"When Andy Griffith went to Hollywood in 1960 to film a TV pilot about a small-town sheriff, his friend Don Knotts called to ask if his sheriff could use a deputy. Together, Sheriff Andy Taylor and Deputy Barney Fife elevated The Andy Griffith Show from a folksy sitcom into a timeless study of human friendship. The program was fiction, but the friendship was powerful and real."--Jacket.

Historian Sara Eskridge examines television’s rural comedy boom in the 1960s and the political, social, and economic factors that made these shows a perfect fit for CBS. The network, nicknamed the Communist Broadcasting System during the Red Scare of the 1940s, saw its image hurt again in the 1950s with the quiz show scandals and a campaign against violence in westerns. When a rival network introduced rural-themed programs to cater to the growing southern market, CBS latched onto the trend and soon reestablished itself as the Country Broadcasting System. Its rural comedies dominated the ratings throughout the decade, attracting viewers from all parts of the country. With fascinating discussions of The Andy Griffith Show, The Beverly Hillbillies, Petticoat Junction, and other shows, Eskridge reveals how the southern image was used to both entertain and reassure Americans in the turbulent 1960s.

This book spotlights the 25 most important sitcoms to ever air on American television—shows that made generations laugh, challenged our ideas regarding gender, family, race, marital roles, and sexual identity, and now serve as time capsules of U.S. history. What was the role of The Jeffersons in changing views regarding race and equality in America in the 1970s? How did The Golden Girls affect how society views older people? Was The Office an accurate (if exaggerated) depiction of the idiosyncrasies of being employees in a modern workplace? How did the writers of The Simpsons make it acceptable to air political satire through the vehicle of an animated cartoon ostensibly for kids? Readers of this book will see how television situation comedies have consistently held up a mirror for American audiences to see themselves—and the reflections have not always been positive or purely comedic. The introduction discusses the history of sitcoms in America, identifying their origins in radio shows and explaining how sitcom programming evolved to influence the social and cultural norms of our society. The shows are addressed chronologically, in sections delineated by decade. Each entry presents background information on the show, including the dates it aired, key cast members, and the network; explains why the show represents a notable turning point in American television; and provides an analysis of each sitcom that considers how the content was received by the American public and the lasting effects on the family unit, gender roles, culture for young adults, and minority and LGBT rights. The book also draws connections between important sitcoms and other shows that were influenced by or strikingly similar to these trendsetting programs. Lastly, a section of selections for further reading points readers to additional resources.

Offers a variety of perspectives on the sitcom genre and its influence on American culture.

This updated and expanded anthology offers an engaging overview of one of the oldest and most ubiquitous forms of television programming: the sitcom. Through an analysis of formulaic conventions, the contributors address critical identities such as race, gender, and sexuality, and overarching structures such as class and family. Organized by decade, chapters explore postwar domestic ideology and working-class masculinity in the 1950s, the competing messages of power and subordination in 1960s magicoms, liberated women and gender in 1970s workplace comedies and 1980s domestic comedies, liberal feminism in the 1990s, heteronormative narrative strategies in the 2000s, and unmasking myths of gender in the 2010s. From I Love Lucy and The Honeymooners to Roseanne, Cybill, and Will & Grace to Transparent and many others in between, The Sitcom Reader provides a comprehensive examination of this popular genre that will help readers think about the shows and themselves in new contexts. For access to an online resource created by Mary Dalton, which includes interviews with contributors and course lectures, visit: The Sitcom Reader: A Companion Website @ https://build.zsr.wfu.edu/sitcomreader

OK2BG is narrative nonfiction, a Memoir about a guy who wants to be a Mentor preferably to a teenager, so they can have a decent & meaningful conversation about stuff & preferably with a kid at-risk, or just otherwise lost, in order to help both the teenager as well as the determined subject of this story realize their unique potential & find or reinforce their place in the world. Overall, a chronicle about the author’s attempt over several years to understand the question of ‘why do I want to be a Mentor’ which eventually helps him become a more insightful person. Subsequently in September, 2010 after a plague of teen suicides, Jack turns his attention to researching gay biographies into optimistically appropriate groups of books for gay kids at-risk, from bullying. After 5 years Jack has categorized 2,000+ books in the form of Memoirs, Biographies & Autobiographies written by or about 1,000+ allegedly gay men. The primary message in OK2BG is to read & reassess before you run asunder!