COURSE OUTLINE - KEY TAKEAWAYS
The following sections are pulled from the course outline…
TERRITORIAL ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Kwantlen Polytechnic University takes its name from the Kwantlen First Nation.
We work, study, and live in a region south of the Fraser River, which overlaps with the unceded traditional and ancestral lands of the Kwantlen, Musqueam, Katzie, Semiahmoo, Tsawwassen, Qayqayt and Kwikwetlem peoples. “Kwantlen” means “Tireless Runner” and is reflected in the university’s motto: “Through tireless effort, knowledge and understanding.”
COURSE DESCRIPTION
Students will explore the evolution of North American television programs from their beginnings to the present day, in the context of their impact on and reflection of social change. Students will critically view and analyze the iconic television programs produced since World War Two and consider their role in mirroring and/or affecting society at large from a cultural, political, and social perspective.
COURSE CONTENT
Content will include, but is not restricted to, the following:
history of television with emphasis on entertainment and current-events programs;
connection between television programs and events, attitudes, societal norms;
timeline of television "firsts," such as the first pregnant woman shown, the first non-Caucasian lead, the first gay couple, etc.;
correlation of current events and cultural and societal norms when such "firsts" occurred;
audience research;
the role of television programs in challenging or upholding social norms;
characteristics of television-show genres, such as sitcom, reality show, satire;
the use of humour in sitcoms, satirical current-events programs and other types of television shows as social and political commentary, as a Western phenomenon;
current high-profile television shows and their relative connections to social and cultural change;
differences between Canadian and American entertainment programming;
effect of new media and technology (YouTube, HBO, PVRs, Internet access to television programs, etc.) on television programming and audiences; and
effect of North American television programs on other societies.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES & OUTCOMES
A student who successfully completes the course will have reliably demonstrated the ability to:
discuss the relationship between television and social change
consider the impact of television on society;
consider the significance of "firsts" on television;
discuss the cultural and societal norms when such "firsts" occurred
discuss methods of audience research and impact of such research on television programming;
discuss the role of television programs in challenging or upholding social norms;
identify the characteristics of various television genres, such as sitcom, reality show, satire, news magazine;
consider the use of humour as social commentary in Western television programs;
consider the significance of current high-profile programs in the context of cultural influence/reflection;
consider the differences between Canadian and American entertainment programming, and reasons for those differences;
differentiate between watching television as entertainment and as a barometer of societal attitudes;
consider the effect of new media and technology on the evolution of television programming; and
discuss the effect of North American television programs on other societies.
Assignment: Weekly responses (15%)
Each week, Professor Aaron Goodman will post comments focused on weekly themes and television programs and invite responses from students.
Students are expected to contribute comments each week.
Students must provide substantive. Length of each response: Five to six sentences.
Comments must be focused — and not vague.
Participation is vital in order to help create a sense of community, experience sharing our work with others, and to help each other improve.
Comments will be graded out of two.
Students’ feedback will be evaluated based on the quantity, quality, relevance, and timeliness of contributions.
Comments must be posted on Moodle by the Sunday at 11:59 p.m. after assignments are due.
Introduction to TV
Artifact 01 - alterecho09. “A Brief History of Television.” YouTube, 28 Jan 2014.
In terms of technology’s overall effect on culture and daily life, television is second only to the Internet. In the decades following the Second World War, its programming has both influenced and reflected society, politics, and culture, and continues to do so.
It’s not only information programming that has impacted society so greatly. So has entertainment programming, including every genre – from sitcoms with powerful subtext, such as M.A.S.H. and All in the Family, to satirical shows such as the Rick Mercer Report and The Daily Show.
In this course, we’ll look at the evolution of television decade by decade, exploring how the critically acclaimed programs of the day reflected and contributed to shifts in North American society.
We’ll be looking at TV shows with a critical eye, exploring their role in mirroring and/or affecting society at large and their portrayal of and influence on real-world events.
We'll pay particular attention to the relationship between television and the civil-rights movement, women's movement, and gay rights movement.
We’ll explore these questions and many more and watch TV in a new way.
Artifact 02 - driver49. “The Origins of Television.” YouTube, 27 Jan 2007.
What is social change?
From Wikipedia: Social change is an alteration in the social order of a society. Social change may include changes in nature, social institutions, social behaviours, or social relations.
From Britannica: Social change, in sociology, the alteration of mechanisms within the social structure, characterized by changes in cultural symbols, rules of behaviour, social organizations, or value systems.
