FILM TV 10A Final: Final Lecture Notes
The Smother Brothers
Structural Changes in Industry
● Scripted Series Shifts (Mid-1960s)
○ Johnson Administration, back to Lowest Common Denominator
○ Imitation, repetition, recombination
○ Populism/distraction: the Silly/Supernatural sitcom
■ Hayseed Comedies: The Andy Griffith Show, Green Acres, Beverly
Hillbillies
■ Supernatural Sitcoms: Bewitched, I Dreamed of Jeannie, I Married a
Martian
● Silly Supernatural Sitcoms explained
○ Maligned era of TV not taken seriously
● (Spigel)
○ Family sitcom formula is still lucrative
○ But white suburban utopias of early 60s TV too different from reality
■ So they get sillier/more supernatural
● Silly/Supernatural Explained
○ Make “tage the doesti situatio/eostitute fail
■ Broken family versus fantastical family
■ Nostalgia for past in strange settings
■ Watching family sitcom without the guilt of ignoring everything around
you- The Jetson
■ Reflect anxiety with women roles in the home
○ Express doubts about society
■ Nosy neighbors= paranoia
■ Feminine Strangeness of genie and robots
● Scripted Series Shift (Mid 1960s)
○ Cout/see oute ultual audiee ut ith otaied
difference/opposition
■ White Nego “hos: I Spy, Julia
■ Couteultual “hos: The Mo “uad, The “othes Bothes
Comedy Hour, Laugh-In
● Youth Culture in Music and Variety
○ Established conservative shows, mainly hosted by older white men (Ed Sullivan)
○ Teeage shos like Aeia Badstad, “hidig, Hullaaloo
● Representation of Politics: The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour (CBS, 1967-9)
○ Network logic:
■ Counter programming (bonanza)
■ Played at same time as Bonanza because B was so popular
■ Bridge generation gap
■ Politics cut with humor
○ Increasingly controversial
■ Nixon ad instead of DNC riots
○ Cancelled in Season 3
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
● Representations of Counter Culture: The Mob Squad (ABC, 1968-73)
○ 3 hippie cops undercover
○ Use of slang, issues, references, figures related to counter culture
● Representations of Race: Julia (CBS, 1968-71)
○ Critiques
■ Not representative of black experience
■ Binary stereotypes
■ White Nego itiis
■ Lack of male figure in family (point of sensitivity, stereotype of black men
being absent fathers)
■ Race displaced -> sex discrimination
■ She’s too perfet: perfet o, perfet urse, eautiful
■ Girls, outrage eause did’t represet the audience
● The Politis of ‘epesetatio
○ Herman Gray
○ Separate But Equal/Pluralist (1950s/70s):
■ Aos Ad, “afod ad “o, The Jeffesos, Whats Happeig!
○ Assimilation/Invisibilty (60s/70s)
■ The Cosby Show, Franks Place, A Different World, Roc
● Classical Network Control in the Late 1960s
○ Height of vertically (own production and distribution and stations) integrated
three network oligopoly (CBS, ABC, NBC)
■ VHF band full, UHF vacant
■ Evenly split field of affiliates
○ Nets profit from:
■ sale of national ads
■ sale of net owned programs (90%) to syndication
■ O&O sale of local and national ads (highly profitable)
● Classical Network Profits
○ Affiliates profit from:
■ Local ad time on network shows
■ All ad time on syndicated/local programs
■ Station compensation from network
○ Artists (actors, writers, directors) profit from some combo of salary and residuals
(reuse royalty)
■ Salary/initial sale covers first run
■ Reruns, sale of DVDs gives residuals
● Classical Network Style: CBS
○ First Place Network
○ young, urban, socially relevant image
○ ualit pogaig:
■ All in the Family, Maude, The Jeffersons, Good Times, The Mary Tyler
Moore Show
● NBC
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
○ Second Place Network
○ Ethnic and racial diversity
■ Julia, sanford and son, I spy, flip wilson, chico and the man
○ Comedy shows for youth market
■ Laugh in and The Monkees
● ABC
○ Third Place Network
○ Youth Oriented, Comedy Focus
■ Trendier, more controversial programming
■ Mod Squad, Rookies, Brady Bunch (a little controversial, divorce, blended
family), Room 222
● Producers in Classical Network System
○ Too much competition for too few slots
○ Deficit Financing
■ Risk of making show and having no buyer/being canceled before
profitability
■ No control over marketing show
■ Profits gouged by net/studio participation (sold to networks, make $ from
deal but not any after that)
■ biggest risk for producers
○ Result: bland, formulaic network programs
● Early 70s Changes
○ Reforms:
■ Fin/Syn
■ PTAR (prime time access rule)
○ New Outlets:
■ Cable
■ Independent Stations
■ PBS
○ Limit ownership, new outlets for programming
● Nios FCC
○ Responsible for most 70s regulation
■ Anti counterculture
■ Criticized media elites/liberal bias
■ Instill paranoia about news/left
○ Prime Time Access Rule (1970)
■ Top 50 markets stop running network shows during first hour of prime
time (7-8pm)
■ Instead, syndicated/locally produced programming
■ 7:00 news
■ Game shows/syndication
○ Fin/Syn: Financial Interests and Syndication Rules (1971)
■ To increase diversity, these rules limit control of nets
■ Nets surrender syndication rights of shows they don't produce wholly
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Hayseed comedies: the andy griffith show, green acres, beverly. Supernatural sitcoms: bewitched, i dreamed of jeannie, i married a. Maligned era of tv not taken seriously (spigel) But white suburban utopias of early 60s tv too different from reality. Watching family sitcom without the guilt of ignoring everything around you- the jetson. Reflect anxiety with women roles in the home. Cou(cid:396)t/se(cid:396)(cid:448)e (cid:272)ou(cid:374)te(cid:396) (cid:272)ultu(cid:396)al audie(cid:374)(cid:272)e (cid:271)ut (cid:449)ith (cid:862)(cid:272)o(cid:374)tai(cid:374)ed(cid:863) difference/opposition. (cid:862)cou(cid:374)te(cid:396)(cid:272)ultu(cid:396)al(cid:863) ho(cid:449)s: the mo(cid:271) (cid:395)uad, the (cid:373)othe(cid:396)s b(cid:396)othe(cid:396)s. Established conservative shows, mainly hosted by older white men (ed sullivan) (cid:858)(cid:859)tee(cid:374)age(cid:396)(cid:859) sho(cid:449)s like a(cid:373)e(cid:396)i(cid:272)a(cid:374) ba(cid:374)dsta(cid:374)d, hi(cid:374)dig, hulla(cid:271)aloo. Representation of politics: the smothers brothers comedy hour (cbs, 1967-9) Played at same time as bonanza because b was so popular. Representations of counter culture: the mob squad (abc, 1968-73) Use of slang, issues, references, figures related to counter culture. Lack of male figure in family (point of sensitivity, stereotype of black men being absent fathers) She"s too perfe(cid:272)t: perfe(cid:272)t (cid:373)o(cid:373), perfe(cid:272)t (cid:374)urse, (cid:271)eautiful.
