1971: 'An American Family'; Our First Reality TV Show

With this week's panelists, we will look at how TV changed through the popularity of An American Family.

With the current proliferation of 'Reality TV' and its 'reality' which often seems quite suspect, we will wonder what accounts for its popularity, whether or not An American Family can be seen as its direct ancestor and ask what it might be 'preparing us for.'

Here is a chance to look more deeply at a subject that sits with us in our living rooms, brought to you by an American Family that allowed us to sit in theirs.

This Program's Featured Panelists: 

Robert Self teaches and writes in twentieth-century U.S. history. His principal research interests are in urban history, the history of race and American political culture, post-1945 U.S. society and culture, and gender in the mid-century city. His first book, American Babylon: Race and the Struggle for for Postwar Oakland, was published by Princeton University Press in 2003. It won four professional prizes, including the James a. Rawley prize from the Organization of American Historians (OAH). He is currently at work on a book about gender, sexuality, and political culture in the U.S. from 1964 to 2004. for Postwar Oakland, was published by Princeton University Press in 2003. It won four professional prizes, including the James a. Rawley prize from the Organization of American Historians (OAH). He is currently at work on a book about gender, sexuality, and political culture in the U.S. from 1964 to 2004.

Lynne Joyrich is associate professor of Modern Culture and Media where she has taught film and television studies, as well as gender and sexuality studies, since 1999. She is the author of Re-viewing Reception: Television, Gender, and Postmodern Culture (Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1996) and of a number of articles and book chapters on film, television, feminist, queer, and cultural studies in various journals and anthologies. She is also a co-editor and member of the editorial collective of the media and cultural studies journal Camera Obscura.

With this week's panelists, we will look at how TV changed through the popularity of An American Family.

With the current proliferation of 'Reality TV' and its 'reality' which often seems quite suspect, we will wonder what accounts for its popularity, whether or not An American Family can be seen as its direct ancestor and ask what it might be 'preparing us for.'

Here is a chance to look more deeply at a subject that sits with us in our living rooms, brought to you by an American Family that allowed us to sit in theirs.

This Program's Featured Panelists: 

Robert Self teaches and writes in twentieth-century U.S. history. His principal research interests are in urban history, the history of race and American political culture, post-1945 U.S. society and culture, and gender in the mid-century city. His first book, American Babylon: Race and the Struggle for for Postwar Oakland, was published by Princeton University Press in 2003. It won four professional prizes, including the James a. Rawley prize from the Organization of American Historians (OAH). He is currently at work on a book about gender, sexuality, and political culture in the U.S. from 1964 to 2004. for Postwar Oakland, was published by Princeton University Press in 2003. It won four professional prizes, including the James a. Rawley prize from the Organization of American Historians (OAH). He is currently at work on a book about gender, sexuality, and political culture in the U.S. from 1964 to 2004.

Lynne Joyrich is associate professor of Modern Culture and Media where she has taught film and television studies, as well as gender and sexuality studies, since 1999. She is the author of Re-viewing Reception: Television, Gender, and Postmodern Culture (Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1996) and of a number of articles and book chapters on film, television, feminist, queer, and cultural studies in various journals and anthologies. She is also a co-editor and member of the editorial collective of the media and cultural studies journal Camera Obscura.