The Lonely Nineties [electronic resource] : Visions of Community in Contemporary US Television /
Arras, Paul.author.
This book examines the most popular American television shows of the nineties—a decade at the last gasp of network television’s cultural dominance. At a time when American culture seemed increasingly fragmented, television still offered something close to a site of national consensus. The Lonely Nineties focuses on a different set of popular nineties television shows in each chapter and provides an in-depth reading of scenes, characters or episodes that articulate the overarching “ideology” of each series. It ultimately argues that television shows such as Seinfeld, Friends, Law & Order and The Simpsons helped to shape the ways Americans thought about themselves in relation to their friends, families, localities, and nation. It demonstrates how these shows engaged with a variety of problems in American civic life, responded to the social isolation of the age, and occasionally imagined improvements for community in America. .
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Watching TV after the Wall Came Down -- 2. Lonely Bowling and Other Critical Contexts -- 3. They Let You Just Sit There: The Failure of the Coffee Shop in Seinfeld, Friends, and Frasier -- 4. I’m Doing This My Own Way: Redeeming NYPD Blue’s Racist Hero -- 5. It Was a Different Time: Law & Order, White Rabbits, and the Decline of Sixties Radicalism -- 6. The Truth is Out There…and He Loves You: Depictions of Faith in The X-Files and Touched by an Angel -- 7. This Town Ain’t So Bad: Eternity in Heavenly Springfield with The Simpsons -- 8. TV after the Nineties.
This book examines the most popular American television shows of the nineties—a decade at the last gasp of network television’s cultural dominance. At a time when American culture seemed increasingly fragmented, television still offered something close to a site of national consensus. The Lonely Nineties focuses on a different set of popular nineties television shows in each chapter and provides an in-depth reading of scenes, characters or episodes that articulate the overarching “ideology” of each series. It ultimately argues that television shows such as Seinfeld, Friends, Law & Order and The Simpsons helped to shape the ways Americans thought about themselves in relation to their friends, families, localities, and nation. It demonstrates how these shows engaged with a variety of problems in American civic life, responded to the social isolation of the age, and occasionally imagined improvements for community in America. .
Motion pictures and television.
United States-Study and teaching.
Screen Studies.
American Culture.