Week 8 assignment: essay – interrelationships reflection apa format | Applied Sciences homework help

1. What are the lasting values—if any—revealed in the early situation comedies? If there are any, which ones seem to have changed profoundly?

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The Television Serial One type of program with which commercial television has set itself apart from the standard production film is the serial. Whereas the standard production film is about 120 minutes long, a television serial production can be open-ended. Soap op- eras, daytime television’s adaptation of radio’s ongoing series, are broadcast at the same hour each weekday. Viewers can begin with any episode and be entertained, even though each episode has only a minor resolution. Early television soap operas such as Another World (NBC, 1964–1999), The Secret Storm (CBS, 1954–1974), and Search for Tomorrow (CBS, 1951–1986) were continuing stories focusing on personal problems involving money, sex, and questionable behavior in settings reflecting the current community. In Spanish-language programming, telenovelas do the same. FIGURE 13-3 CSI, Crime Scene Investigation. Elizabeth Shue and Ted Danson have “a meeting of the minds” from an episode of one of the longest- running police procedural programs. Photo by Michael Yarish/©CBS/Courtesy Everett Collection jac16871_ch13_330-351.indd 335 12/11/17 12:04 PM 336

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In a sense, the structure of the soap opera contributed to television’s develop- ment of the distinctive serial structure that remains one of the greatest strengths of the medium. Robert J. Thompson has said, “The series is, indeed, broadcasting’s unique aesthetic contribution to Western art.”1 The British Broadcasting Corpora- tion can be said to have begun the development of the serial show with historical epics such as the hugely popular open-ended Upstairs, Downstairs (BBC, 1971–1975) and twelve-part I, Claudius (BBC, 1976), both of which are now available from down- load sources and on DVD. Roots: The Triumph of an American Family The first important serial program in the United States was Rich Man, Poor Man (ABC, 1976), a twelve-episode adaptation of a novel by Irwin Shaw. But the power of the serial was made most evident by the production of Roots (ABC, 1977), which was seen by 130 million viewers, the largest audience of any television series (Figure 13-4). More than 85 percent of all television households were tuned to one or more of the episodes. The subtitle of the serial, The Triumph of an American Family, focused the pub- lic’s attention on family and family values. Alex Haley’s novel represented itself as a search for roots, for the ancestors who shaped himself and his family. Afri- can American slaves were ripped from their native soil, and the meager records of their travel to the West did not include information about their families. But Haley showed how, by his persistence, he was able to press far enough to find his original progenitor, Kunta Kinte, in Africa. Roots, which lasted twelve hours, explored the moral issues relative to slavery as well as racism and the damage it does. The network was uneasy about the production 1Quoted in Glen Creeber, Serial Television (London: British Film Institute, 2004), p. 6. FIGURE 13-4 Roots. In this scene from Alex Haley’s television miniseries, the most widely watched drama of its time, Kunta Kinte (LeVar Burton) represents Haley’s ancestor as he is brought in chains from Africa. Courtesy Everett Collection jac16871_ch13_330-351.indd 336 12/11/17 12:04 PM 337

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and feared it might not be popular, which is the primary reason the twelve epi- sodes were shown on successive nights. The opening scenes of the program, not in Haley’s novel, show white actor Ed Asner, then a popular television figure, as a conscience-stricken slave boat captain. This was intended to make the unpleasant- ness of the reality of slavery more tolerable to a white audience. The network ex- ecutives were, as we know now, wrong to worry, because the series captured the attention of the mass of American television viewers. Never had so many people watched one program. Never had so many Americans faced questions related to the institution of slavery in America and what it meant to those who were enslaved. Roots changed the way many people thought about African Americans, and it changed the way most Americans thought about television as merely entertainment. Home Box Office: The Sopranos From 1999 to 2007, in eighty-six episodes, David Chase’s epic portrait of Tony Soprano and his family riveted HBO cable viewers. Unlike all other shows in the gangster style, The Sopranos (Figure 13-5) portrayed Tony as a fragile, haunted man seeing a psychiatrist. His dysfunctional family at- tracted much more attention than any normal Mafia activities would ordinarily have done. Because of the show’s quirkiness, the major networks, ABC, CBS, and Fox, re- jected the series. Because HBO was a subscription service, and not available on the airwaves, The Sopranos had the advantage of being able to use language character- istic of mob characters, an advantage that made the series achieve more credibility. The Sopranos’s narrative line was extended throughout the six-season run of the show. The standard episodic self-contained structure was abandoned early on and, as a result, HBO established new expectations on the part of its audience. The Sopranos was FIGURE 13-5 The Sopranos. Paulie Walnuts (Tony Sirico) and Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) in front of their meeting place, Centanni’s Meat Market. Paulie is getting a suntan. Source: HBO jac16871_ch13_330-351.indd 337 12/11/17 12:04 PM 338

