TCF 311 Critical Studies in Television
Fall 2013
http://goo.gl/gV5JaT

This is an addendum to the full syllabus. The instructor stipulates that a student's receipt of this addendum shall act as a contract between the instructor and the student. Receipt of this addendum presupposes that a student has read and understands the policies contained here and in the full online syllabus: goo.gl/Hv9fVE. Please contact the instructor if you have any questions about these policies.

Grades and other course materials are posted on Blackboard Learn.

THIS OUTLINE IS SUBJECT TO CHANGES ANNOUNCED IN CLASS
= illustrations* | = Screenpedia | TV credits | = YouTube

Date	Topic/Screening	Readings
8/22	Introduction to the Course The Andy Griffith Show (1966)
8/27	TV Structure , Narrative Structure (Classicism) Friends (1999)	Butler, chs. 1, 2 (pp. 21-33);
8/29	Narrative Structure (Series & Serial) The Cosby Show (1984)	Butler, ch. 2 (pp. 34-51);
9/3	Characters, Actors, Stars	Butler, ch. 3;
9/5, 10	Beyond and Beside Narrative Cops (1989-), CBS/NBC news , The Daily Show (1996-) Deadliest Catch (2005-), Here Comes Honey Boo Boo (2012), College Football (2004)	Butler, ch. 4; recommended: Salon on Reality TV (local copy)
9/12	The Commercial Appleby's, Verizon, Tums, Aussie, Oreo, Botox, Tyson Extra Credit: Évocateur: The Morton Downey Jr. Movie, Bama Theatre, 7:30pm, free	Butler, ch. 5
9/17	Exam #1 -- exam preparation Gillette Fusion commercial
9/19	Television Studies: An Overview The Honeymooners (1955-56) The New Adventures of Old Christine (2006-10)	Butler, ch. 11; Butler, Appendix II
9/24	Genre Screening Martin Kane, Private Eye (1949-54) Dragnet (1951-59, 1967-70, 1989-91, 2003-04) Detour (1945)	Butler, Ch. 12, pp. 367-370 and 375-381
9/26	Genre Study	Mittell, "Policing Genres"
10/1	Semiotics Screening Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997) Fangface (1980) The Wonder Years (1991)	Butler, Ch. 12, pp. 381-391
10/3	Semiotics	Seiter, "Semiotics, Structuralism..."
10/8	Ideological Criticism, Cultural Studies & Production Studies Screening Modern Family (2010) My So-Called Life (1994)	Butler, Ch. 13, pp. 395-410
10/10	Ideological Criticism, Cultural Studies & Production Studies	Thompson & Mittell, How to Read Television
10/15	Discourse & Identity Screening Designing Women (1991) The Real World (1992), Justify My Love (1990)	Butler, Ch. 13, pp. 410-421
10/17	Discourse & Identity I & II: Gender and Queer Theory Girlfriends (2000)
10/22	Discourse & Identity III: Race and Ethnicity	Smith-Shomade, "Laughing Out Loud"
10/24	Exam #2
10/29	Mise-en-Scene Northern Exposure (1990-95)	Butler, chs. 6 and 7
10/31	Mid-Semester Break
11/5	Cinematography/Videography New Girl (2011) He Said, She Said (1991) CameraSim Exercise	Butler, ch. 8
11/7	Editing: Single Camera Mode Northern Exposure (1990-95) The Sopranos Chevrolet ad	Butler, ch. 9
11/12	Editing: Multiple Camera Mode Seinfeld (1990-98) , All My Children (1970-2011) As the World Turns (1956-2010) The New Adventures of Old Christine (2006-10)	Butler, ch. 9
11/14	Sound Exercise: Dodge commercial	Butler, ch. 10
11/19	Style and Stylistics Scrubs (2001-10) The Mindy Project (2012-)	Butler, ch. 12, pp. 370-375; Butler, "Televisuality and..." (PDF)
11/21	A History of TV Style  Clorox commercial	Copeland (PDF)
11/26	Special Topics I: Music Television The Buggles, The Replacements, Alanis Morissette, Peter Gabriel, Guns N' Roses, Lauryn Hill, Lamp of Memory	Allan (PDF)
11/28	Thanksgiving Holiday
12/3	Special Topics III: Animation Steamboat Willie (1928), Gerald McBoing-Boing (1951) , Crusader Rabbit (1949-51,'57-69) , The Flintstones (1960-66), The Simpsons (1989-)	Butler/Goldmark, "Animated Television" (PDF)
12/5	Course Summary / Exam Preparation (bring a laptop)	Course Evaluation
12/6	Extra Credit due, TCF Office (484 Phifer), 4:30 pm Requirements
12/9	Exam preparation due, 4:45 pm, TCF office (484 Phifer)
12/12	Final Exam Period, 8:00 a.m., Thursday Exam #3 R.E.M. "Stand" (frame grabs)

Textbook:

Jeremy G. Butler, Television: Critical Methods and Applications (New York: Routledge, 2011). Online resources.

Additional Readings (Alphabetical Order):

PDFs of the readings are posted on Blackboard Learn.

• Blaine Allan, "Music Television,"
  from the third, out-of-print edition of Television
• Jeremy G. Butler, "Televisuality and the Resurrection of the Sitcom in the 2000s,"
  in Television Style (NY: Routledge, 2010), 173-222.
• Jeremy G. Butler and Daniel Goldmark, "Animated Television: The Narrative Cartoon,"
  from the third, out-of-print edition of Television
• Gary Copeland, "A History of Television Style,"
  from the third, out-of-print edition of Television
• Jason Mittell, "Policing Genres,"
  in Genre and Television: From Cop Show to Cartoons in American Culture (NY: Routledge, 2004).
• Ellen Seiter, "Semiotics, Structuralism and Television,"
  in Robert C. Allen, Channels of Discourse, Reassembled, second edition (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1992).
• Beretta E. Smith-Shomade, "Laughing Out Loud: Negras Negotiating Situation Comedy,"
  in Shaded Lives: African-American Women and Television (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2002), 24-68.
• Selections from Ethan Thompson & Jason Mittell, How to Watch Television (NY: NYU Press, 2013).

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Contact: jbutler@ua.edu
Original material is copyright © 1994-2025 Jeremy G. Butler.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License.