The Lonely Nineties : Visions of Community in Contemporary US Television

This book examines the most popular American television shows of the nineties—a decade at the last gasp of network television’s cultural dominance. At a time when American culture seemed increasingly fragmented, television still offered something close to a site of national consensus. __The Lonely Nineties__ focuses on a different set of popular nineties television shows in each chapter and provides an in-depth reading of scenes, characters or episodes that articulate the overarching “ideology” of each series. It ultimately argues that television shows such as __Seinfeld__, __Friends__, __Law & Order__ and __The Simpsons__ helped to shape the ways Americans thought about themselves in relation to their friends, families, localities, and nation. It demonstrates how these shows engaged with a variety of problems in American civic life, responded to the social isolation of the age, and occasionally imagined improvements for community in America. Annotation This book examines the most popular American television shows of the nineties--a decade at the last gasp of network television's cultural dominance. At a time when American culture seemed increasingly fragmented, television still offered something close to a site of national consensus. The Lonely Nineties focuses on a different set of popular nineties television shows in each chapter and provides an in-depth reading of scenes, characters or episodes that articulate the overarching "ideology" of each series. It ultimately argues that television shows such as Seinfeld, Friends, Law & Order and The Simpsons helped to shape the ways Americans thought about themselves in relation to their friends, families, localities, and nation. It demonstrates how these shows engaged with a variety of problems in American civic life, responded to the social isolation of the age, and occasionally imagined improvements for community in America Front Matter ....Pages i-x Watching TV After the Wall Came Down (Paul Arras)....Pages 1-11 Lonely Bowling and Other Critical Contexts (Paul Arras)....Pages 13-23 They Let You Just Sit There: The Failure of the Coffee Shop in Seinfeld, Friends, and Frasier (Paul Arras)....Pages 25-66 I’m Doing This My Own Way: Redeeming NYPD Blue’s Racist Hero (Paul Arras)....Pages 67-99 It Was a Different Time: Law & Order, White Rabbits, and the Decline of Sixties Radicalism (Paul Arras)....Pages 101-133 The Truth Is Out There...and He Loves You: Depictions of Faith in The X-Files and Touched by an Angel (Paul Arras)....Pages 135-173 This Town Ain’t so Bad: Eternity in Heavenly Springfield with The Simpsons (Paul Arras)....Pages 175-216 TV After the Nineties (Paul Arras)....Pages 217-229 Back Matter ....Pages 231-238