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摘要
摘要
A sociohistory of this (alas) self-renewing form of drama. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.
评论 (4)
出版社周刊评论
Jones, coauthor of The Beaver Papers, proves a perceptive and penetrating observer of pop culture. At the outset he makes it clear that the TV sitcom is ``a corporate product . . . a mass consumption commodity,'' yet does not downplay its importance as an indicator of public taste and, more importantly, as a molder of that taste. He also points out that situation comedy from the '50s to the '90s has had the same plotline: a character develops a desire that runs counter to the welfare of the group (whether family, office staff or dedicated barflies) and eventually abandons his or her selfish goals. Jones analyzes past comedies for their regional and age-group appeal, offering thoughtful comments on shows from I Love Lucy through All in the Family to The Simpsons. Those who regard television with contempt may consider that Jones uses a bulldozer on a sandcastle, but can anyone deny his argument that TV sitcoms are enormously influential? Photos not seen by PW. (Feb.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus评论
An I Love Lucy to Cheers run-through of sitcom as both product and ``foggy'' mirror of our corporate culture, by the coauthor of The Beaver Papers and The Comic Book Heroes (neither reviewed). Jones considers situation comedies over the past four decades against a broad-brushed cultural setting, arguing that sitcom ``ideals''--particularly the ``consensual solution''--are those ``on which modern bureaucratic business and government are founded.'' ``The most successful,'' he claims, possess ``a particularly shrewd insight into the concerns of the vast American public.'' Jones champions the pioneering 1951 Lucy and its ``theater of battle'' (``the mad housewife,'' he says, ``never favored the `corporate' resolutions''), and rails against the artificial, sugary, suburban moral lesson of Father Knows Best. That show and some of its many imitators (e.g., Bachelor Father, Leave it to Beaver, and The Dick Van Dyke Show) he calls ``strangely seductive horrors,'' ``products of profound national confusion masquerading as confidence.'' As Jones analyzes the premises and plots of Dobie Gillis, The Beverly Hillbillies, Bewitched, Maude, etc., he also offers such interesting TV facts as that, in both 1968 and 1969, the networks passed up All in the Family--which, like The Mary Tyler Moore Show, abandoned ``postwar optimism.'' Jones is at his best when homing in on what makes particular shows and characters tick--pinpointing The Honeymooners' ``venom of a frustrated Brooklyn blue-collar marriage,'' or Leave It To Beaver's ``funniest and sharpest creation'': the ``pathetically ridiculous'' Eddie Haskell. But the author is less convincing when he sees ``the rebellious currents....hinted at'' by Eddie as forerunners to SDS and a ``nascent women's liberation movement.'' In early 1991, Jones notes, Cheers, that clubhouse ``for the alienated,'' still held its own against the ``feel-good'' Cosby show. Competent but uneven, and perhaps overly demanding of the most popular form of American TV as sociological oracle. (Sixteen pages of b&w photographs--not seen.)
《书目》(Booklist)书评
Tracing the development of the situation comedy from its beginnings in early radio, Jones shows how the genre mirrors and is shaped by changes in American society and so reflects both what we are and what we would like to be. From the urban- and ethnic-based programs that appeared on both radio and TV ("The Goldbergs," "Amos 'n' Andy") through TV's Golden Age of the early 1950s ("I Love Lucy," "The Honeymooners") and the subsequent move to the suburbs ("Father Knows Best," "Leave It to Beaver") to today's entries, which run from both the ultratraditional ("The Cosby Show") to the subversively innovative ("Married . . . with Children," "The Simpsons"), Jones shows how much--and how little--the genre has changed over the decades. His observations, although seldom profound or revelatory, are always intelligent and insightful, and since he generally avoids the ponderousness of scholarly critics of the medium, his book will interest casual TV viewers as well as pop-culture buffs and social historians. ~--Gordon Flagg
《图书馆杂志》(Library Journal )书评
Jones has written a thorough analysis of the sociological impact of television sitcoms from their beginnings in radio. While always a popular format, the half-hour comedy has reflected changing trends in society, helped the average person cope with these changes in a nonthreatening way by laughing at them, and most of all sold the advertiser's product. From the early classic I Love Lucy to The Mary Tyler Moore Show and All in the Family , which changed the face of television in the 1970s and set the standards for all sitcoms since that time, up to Cheers and The Simpsons , Jones's lively and insightful presentation will amuse as well as provoke thought.-- Marcia L. Perry, Berkshire Athenaeum, Pittsfield, Mass. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.