Social change can evolve from several diverse sources, including contact with other societies, changes in the ecosystem, technological change and population growth and other demographic variables.
Social change is also spurred by ideological, economic, and political movements.
Artifact 03 - Pearson. “How does Social Change happen?” YouTube, 25 Aug 2020.
Artifact 04 - Crash Course. “How We Got Here: Society & Societal Change.” YouTube. 05 Jun 2017.
Artifact 05 - TEDx Talks. “Art, Social Change, & Uncomfortable Conversations.” YouTube, 16 Mar 2016.
Artifact 06 - The School of Life. “Why You Can Change the World.” YouTube, 30 Dec 2016.
Week 01 Response Assignment: My Favourite Show
Please reflect on the questions below — and post your answer in the discussion forum (link at bottom).
The television show that has had the most impact on my life is:
Why I loved it:
What it taught me:
Please discuss how this show handles the following:
(It’s okay to say if one of these themes is completely ignored, if that’s true.)
Women:
People of colour:
LGBTQ people:
Other social issues:
Please also respond to at least one other student’s post.
I’m finding it hard to pick one television show that has had the most impact on my life. Where would I start, especially knowing that there are so many shows I’ve loved?
Artifact 7 - The Norman Lear Effect. “All In The Family | Archie’s Top 10 Funniest Moments.” YouTube, 02 Aug 2022.
I remember watching reruns of ALL IN THE FAMILY (1971) with my parents at our small cabin on a lake in the Cariboo region of British Columbia, on an old black and white set that sat in the corner of the small living room we had, next to a large cast iron fireplace. Very few shows ever made my dad laugh harder, even though I was too much too young to understand the social issues that it explored. THREE’S COMPANY (1977), NIGHT COURT (1984), and CHEERS (1982) were other reruns I remember watching on the BCTV channel, which would later become Global. At different points during the year, these three shows would air as reruns at 5:30pm, in between the channel’s 5pm half hour and 6pm one hour news programs. I loved CHEERS and NIGHT COURT so much that I remember sneaking up past my bedtime as a kid to watch the latest episodes on my parents’ television set in their bedroom that I could see as I lay on my stomach by my door, with it being ever so slightly ajar. I’d set to memory some of the one-line jokes to try on my friends the next day, (for better or for worse). The quirky humour of these shows, as represented by the characters and the situations they got themselves into, appealed to me.
Artifact 08 - Facts Verse. “20 Secrets the Producers of Cheers Hid from Fans.” YouTube, 01 May 2020.
Artifact 09 - Dalton Drone and Discovery Zone. “A Visit To The Cheers Bar in Boston.” YouTube, 01 Dec 2020.
Artifact 10 - Trek Culture. “10 Best Star Trek: The Next Generation Episodes.” YouTube. 30 Dec 2020.
I also remember that I loved watching STAR TREK THE NEXT GENERATION (1987), Not at first though. I remember my mom telling me about the original STAR TREK television show, but I’d never seen it, so I wasn’t sure what she was talking about when it came to understanding the cultural influence it had on her. She wanted to share that with me, but I’m not sure she knew how. But the pilot for THE NEXT GENERATION was atrociously boring for a kid, and I just didn’t get into it. But as time passed, the program got good, and at one point, my entire family and all our family friends watched it too. When Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) was kidnapped by the enemy Borg, and Commander Riker (Jonathan Frakes) ordered the Enterprise to fire upon the Borg ship - it was a long, long summer waiting to see how that season three cliffhanger would play out. Would the Borg ship and our beloved Captain perish? It was my “Who shot JR?” moment that I’ll never forget, and I don’t think I could have kept track of how many times I discussed the finale with other people. Looking back, it was that episode which ignited the fad that many other action-adventure, drama and sci-fi shows started to rely on: ending a season with a suspenseful cliffhanger designed to leave viewers wanting more, and network executives less likely to cancel a show that had unresolved plot threads.
But the television show that has had the most impact on my life is HILL STREET BLUES (1981). I came to discover it after watching more contemporary shows such as BATTLESTAR GALACTICA (2004), Vancouver’s own DAVINCI’S INQUEST (1998), DEADWOOD (2004), HOMICIDE: LIFE ON THE STREET (1993) and its spin-off THE BEAT (1999), LAW & ORDER (1990) and its spin-offs such as CRIMINAL INTENT (2001) and SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT (1999), and STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE (1993). What these shows all had in common were writers and producers who talked a lot about a show called HILL STREET BLUES in various interviews and episode commentaries recorded for the shows they produced. In fact, not only were many writers influenced by this television show, many also got their start writing for it. For example, writer David Milch (who would go on to create many shows including HBO’s DEADWOOD), and Dick Wolf (who would go on to create the LAW & ORDER franchise) both got their start as writers in television by writing for HILL STREET BLUES.
