The current tension in the writing of histories has been between the defense of "textbook" histories--i.e., the conventional approach which focuses on great events, great individuals, and great collectivities--and progressive--i.e., populist or alternative histories which focus on ordinary people. A new form has been engineered by…

Part of a series of statistical surveys of public broadcasting based on data provided by the licensees of the Corporation for Public Braodcasting, this report provides details of public television program content for the fiscal year 1982. The chapters include information on the following: (1) definitions and categories, (2) the public television…

Televised sexuality is examined in the context of gender stereotypes for three recent, "new adult" programs which have been billed as departures from traditional treatments of sex roles and/or sexuality: "All That Glitters,""Soap," and "We've Got Each Other." Using these examples, the paper focuses on three main areas: (1) characters and settings…

The purpose of this paper is to examine how recent demand for greater realism in portrayals of Irish life in the television and film industries serves to authenticate existing stereotypes and romantic images which characterize "Irishness" in the popular imagination rather than refute or undermine them. Discussions of a political thriller…

This paper analyzes the ways in which members of different ethnic groups decode the worldwide hit television program Dallas, and suggests answers to the question of how such a quintessentially American cultural product crosses cultural and linguistics frontiers so easily. The program was studied with the intent of observing the mechanisms through…

Suburban middle class American situation comedies of the 1950s and 1960s idealized the postwar family ensemble with its unproblematic achievement of quality family life. The homemaker as portrayed in these sitcoms was positioned at the center of the postwar consumer economy by the consumer product industry, which built its economy on defining the…

Presents a review of research linking nutritional health and body image attitudes with television viewing. Highlights include content analyses of advertisements and programming; audience uses of television; television as reality; socialization of attitudes and television; television, body image and self-esteem; television and health behaviors; and…

In Japan, the production and broadcasting of television (TV) programs for children began in 1953. After the first few years of trial and error, children's programs gradually rose in popularity with the introduction of TV animation, dramas, special-effects photography, music/variety and quiz shows, comedies, and action dramas. Since the inception…

Since television both reflects and affects society, how blacks are portrayed in television drama is significant for program producers, the audience, and for consideration in debates on multicultural content, minority access, and integrated casting. Previous work in the field of blacks and television has been based on observational sociology,…