Television is perhaps the most ubiquitous and overlooked of all media. In its various forms—as commercial broadcast receiver, video playback unit, surveillance agent, art object, gaming and computer screen—it has come to shape our reality, yet few have stopped to examine the medium in any depth. This, as television scholar Robert Allen notes, is because the medium appears transparent to us. We take its narratives, images, and effects for granted because they appear to be “harmless entertainment.” The problem is compounded by the fact that we live with the receiver, arranging our rooms around it and casually talking to it as to a friend. This course will begin, therefore, by “making television strange,” deliberately shifting our assumptions about it so that we can see it for the powerful social medium that it is. We will work to instill the notion that entertainment is never harmless. It teaches us to comprehend and even arrange our existence in certain ways but not others. By actively refusing the impulse to take TV for granted, we will establish a critical vantage point from which to question the social positions that television invites us to occupy, especially the positions of consumer and couch potato. This course will be conducted through lecture and discussion with weekly screenings of relevant TV programming. Evaluation will consist of 15 on-line discussion postings, 2 essays (5-10 pages), and 2 exams.

Course Policies and Requirements

Attendance and Participation: Students are expected to attend every class and participate actively in class discussions, both real and virtual. I want to be able to remember each and every one of you from something you have said in class, office hours, e-mail, or on-line that makes a constructive contribution to the class. 

On-Line Comprehension Exercises: You will be asked to post a brief response to the reading materials on the virtual discussion board at least 15 times during the semester. The assignments will be posted in the “Discussion Board” section of the Blackboard (http://blackboard.okstate.edu). Each assignment will be worth ten points, and together they will comprise 15% of your course grade. . There will be no late postings accepted.

Exams (1 Mid-Term, 1 Final): Exams will consist of identifications, short-answer responses, and/or essay questions and will cover the course readings, lectures, and discussions in equal measure. Check the course schedule to determine exam dates. There will always be a study guide offered for the exams; it behooves you to use it. Make-up exams will be given only in cases of documented emergency and only if I am notified of said emergency well before the scheduled date and time of the exam. If you contact me after you miss an exam, I will be unable to help you, and you will receive a grade of zero.

Essays: You will write two analytical essays for this course (between 5-10 pages) about the television medium and its programming in the US. Full details of these assignments will be available in the Assignments folder of Blackboard as the deadlines near. Consult the Schedule of Readings for due dates. No late papers will be accepted under any circumstances--don't even ask!