Artifact 11 - Videomaker. “Mise-en-scène - An essential filmmaking concept.” YouTube, 18 Sept 2020.
I loved HILL STREET BLUES for many reasons. First, it marked a departure for how police procedurals were constructed and presented as a genre on television. It lifted many elements from American New Wave Cinema that produced many raw and gritty films in the 1960s and 70s. These films included such titles as BONNIE & CLYDE (1967), DIRTY HARRY (1971), IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT (1967), KRAMER VS KRAMER (1979), MIDNIGHT COWBOY (1969), and TAXI DRIVER (1976) among many others. From these films, HILL STREET BLUES had a vastly different and distinct voice from the kinds of law-and-order shows that had been on the air before it. Specifically, the show utilized new filming and editing techniques, more realistic mise-en-scene, gritty characters who often clashed and struggled with personal issues that mirrored real life, violence, and brutality, as well as a more macabre humour.
Second, I loved how each episode of HILL STREET BLUES spanned an entire day in the life of its precinct, whose officers prepare to serve the crime ridden streets of an anonymous New York City like environment. Each episode’s cold open starts off with an early morning briefing and act five of the episode sees things wind down, or introduce a new dilemma for the next episode, which happens at some point late that night on the same day. But what made the show unique for a prime-time drama was how each episode had plot threads that would be drawn out over several episodes in a season. HILL STREET BLUES was one of the first prime time dramas to utilize narrative arcs that played out over the course of a season - a storytelling technique that is now pretty much standard in television drama today.
Artifact 12 - Spectacle. “The Police Tapes, 1977.” Vimeo, 27 Jun 2012.
Finally, I also loved how HILL STREET BLUES was one of the first dramas to utilize a documentary style of camera movement and cinematography. Inspired by a 1977 documentary, THE POLICE TAPES, the show’s creators used handheld cameras which were able to get up close with actors in tightly packed claustrophobic sets such as the show’s precinct set. This marked a change from how past procedurals that commonly used multiple fixed cameras that sat in various places to capture the actors playing out a scene on set.
In terms of handling social issues regarding women, the show features a female beat cop, Officer Lucille "Lucy" Bates (Betty Thomas), a female defense attorney, Joyce Davenport (Veronica Hamel), as well as Fay Furillo (Barbara Bosson), ex-wife of the station’s Captain, Frank Furillo (Daniel Travanti). In the show’s pilot, HILL STREET STATION (15 Jan 1981), the character of Joyce Davenport is portrayed as a very strong, hardworking lawyer who isn’t always taken seriously by the officers. Even though the pilot is over forty years old, what she deals with feels as though it could still happen today as she must put up with the unwanted flirtation and sexual advances of one undercover officer, Detective J.D. LaRue (Kiel Martin). At one point, LaRue uses false pretenses related to a case she’s working on, to get her back to the station so he can continue hitting on her. She doesn’t take this and firmly reminds him that he could lose his job over stunts like that and ends the scene by emptying her cup of hot coffee on his lap. And the end of this first episode reveals that Davenport is in a secret relationship with another high-ranking member of the force. In the second season episode, THE SECOND OLDEST PROFESSION (19 Nov 1981), Officer Bates lets a prostitute shoot up before arresting her as a suspect in a crime.
Overall, the show taught me a lot about the process of writing for television, and how stories can be told across multiple episodes, involving carefully crafted characters whose actions and ideas are the driving force of how events unfold.
In terms of handling social issues involving people of colour, HILL STREET BLUES featured a diverse cast which two Black characters, including Officer Robert “Bobby” Hill (Michael Warren), and Detective Neal Washington (Taurean Blacque). as well as a Columbian born, naturalized citizen, Lieutenant (later Captain) Raymundo "Ray" Calletano (René Enríquez). In the pilot, Hill is teamed with Caucasian officer Andy Renko (Charles Haid) and the two are seen as having a playful bickering in each other’s interaction. While on patrol, they respond to a domestic dispute involving a poor black family living in a run-down, inner-city apartment. In the scene, Officer Hill can diffuse the situation by taking on a good cop persona, and talking it out, arguing that his white partner will haul everybody downtown if they don’t cool things down.
