Television

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Assignment 1

APA

1 ½ pages

Workplace comedies are a specific subgenre of the genre of situation comedies or sitcoms (as opposed to family sitcoms or some other varieties) and have been around since the 1950s. They share a lot of conventions. Please watch at least one episode each from classic workplace comedies from different eras (something from the 1960s or 70s, something from the 80s/90s, something from the 2000s). Watch the first episode (sometimes called “Pilot” or episode “1.1”).

The Bianculli book is good for finding shows. Some good choices for Workplace Comedies (some of these are called hybrid or split coms and take place equally at the home of the main character and at work. In this forum, focus on the workplace scenes). Please watch full episodes, not just clips.

Early:

Middle:

  • Cheers (1982-1993, workplace sitcom set in a Boston bar)
  • Taxi (1978-1983 workplace sitcom set in a taxi garage)
  • WKRP in Cincinnati (1978-1982 workplace sitcom set in a rock and roll radio station)
  • News radio (1995-1999 workplace sitcom set in a news radio station)
  • Just Shoot Me (1997-2003 workplace sitcom set at a fashion magazine)
  • Spin City (1996-2002 workplace sitcom set at the New York City mayor’s office)

Later:

  • The Office (either US version or the original UK version) (2005-2013 workplace sitcom set in the offices of a paper company)
  • 30 Rock (2006-2013 workplace sitcom set at a sketch comedy show)
  • Parks & Recreation (2009-2013 workplace sitcom set in the parks department of a small town)
  • Silicon Valley (2014-2019 workplace sitcom set in the tech startup industry)
  • Superstore (2015-2021 workplace sitcom set in a “big box” store)

Discussion:

  • How did you learn who every character was and what they did?
  • What were some of the generic conventions you saw?
  • What did newer shows do that changed or challenged these conventions?

 your posts, you must incorporate at least one quote from each of the assigned textbook readings and cite them correctly.

 

 

 

Assignment 2

APA

1 ½ pages

Find an article from within the past month from one of the acceptable outlets (see list below) and post it. It may be about a show you watch, a genre, a TV technology, a personality, a controversy or something else. Explain why you think it is interesting, correctly cite it (including a link that opens in a new window), and ask the rest of the class an open-ended question about it (not yes/no but something that will prompt discussion).

Acceptable outlets for non-scholarly articles include:

  1. The New York Times
  2. The Washington Post
  3. The New Yorker
  4. Entertainment Weekly
  5. The Hollywood Reporter
  6. Variety
  7. The AV Club’s TV Club (The Onion’s media discussion board)
  8. Slate

 

Assignment 3

Apa

2 pages

Submit a Proposal for your Research Paper

Read or review M3.3 Content Guide: How to Write a Proposal for detailed instructions on this assignment.

This assignment is a proposal for the longer paper you will write over the course of this term. See Overview of Course Projects for more details.

Your proposal must be:

  • Two pages, not counting Works Consulted.
  • Written using at least two scholarly supporting articles, correctly cited in MLA, APA Turabian/Chicago style.
  • Articles from popular magazines or newspapers may be used only in addition to these.