1 lecture 15: what is the thing called quality? chappelle’s show (comedy central 2003-6) the...

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Lecture 15:What is the thing called Quality?

Chappelle’s Show (Comedy Central 2003-6) The Sopranos (HBO 1999-2007)

Daniel Bernardi

Every lecture/Power Points starts with this page. The title is 44 pt Arial red. Below the title should be a picture followed by a caption. Captions are in 14 pt Arial black. Every image MUST have a caption that includes, if approrpiate, its title and credits (copyright). If it's an artistic work, it should include the artist;s name as well. The art's name should be a hyperlink to his or her website or a website that provides greater detail about the artist.

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Lesson 15 Agenda

• The History of US Television & Culture

…So Far

• What is Quality?

• Let’s Watch Some TV– Satire & Contestable Quality– It’s Not Just Quality TV, It’s also

HBO

• Post Network or Post TV?

The Richard Pryor Show (NBC 1977)

Chappelle’s Show (Comedy Central 2003-6)

Daniel Bernardi

The third slide of every lecture/Power Point is "Lesson Agenda." I recommend dividing each lesson into three sections, so that there are three bullets on this slide - one per section of the lecture. I do not recommend including sub-bullets on this slide. Keep it simple. Here you are pointing students to the general outline of what they will be hearing and reading in this respective lecture.

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Section 1The History of U.S Television & Culture

…So Far

Daniel Bernardi

Once slide three is complete, you can divide your lecture according to the three bullets/sections listed in that slide (again, I recommend three). Each section has its own header slide. Under Section 1 (or 2 or 3), you'll add the title of that section. That title correspond to the respective bullet in slide three.

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The Nature of the Industry• TELEVISION IS, FIRST AND

FOREMOST, A COMMERCIAL MEDIUM—LIKE ITS PREDECESSOR RADIO, THE PROGRAMS EXIST TO MAKE AD REVENUE.

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Culture, Media & Industry

Television As

Cultural Artifact

Television As

Industrial Product

Television As

Creative Pursuit

Father Knows Best (CBS, 1954-55, 1958-60 and NBC 1955-58)

[Above] Jersey Shore (MTV 2009 - ); [Left] Six Feet Under (HBO 2000-5)

Daniel Bernardi

You can break up slides with bullets and text to include slides with single images, charts, etc.

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Reflecting & Refracting American Popular Consciousness

• Do Television programs reflect American Popular Consciousness providing a mirror image or “accurate” representation?

• Do Television programs are refract American Popular Consciousness–bend, distort, reconfigure—images when they pass through the medium?

YES & NO.

Daniel Bernardi

Each section can have as many slides as neccessary, though I recommend no less than 6 and no more than 9. This is because you want your lectures to run at least 30 minutes... ideally, depending on if you have students look at clips or do excersise, 45 minutes. And you never want too much info on any one slide. Don't overload the students with info. Use the bullets and sub-bullets as pointing divices. These divices will also trigger what you record for audio. In your audio, you will want to elaborate, of course, which means that the bullet is really a reference mark for both you and the student.You can also have as many or few bullets and subbullets on each slide. This one has three main bullets each with two subbullets by way of example.

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Section 2: What Is Quality?

Mad Men (AMC 2007 - )

Daniel Bernardi


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The Concept of Quality TV

• In “HBO & the Concept of Quality TV,” Jane Feuer states:

…there can never be a judgment of quality in an absolute sense… there are always judgments of quality relative to one’s interpretive community or reading formation.

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Commercial Quality

If It Delivers Audiences…

Does

That Make It

Quality

TV?

Section 3: Let’s Watch Some TV!

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Insert Image Here

Add Image

Caption w/ Credits

Here

DownloadReading/Screening Sheet 15 from Learning Tasks

The Wire (HBO 2002-2008)

Daniel Bernardi


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• Case Studies– The Richard Pryor

Show– In Living Color– Chappelle’s Show

For Your Viewing Pleasure:Satire & Contestable Quality

Dying is Easy, Satire Is REALLY HARD

• Satire: Artistic form in which human or individual vices, folly, abuses, or shortcomings are held up to censure by means of ridicule, derision, burlesque, irony, or other methods, sometimes with an intent to bring about improvement.

• Getting you to laugh AND to think…

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Satire & Contestable Quality 1970s

• Humor in Conversation with Race, Class & Cultural & Political Discourse

• Not Network Prime Time Friendly:

• Standards, Practices vs. Comic Vision

• Satire vs. Stand Up

The Richard Pryor Show (NBC, 1977)

Uncontainable

Daniel Bernardi

You can break up slides with bullets and text to include slides with single images, charts, etc.

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Satire & Contestable Quality 1990s

• Comedy in Conversation with Race, Class & Cultural & Political Discourse

• Do What You Want…(Netlet Freedom)

• Equal (?) Opportunity Offender

• Kicking it Old School: Sketch & Variety

In Living Color (Fox 1990-94)

Notoriously Un-P.C.

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• Comedy in Conversation with Multiple Constituencies, Race, Class & Cultural & Political Discourse

• Do What You Want…(Basic Cable Freedom)

• Multiple Audiences, Multiple Readings

• Exploding Stereotypes or Reaffirming Them?

Dancing Like Nobody’s Watching(until they were watching…millions of them)

Chappelle’s Show (Comedy Central 2003-6)

New Millennial Satire: Highly Contestable Quality

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Elements of Quality Drama: A Highly Subjective List

– Generic Hybridity

– Complex and/or Conflicted Characters

– Narratives that Play with Audience Expectations

– Cinematic or Distinctive Visual Style

– Exploits the Episodic Nature of Television

Dexter (Showtime 2006 - )

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It’s

Not Just

Quality

Drama…

• Verisimilitude and/or

Emotional Realism,

• Creative Freedom As HBO Brand?

• Televisual Moral Relativism

It’s Also HBO

Above: “Omar Little” (The Wire); “Silvio Dante” (The Sopranos);Below: “Bubbles” (The Wire);“Dr. Melfi (The Sopranos)

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• The Sopranos – Moral Ambiguity +Multi-Layered Characters +

Narrative Complexity=Quality

More Viewing Pleasure:It’s Not Just Quality Drama, It’s also HBO

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• The Wire – Moral Ambiguity +

Multi-Layered

Characters +

Narrative Complexity

=Quality

More Viewing Pleasure:It’s Not Just Quality Drama, It’s also HBO

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And In The End…• My Wish for my fellow

Media Babies

• Good Night & Good Luck.

1 lecture 15: what is the thing called quality? chappelle’s show (comedy central 2003-6) the...

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uncontainable slide

tv satire contestable

commercial quality

judgment of quality

concept of quality tv

judgments of quality

elements of quality

television programs