HHIS-235: Hist of American Television

This course is a critical survey of the history of American television, from the 1940s to the present. The course examines the interrelationships between programming and genre, business practices,social trends, and culture. While television programs will be surveyed in terms of chronology, this course examines them as cultural artifacts and industrial products that reflect such issues as class,consumerism, gender, desire, race, and national identity. Assigned texts and screenings will outline major historical trends and shifts,and consider programs and series in terms of cultural issues (issues of gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality), consumption patterns (how people have watch and engage with TV), as well as industrial practice (policy, regulation, business strategy). This course is designed to help develop a critical framework for understanding television as a cultural, economic,and political institution and to encourage students to become critically informed television viewers, media scholars, and media makers.