Special Topics in Film & Digital Media: Knowing Television

Course Details
Course: 
080S
Instructor: 
Amelie Hastie
Quarter: 
Spring
Academic Year: 
2008-09
Description: 
For better or worse, US broadcast television is a cultural form that is not commonly associated with knowledge. This course will take what might seem a radical counter-position to such assumptions – looking at the ways television teaches us what it is and even trains us in potential critical practices for investigating it. By considering its formal structure, its textual definitions, and the means through which we see it, we will map out how it is that we come to know television.

  • Class screenings:
  • Pee-Wee's Playhouse: "Ants in Your Pants" (Season 1, original air-date: November 1, 1986)
  • The Burns and Allen Show: "Income Tax Man" (original air-date: March 1, 1951)
  • The Bernie Mac Show: "Handle Your Business" (Season 1, original air-date: February 13, 2002)
  • CNN election coverage, November 3, 2008
  • Roseanne: "An Officer and a Gentleman" (Season 2, original air-date: January 23, 1990)
  • In Treatment: "Sophie, Week One" (Season 1, original air-date: January 30, 2008)
  • The Wire: "The Target" (Season 1, original air-date: June 2, 2002)
  • The Simpsons: "The Good, The Bad, and the Drugly" (Season 20, original air-date: April 19, 2009)
  • Columbo (4/22/09): "Fade Into Murder" (Season 6, original air-date: October 10, 1976)
  • The Wire (4/29/09): "Alliances" (Season 4, original air-date: October 8, 2006)
  • In Treatment (4/27/09): "Alex, Week 4" (Season 1, original air-date: February 19, 2008)
  • MASH (5/4/09): "The Interview" (Season 4, original air-date: February 24, 1976)
  • Quantum Leap (5/4/09): "Color of Truth" [August 8, 1955] (Season 1, original air-date: May 10, 1989)
  • Buffy the Vampire Slayer (5/6/09): "Fool for Love" (Season 5, original air-date: November 14, 2000)
  • RuPaul's Drag Race (5/13/09): Episode 4 on http://www.logoonline.com
  • The Tick (5/13/09): "Heroes" (Season 2, original air-date: November 11, 1995)
  • Twin Peaks (5/18/09): Episode One (Season 1, original air-date: April 12, 1990)
  • Star Trek: The Next Generation (5/20/09): "Hollow Pursuits" (Season 3, original air-date: April 30, 1990)

Readings:

AttachmentSize
Ellis.pdf1.21 MB
Benveniste.pdf581.16 KB
Browne.pdf623.98 KB
Foucault.pdf702.71 KB
Feuer.pdf1.14 MB
Ellis 2.pdf565.13 KB
80S Syllabus Spring 2009.pdf62.51 KB
FILM 80S Essay #1.pdf38.37 KB
essay1.pdf38.37 KB
Essay2.pdf34.13 KB
FinalExamStudyGuide.pdf51.59 KB