Very Special Episodes examines how the quintessential "very special episode" format became a primary way in which the television industry responded to and shaped social change, cultural traumas, and industrial transformations. With essays covering shows ranging from the birth of Desi Arnaz, Jr. on I Love Lucy to contemporary examples such as a delayed episode of Black-ish and the streaming-era phenomenon of the "Very Special Seasons" of UnReal and 13 Reasons Why, this collection seriously and critically uses the "very special episode" to chart the history of American television and its self-identified status as an arbiter of culture.

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Yes, you can access Very Special Episodes by Jonathan Cohn, Jennifer Porst, Jonathan Cohn,Jennifer Porst in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Media & Performing Arts & Performing Arts. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Information

Publisher

Rutgers University Press

Year

2021

Print ISBN

9781978821156, 9781978821163

eBook ISBN

9781978821170

Topic

Media & Performing Arts

Subtopic

Performing Arts

Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Contents
Preface and Acknowledgments
A Very Special Introduction
1. Listen to Save Lives: Music and the Atomic Bomb in Cold War Very Special Episodes
2. Blackface on a White Christmas: Bewitched’s “Sneaky Racism”
3. Conspicuous Morality: Very Special Episodes, the War on Drugs, and Broadcast Deregulation
4. “Due to Its Subject Matter”: Creating the Very Special Teen Sex Talk in 1980s Sitcoms
5. “Thanksgiving Orphans”: Cheers and Very Special Holiday Episodes of Television
6. Very Spooky Episodes: Roseanne, Working-Class Monsters, and the Playful Perversions of Halloween TV
7. A Very Special Visit to the “Old Neighborhood”: Containing the Los Angeles Uprising on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
8. The Night the Lights Went out at (Most of) NBC: Producing a Network with 1994’s Must See TV Blackout Stunt
9. Ellen, “The Puppy Episode,” and a Special TV Milestone?
10. “And Was There a Lesson in All This?”: Weaponizing—and Subverting—the Very Special Episode
11. Animating Entertainment, or Very Special Media Reflexivity
12. Liveness and the Live Episode in Television Comedy
13. Too black-ish?: Banned Very Special Episodes
14. Knife Crime and Passion: A Very Special Episode of EastEnders
15. UnREAL, Sexual Assault, and the Very Special Season
Notes on Contributors
Index

About this book

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Table of contents