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the first major extended serial to change the way in which viewers received their dra- matic entertainment. In 1999 that was completely new to television, but today it is com- mon for viewers to wait before watching all the episodes of a given season. The term “bingeing” was applied to viewers who watched the first thirteen episodes of a Netflix release of House of Cards, a study of British politics, all at a marathon single sitting. HBO has produced several extended series since The Sopranos, including Dead- wood (2004–2006), Boardwalk Empire (2010–2014), and Game of Thrones (2011– present). None of these, however, rises to the artistic level of its finest production, The Wire (2002–2008). Home Box Office: The Wire While The Sopranos portrayed the life of a Mafia family, another crime drama aimed at portraying the city of Baltimore as a way of demonstrating that all the segments of a community are interwoven. David Simon, formerly a reporter for a Baltimore newspaper, and Ed Burns, a former homicide detective, are responsible for creating the drama, drawing on their per- sonal experience. The Wire is about the frustrations of a police unit that tries to use wiretapping to track the progress of street criminals deep in the drug trade (Figure 13-6). Their successes and failures are the primary material of the drama. The Wire won many awards over its five seasons, although it never won an Emmy. Critics have described the drama as perhaps the best ever produced for television. Its success depended on a gritty realism that often introduced uncomfortable ma- terial. The drama focused on six segments of the community: the law, with police, both black and white, using sometimes illegal techniques in response to frustration; the street drug trade, largely dominated by young black men; the port of Baltimore, with its illegal immigration schemes and other criminal activity, run essentially by white union workers; the politicians of the city, all with their own compromises, both black and white; the public school system, which houses some of the criminals FIGURE 13-6 The Wire. In this scene from the final season of the series, Marlo Stanfield (Jamie Hector) and Felicia “Snoop” Pearson (Felicia Pearson) are young drug lords whose irrational violence alarms their older criminal counterparts, whose own behavior was murderous enough. Source: HBO jac16871_ch13_330-351.indd 338 12/11/17 12:04 PM 339

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for a while; and the newspapers, whose news coverage turns out not always to be honestly produced. The bleakness of the portrait of the city is a call to action. The real mayor of Baltimore approved the project and gave considerable support for its production in the face of a possibly damaging view of the city partly because cities like Baltimore all face the same range of problems. Seeing these problems for what they are helps to clarify the true values that all such cities must recognize. A true portrait is a first step in restitution. Michael K. Williams, who plays Omar Little (Figure 13-7)—a gun-wielding thief who specializes in robbing criminals, who cannot go to the police—stated in an in- terview that “what The Wire is, is an American story, an American social problem. There’s a Wire in every . . . city.” Not every city is willing to face the truth. Omar Little is gay, dangerous, but living by a rigid code of his own design. He was in many of the sixty episodes. The NAACP presented him an award for his acting in The Wire. The drama appeared, like The Sopranos, on Home Box Office. Numerous websites detail the episodes and provide information on each character in the drama as well as on the critical reception of the drama. The extent of the drama, which is serial rather than episodic, is much greater than what could be achieved in a feature film. The complexity of the issues that face the law, the horror of criminal life in the streets, and the machinations of high-level politicians facing the same problems most large American cities face needed an extensive and far-reaching drama perfectly suited to television. Three Emmy Winners In recent years most of the television programs that have won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series have been serial in nature rather than self-contained single programs. FIGURE 13-7 The Wire. Omar Little (Michael Kenneth Williams), an avenging spirit, intends to wreak vengeance on Marlo and Snoop, who have killed his lover and his close friend. Source: HBO jac16871_ch13_330-351.indd 339 12/11/17 12:04 PM 340

