Table of Contents

Introduction / Mary Beth Haralovich and Lauren Rabinovitz 1
Desired and Feared: Women's Voices in Radio History / Michele Hilmes 17
Considering Monty Margetts's Cook's Corner: Oral History and Television History / Mark Williams 36
Lucy and Desi: Sexuality, Ethnicity, and TV's First Family / Mary Desjardins 56
A Moral Crisis in Prime Time: Peyton Place and the Rise of the Single Girl / Moya Luckett 75
I Spy's "Living Postcards": The Geo-Politics of Civil Rights / Mary Beth Haralovich 98
Leading Up to Roe v. Wade: Television Documentaries in the Abortion Debate / Julie D'Acci 120
Ms.-Representation: The Politics of Feminist Sitcoms / Lauren Rabinovitz 144
The Oprahfication of America: Talk Shows and the Public Sphere / Jane M. Shattuc 168
Averting the Male Gaze: Visual Pleasure and the Images of Fat Women / Jane Feuer 181
Selected Bibliography 201
Contributors 211
Index 213

Promotional Information

Investigates how television has shaped our understanding of gender, power, race, ethnicity, and sexuality from the 1950s to the present

About the Author

Mary Beth Haralovich is Associate Professor of Media Arts at the University of Arizona.

Lauren Rabinovitz is Professor of American Studies and Film Studies at the University of Iowa.

Reviews

"Reading this collection will be a tonic for anyone wearied by ongoing assaults on feminism and cultural studies as having passed their prime; these essays suggest a vital field of inquiry and a vibrant political spirit ... The contributors list reads like a who's who of American feminist television studies." -- Henry Jenkins, editor of Children's Culture Reader "With articles by some of the most prominent names in television studies in the US, this volume is assured a place on the shelves of university libraries and cultural-studies reading lists... British readers will appreciate the critical debates opened up here but may find some of the book's US bound reference points obscure."---Sight and Sound, August 2000