In terms of social issues involving the LGBTQ Community, one 2018 obituary for the show’s creator, Stephen Bochco, titled GAY ALLY STEVEN BOCHCO DIES, written by Karen Ocamb for the The Los Angeles Blade, described the prolific producer as being a friend and ally to the LGBTQ Community, one who helped to profoundly change:
“…the TV landscape, bringing edgy, complicated, more realistic plotlines and large cast diversity into people’s homes, often with studio heads and advertisers biting their fingernails.”
Ocamb also notes how Bochco had a:
“…subtle but profound impact on LGBT rights and how gays were perceived through his shows’ characters. Additionally, he launched the careers of actors, directors, and crew.”
When casting HILL STREET BLUES, I don’t know if Bochco knew that actor René Enríquez was a closeted homosexual who eventually contracted AIDS in 1987 (and would succumb to the disease in 1990). The website Canadian Gay reported how:
“In biographies and interviews, Enríquez told of a wife who had tragically died. It was a lie. He was a homosexual bachelor who contracted AIDS in 1987. As he became more ill, he told his friends and fans he was suffering from cancer. He died in March 1990.“
The Canadian Gay website noted that only his sisters knew of his battle with AIDS, however, the Wikipedia article for Enríquez notes that he had confided about his ordeal with fellow actor Charles Haid, who portrayed Officer Andy Renko on the show. Although the first few seasons did not feature a main or recurring character from the LGBTQ community, the season four opening episode, HERE’S ADVENTURE, HERE’S ROMANCE (13 Oct 1983) tackles the issue head on after a shooting takes place at a local gay bar, and its only witness is a police officer, who is himself a closeted homosexual.
Finally, HILL STREET BLUES touched on a myriad of other social issues including: how policing is conducted as seen in the pilot, in a clash by elements in Furillo’s squad who want to take a more hardline, even militaristic approach to policing a hostage situation involving teenage gang members who tried to rob a liquor store, and those, like Captain Furillo himself, who prefer a more proactive and non-violent approach involving negotiation and building trust between the police and those in the community, including what might be deemed as more undesirable elements. In the era of DEFUND and DEMILITARIZE THE POLICE, this issue still feels as relevant today as it must have been forty years ago. The squad is also disorganized, at one point a brawl breaks out inside the station, and at another Hill and Renko’s police car is stollen while responding to the domestic dispute described above. This leads the two characters to have to find a working phone, and they end up getting shot when stumbling upon a gang that didn’t want to be seen. It would take many hours before their fellow squad members discovered where they had fallen and the pilot ends with the characters in critical condition at the local hospital.
I love this show so much simply because it is so beautifully written. The pilot alone feels as though it could happen today (apart from Hill and Renko not being able to find a phone to call in their stolen vehicle - as clearly, today, they would each own a cell phone). The characters are real, they all have troubled pasts that undoubtedly come from the stresses of being a cop in an unimaginably troubled and poor inner-city area. HILL STREET BLUES is on DVD, with commentaries and other bonus features created by those involved in bringing the show to life. It’s also available to stream on DISNEY+, minus the bonus features of the DVDs.
Artifact 13 - B-Mask. “Hill Street Blues Retrospective: Life on the Hill.” YouTube, 11 Aug 2017.
Instructor Feedback…
“LORD OF THE RINGS” TV: TOO WOKE?
I just saw this, a brief commentary on a CNN article about people (white people with a clearly Eurocentric worldview) who claim the new Lord of the Rings TV show is too “woke” simply because it cast too many diverse actors …
https://www.instagram.com/p/CiIa9dWPbiU/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
This is the CNN article the above Instagram post references…
https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2022/09/03/entertainment/lord-of-the-rings-amazon-controversy-blake-cec/index.html
Seems a sad thing to be upset about. And I say this as a pretty white looking guy. Here’s a few other articles about this “controversy”…
https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2022/09/04/the-lord-of-the-rings-the-rings-of-power-is-bringing-out-the-worst-in-tolkien-fandom/?sh=72d16185346d
Week 01 Reading Homework
Read Chapter 2: Television in the Family Cycle from Lynn Spigel’s book, MAKE ROOM FOR TV: TELEVISION AND THE FAMILY IDEAL IN POSTWAR AMERICA.