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By its third season, the British serial drama Downton Abbey (PBS, 2010–2015) (Figure 13-8) had become one of the most watched television programs in the world. Almost the diametrical opposite of The Sopranos and The Wire, it presents a historical period in England in which the language is formal by comparison and the manners impeccable. What we see is the upheaval of the lives of the British aristoc- racy in the wake of historical forces that cannot be ignored or stemmed. The first season began with a major historical event, the sinking of the Titanic in 1912. Down with the ship went Patrick Crawley, the young heir to Downton Abbey. The result is that, much to the dismay of the Dowager Countess Violet Crawley, the great house will now go to the Earl of Grantham’s distant cousin, Matthew Crawley, a person unknown to the family. Young Matthew enters as a middle-class solicitor (law- yer) with little interest in the ways of the aristocracy. But soon he finds himself in love with his distant cousin, Lady Mary Crawley, beginning a long and complicated love interest that becomes one of the major centers of the drama for three seasons. Lord Grantham and his wife, Cora, Countess of Grantham, have three daughters, and there- fore the question of marriage is as important in this drama as in any Jane Austen novel. In the aftermath of the attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001, and the resul- tant war in the Middle East, a number of television shows have centered their action on terrorism and the war in Iraq. Homeland (Showtime, 2011–present) (Figure 13-9), with Claire Danes as Carrie Mathison and Mandy Patinkin as Saul Berenson, both of the CIA, has been a durable and timely excursion into the Arab world as it has suffered war and devastation and has brought the threat of terror to Europe and the West. One of the twists in the show is that Carrie Mathison is bipolar and needs to be on lithium to function normally. As a result, she sometimes cracks up and behaves uncontrollably. Some critics have seen this as a reflection of the West’s re- sponse to the threats of terrorism. The show won the Emmy for best drama in 2012. Game of Thrones (2011–present) (Figure 13-10) won the Emmy for best drama in 2015 and 2016. The show is based on the book by George R. R. Martin. It is a fan- tasy historical program that seems to represents medieval society in a northern Eu- ropean wintry landscape featuring an immense ice wall keeping out the barbarians and whitewalkers. From the beginning, Game of Thrones features incredible cru- elty, torture, murders, deceit, sexual depravity, and the kind of vicious world that only a cable provider like HBO could make available. The story lines are so dense and complex that there is a discussion and partial synopsis after every episode. FIGURE 13-8 Downton Abbey. Mr. Carson, the butler, and Lady Mary Crawley try out their new gramophone. The introduction of new technology—electricity, the telephone, and radio—added to the appeal of the series. Nick Briggs/©Carnival Films for Masterpiece/ PBS/Courtesy Everett Collection jac16871_ch13_330-351.indd 340 12/11/17 12:04 PM 341

