Comic Visions: Television Comedy and American Culture

Comic Visions, Second Edition is an update of the most influential critical history written on the evolution of American television comedy. In his witty, lucid, and insightful style, David Marc skilfully combines historical research with cultural analysis to provide an immensely readable study of television comedy as a reflection of the diversity and richness in American society.

Marc examines the roots of television comedy beginning with the influence of Vaudeville, cinema and radio on the variety shows and sitcoms of the 1940′s and 1950′s. He then moves into television′s response to the turbulent 1960′s and the great expansion of situational comedy popular in the 1970′s. A completely new chapter looks at recent developments such as Comedy Central and the proliferation of stand–up comedy and also includes an engaging analysis of why shows like Seinfeld and The Simpsons are such major hits in the 1990s.

Foreword by Ken Tucker, Entertainment Weekly

Praise for the First Edition.

Acknowledgments.

Foreword by Ken Tucker.

Preface to the Second Edition.

1. What′s So Funny About America?.

2. Waking Up to Television.

3. The Making of a Sitcom, 1961.

4. Planet Earth to Sitcom, Planet Earth to Sitcom.

5. The Sitcom at Literate Peak.

6. Demographic Fantasies of the Reagan Era.

7. Friends of the Family.

Bibliography.

Index to Television Comedy Series.

General Index.

David Marc teaches at the Annenberg School for Communication, University of Southern California and at the Department of Film and Television, UCLA. He is a frequent contributor to The Village Voice and is the author of Demographic Vistas, Revised Edition (1996), and Bonfire of the Humanities (1995).

"A new edition of David Marc′s Comic Visions is grounds for rejoicing. His historical survey of TV comedy remains unrivalled, and new material on the cable era will be more than welcome." Francis Couvares, Amherst College.

"David Marc′s Comic Visions is the outstanding book of its type: social and cultural analysis of the most popular and important comedic forms of television." Chad Gordon, Rice University.

"Recommended for all academic and large public libraries; all levels." A. Hirsh, emeritus, Central Conneticut State University.