Smothers Brothers respond to CBS’s attempts at censorship?  How did questions of what constitutes appropriate content for network TV play out in the late 1960s and early 1970s and how do they play out today?  

Responses to Julia

Discuss the range of viewer responses to Julia described by Bodrohkozy's article.  Based on your viewing of the pilot and our discussion of television and race in the 1960s, why do you think the show was interpreted so many different ways? 

"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. 

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.

Extra Credit--Counts as TWO Blog Posts

Extra Credit--Counts as TWO Blog Posts:

View one of the following films: Quiz Show (1994) OR Good Night, and Good Luck (2005).  Both are available at Askwith Media Center or on reserve at the Donald Hall Collection.

Keeping in mind that both of these films offer fictionalized renderings of historical circumstances, write a minimum of 400 words explaining how either the quiz show scandals (as depicted by Quiz Show) or Edward R. Murrow’s exposé of McCarthyism (as portrayed in Good Night, and Good Luck) had political results during the 1950s and shifted ideas about the medium of television and its specific genres (quiz shows or news programs).