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Yet this show has the dimensions of epic literature and production values that are, at the minimum, astonishing. “The Battle of the Bastards,” episode 60, is bloody and immense in scope. Even though it is fantasy, the effort was made to replicate the destruction of superior Roman troops at the battle of Cannae (216 BCE) by Hannibal, the Carthaginian general who enclosed the Romans and suffered them their greatest defeat in a legendary battle. Game of Thrones also alludes to Shake- speare’s historical plays, which revealed the deception and cunning that attended the courts of kings. Unlike Shakespeare, however, the show uses dragon eggs that are a gift in episode 1 and become full-blown flying warriors in episode 60. FIGURE 13-9 Homeland. Carrie Mathison (Claire Danes) talks with a contact in season five. ©Showtime Networks/Photofest FIGURE 13-10 Game of Thrones. Cersei, now the Queen of the Seven Kingdoms, seated on the Iron Throne at the end of season six. Source: HBO jac16871_ch13_330-351.indd 341 12/11/17 12:05 PM FOCUS ON The Americans The Americans (FX, 2013–present) is a sleeper of a serial drama—in several senses. For one thing, it took a while for the series to catch on to the pub- lic and build an audience. But by the second season critics were calling it the best series on television. It is a sleeper in another sense: The major characters, Elizabeth (Keri Russell) and Philip Jennings (Mat- thew Rhys), are a sleeper cell of Russian spies living in Washington, D.C., as ordinary Americans (Fig- ure 13-11). Such an arrangement might seem im- probable except for the fact that the series is based on actual sleeper cells discovered in Massachusetts in 2005. There may be more. Both Elizabeth and Philip were trained scrupu- lously in Russia before being placed in suburban America. They knew American customs and were warned never to speak anything but English, even to other Russian agents. As a re- sult they appear totally ordinary, having dinner with friends and raising two children, Paige (Holly Taylor) and Henry (Kiedrich Sellati). They have to answer to their con- trols, Claudia (Margot Martindale) and Gabriel (Frank Langella) (Figure 13-12). But these controls constantly refer back to a superior power, the Center, which makes sometimes unreasonable demands on Elizabeth and Philip. In this sense, the char- acters have a license to kill and a demand to be improvisational, but at root they are pawns of the system. From the first episode, Philip finds America remarkable and alluring. When he and Elizabeth arrive in their first motel room, Philip is astonished to find a working air con- ditioner. We think for a while that he may have his head turned, but Elizabeth is staunch and later even reports to Claudia that Philip may be unreliable. As a result, in a later episode, Philip is kidnapped and beaten to make him confess he is a spy. But his kidnappers are Russian agents testing him, and he realizes what Elizabeth has done. It shakes their re- lationship for an episode or two. Elizabeth and Philip have an arranged marriage that changes and develops as the series progresses. They gradually begin to love one another and they wish well for their children. However, as Paige in season five begins to realize that her parents are not just travel agents, but also spies, she becomes involved and Philip fears for her (Figure 13-13). He wants her not to be a spy like him, but Gabriel, who acts as a grandfather figure to them, implies that he is unable to help him if the Center wishes her to be one of them (Figure 13-14). As it is, Elizabeth seems eager for Paige to be permitted to follow their path if she wishes. Such tensions abound through the first five years of the serial. We see problems in episode one that show up in the fifth season. Allusions to Abraham Lincoln are frequent early and late, with comparisons to the current president, Ronald Reagan. The time period is that of the 1980s. FIGURE 13-11 Keri Russell as Elizabeth Jennings and Matthew Rhys as Philip Jennings. They live in a modest home with period cars (mostly Oldsmobiles) and appear to live a normal life as owners of a travel agency. Their cover permits them to travel frequently on their operations and sometimes stay over for periods of time. Source: FX FIGURE 13-12 Frank Langella as Gabriel and Margot Martindale as Claudia in a late episode of The Americans. Just as Gabriel is concerned and sensitive, Claudia is hardnosed and determined. Source: FX 342 jac16871_ch13_330-351.indd 342 12/11/17 12:05 PM When Ronald Reagan was shot in March 1981, the Russian handlers feared that the blame would be put on Russia. The Secre- tary of State, Alexander Haig, without the actual authority, took over the White House and seemed to be staging a coup. Gabriel thought he would order a nuclear strike against Russia. The tensions among the Russians led Philip and Elizabeth to unearth munitions and weapons designed to kill the Secretary of State—and they came close to being caught. In that incident Elizabeth shot a policeman who had stopped their vehicle. The killings are often done by Elizabeth and are sometimes almost wanton. Another source of tension early in the series is the arrival of Stan Beeman (Noah Emmerich), an FBI man assigned to counterterrorism who moves in next door to Eliz- abeth and Philip. Throughout the seasons Stan and Philip become friends and the two families interact with dinners and events. Stan’s son, Will, and Paige become romanti- cally close, making Philip and Elizabeth so concerned that they forbid her to see him (Figure 13-15). In season five they explain the risks she would be taking with all of their futures. Paige also moves slightly apart from her parents by joining a church and being baptized. This detail in season three has curious developments when Philip uses religion and prayer to dupe a young girl whom he needs in order to gain access to her father’s top secret papers. Both Elizabeth and Philip are expected to use sex to achieve their ends. Both have sex with people from whom they seek vital information. Early in the series that is not a major emotional issue, but as they grow more and more loving toward each other it begins to arouse deep feelings, even jeal- ousy. In the process of their making sexual connections, Philip and Elizabeth usually wear disguises that include often fanciful wigs. In some cases they sustain their extra relationships over long periods of time. The abrupt scene shifts from one sex- ual relationship—which constitutes, in essence, a specific spying operation—to another are often jarring and demand con- tinuing attention from one episode to an- other. The effect is to keep the viewer off guard, which is a metaphor for the opera- tives who keep the FBI off guard. The style of the show is marked by flashbacks to childhood in Russia, during very hard times. For example, Philip’s father was a guard in a prison camp, and not a nice man. Elizabeth remembers a fatherless childhood with a mother who somehow avoided being the prey of a powerful government figure. The Americans provides its audience with an introduction to the values and prob- lems of a recent historical era, the era of the Cold War and its thawing in the 1980s. The threat of nuclear war was in the air. The changes in Russian government after the FIGURE 13-13 Holly Taylor as Paige Jennings. She is an inquisitive child, very liberal in her politics, and developing a serious interest in religion. In season five she has to cope with the knowledge that her mother killed someone as part of her life as a Russian spy. She listens closely as her parents explain why they feel they are acting for the greater good of society. Source: FX FIGURE 13-14 Frank Langella as Gabriel, the well- meaning and sensitive control to whom Elizabeth and Philip answer. Gabriel seems to have genuine feelings for Elizabeth, whom he knew as a child, and now for Paige, Elizabeth’s daughter. Source: FX 343 jac16871_ch13_330-351.indd 343 12/11/17 12:05 PM death of its leader, Leonid Brezhnev, in late 1982 led to changes in American policies. Russia was fighting in Afghanistan, and the United States had recently been defeated in Vietnam. The Americans explores problems with Russian actions and, from Philip and Elizabeth’s point of view, problems with what American authorities were doing. The Americans has developed into a kind of time capsule recording a nervous period in international affairs, told from the point of view of people who were operatives on the ground trying to shape the direction of history. The Americans is not just an intense spy story but also a historical analysis that is revelatory of a period in international politics that shaped the world as we know it today. FIGURE 13-15 Elizabeth and Philip explain to Paige how she might reveal their true identity if she continues to have Will as her boyfriend. Will is the son of the FBI agent next door. Elizabeth is giving Paige a way to hold her fingers to help her keep her secret even if she is in a romantic situation with Will. Source: FX PERCEPTION KEY Focus on The Americans 1. To what extent does The Americans contribute to your education? To what extent is the appeal of the series linked to what you learn from it about the late years of the Cold War between Russia and America?