Redesigning Women: Television After the Network Era PDF
Preview Redesigning Women: Television After the Network Era
Redesigning Communications / Critical Theory / Cultural Studies / Women’s Studies Lotz Redesigning “It was a strange time. Just as Women drama on television seemed R Women Amanda D. Lotz doomed in the face of e Television after the Social Darwinist/makeover d Network Era game shows (a.k.a. reality TV) along came prime-time e At the transition to the twenty-fi rst century, Ameri- women’s programming and can television audiences witnessed an unprecedent- s cable channels. Amanda ed expansion in programming devoted explicitly to i women. Multiple cable networks including Oxygen Lotz was there to see what g Media, Women’s Entertainment Network, and Life- happened. Her chronicle is Television n time targeted female viewers, while broadcast and a landmark in U.S. media cable networks offered prime-time dramatic series scholarship.” i after the centered on female characters such as Buffy the n —Toby Miller, editor of Vampire Slayer, Judging Amy, Gilmore Girls, Sex and Television & New Media g the City, and Ally McBeal. Network “Focusing on the prolifera- After establishing this phenomenon’s signifi cance W tion and increasing variety to feminist and television studies, Amanda D. Lotz Era of female-centered televi- employs a cultural studies framework to examine sion dramas, Redesigning o whether the multiplicity of female-centric networks and narratives renders certain gender stereotypes Women systematically m uninhabitable and how new dramatic portrayals of analyzes a realm of contem- women have redefi ned narrative conventions. Re- porary American television e designing Women also explores the rise of narrow- programming that has casting, or the targeting of a niche segment of the n yet to be discussed at this overall audience, and the ways in which the new, so- length and depth. Lotz of- phisticated portrayals of women inspire sympathetic identifi cation while also commodifying viewers into fers a new model of analysis T a marketable demographic for advertisers. for women’s television e Nl and provides valuable and e e Amanda D. Lotz is an assistant professor of commu- v excellent discussion of t i nication at the University of Michigan. She has con- ws what some have called tributed to the Encyclopedia of Television, 2nd ed., i post-feminist television.” oo and other books and journals. rn —Moya Luckett, coeditor k of Swinging Single: a A volume in the series Feminist Studies and Media E Culture, edited by Andrea L. Press Representing Sexuality f in the 1960s rt ae Designed by Dennis Roberts r t h University of Illinois Press ISBN 0-252-07310-X e ,!7IA2F2-ahdbag!:t;K;k;K;k Urbana and Chicago www.press.uillinois.edu Amanda D. Lotz ILLINOIS 00.front.i-xii_Lotz 4/19/06 1:42 PM Page i Redesigning Women 00.front.i-xii_Lotz 4/19/06 1:42 PM Page ii feminist studies and media culture Series Editor Andrea Press,University ofIllinois at Urbana-Champaign A list ofbooks in the series appears at the end ofthis book. 00.front.i-xii_Lotz 4/19/06 1:42 PM Page iii Redesigning Women Television after the Network Era amanda d. lotz University ofIllinois Press urbana and chicago 00.front.i-xii_Lotz 4/19/06 1:42 PM Page iv © 2006by Amanda D.Lotz All rights reserved Manufactured in the United States ofAmerica ∞ This book is printed on acid-free paper. 1 2 3 4 5 c p 5 4 3 2 1 Library ofCongress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Lotz,Amanda D.,1974– Television after the network era / Amanda D.Lotz. p. cm.— (Feminist studies and media culture) Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn-13:978-0-252-03067-3(cloth :alk.paper) isbn-10:0-252-03067-2(cloth :alk.paper) isbn-13:978-0-252-07310-6(pbk.:alk.paper) isbn-10:0-252-07310-X (pbk.:alk.paper) 1.Women on television.2.Television programs for women—United States.3.Television and women—United States.4.Television broad- casting—Social aspects—United States.I.Title.II.Series. pn1992.8.w65l68 2006 791.45′6522—dc22 2005022122 00.front.i-xii_Lotz 4/19/06 1:42 PM Page v For Wes and Sharon and in memory ofJake 00.front.i-xii_Lotz 4/19/06 1:42 PM Page vi 00.front.i-xii_Lotz 4/19/06 1:42 PM Page vii Contents Acknowledgments ix Introduction:Female-Centered Dramas after the Network Era 1 1. Women’s Brands and Brands ofWomen:Segmenting Audiences and Network Identities 37 2. Fighting for Families and Femininity:The Hybrid Narratives ofthe Action Drama 68 3. Sex,Careers,and Mr.Right in Comedic Dramas:The “New” New Women ofAlly McBealand Sex and the City 88 4. Same Story,Different Channel? Returning Home and Starting Over in Protagonist-Centered Family Dramas 118 5. OfFemale Cops and Docs:The Reformulation ofWorkplace Dramas and Other Trends in Mixed-Sex Ensembles 144 Epilogue:The 2001–2Season and Beyond 165 Conclusion:U.S.Feminist Television Criticism in the Post-Network Era 171 Notes 181 Works Cited 203 Index 215 00.front.i-xii_Lotz 4/19/06 1:42 PM Page viii 00.front.i-xii_Lotz 4/19/06 1:42 PM Page ix
The list of books you might like
