jboothmillard Review of America in Primetime

America in Primetime (2011)

United States of Television: America in Primetime

[7/10 · 16 May 2013]

There are many American sitcoms and drama that have grabbed my attention, and some that I haven't got into but would be very interested in watching and trying, and the programme that I found out about was a good opportunity to reminisce on this television. Presented by Alan Yentob, this documentary series looks back on American television in prime-time, i.e. evening times when shows get millions of viewers, from the past and continuing into the present, and focusing on particular characters as well how the most popular concepts have changed over the years in both sitcom and drama. The popular concepts focused in the programme are Man of the House, i.e. the father figure or working family man, The Misfit, i.e. the member of an environment, group or in society that does not fit for whatever reason, The Independent Woman, i.e. the confident professional woman who has a secure job and works hard to keep their wellbeing and family together, and The Crusader, the man or woman who stays on the right side of the law and either professional or unorthodox ways to do good. Man of the House included shows and characters like: All in the Family – Archie Bunker, The Andy Griffith Show – Andy Griffith, The Bernie Mac Show – Bernie Mac, Big Love – Bill Henrickson, Breaking Bad – Walter White, The Cosby Show – Cliff Huxtable The Dick Van Dyke Show – Rob Petrie, Everybody Loves Raymond – Ray Barone, Father Knows Best – Jim X, The Honeymooners – Ralph Kramden, Mad Men – Don Draper, Modern Family – Mitchell Pritchett and Cameron Tucker, The Simpsons – Homer Simpson, The Sopranos – Tony Soprano and Thirtysomething – Michael Steadman. The Misfit included shows and characters like: 30 Rock – Jack Donaghy, The Addams Family – Gomez Addams, Arrested Development – The Bluths, Beavis and Butt-Head, Curb Your Enthusiasm – Larry David, Freaks and Geeks – Lindsey and Sam, Glee – The Kids, The Larry Sanders Show – Larry Sanders and Hank Kingsley, The Office – Dwight Schrute, Seinfeld – The Seinfeld Four, Six Feet Under – Nate Fisher, Taxi – Louie De Palma, True Blood – Sookie Stackhouse, Twin Peaks – Special Agent Dale Cooper and United States of Tara – Tara Gregson. The Independent Woman included shows and characters like: Desperate Housewives – Lynette Scavo, The Dick Van Dyke Show – Laura Petrie, The Donna Reed Show – Donna Stone, The Good Wife – Alicia Florrick and Kalinda Sharma, Grey's Anatomy – Dr. Cristina Young, I Love Lucy – Lucy Ricardo, The Mary Tyler Moore Show – Mary Richards, Murphy Brown – Murphy Brown, Nurse Jackie – Jackie Peyton, Roseanne – Roseanne Conner, Sex and the City – Carrie Bradshaw and Weeds – Nancy Botwin. The Crusader included shows and characters like: 24 – Jack Bauer, Adventures of Superman - Superman, Alias - Sydney Bristow, Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Buffy Summers, Dexter – Dexter Morgan, Dragnet - Sergeant Joe Friday and Officer Bill Gannon, Gunsmoke - Matt Dillon, Homicide: Life on the Street – Det. Frank Pembleton, House M.D. – Dr. Gregory House, The Lone Ranger - The Lone Ranger, M*A*S*H – Captain Benjamin Franklin 'Hawkeye' Pierce, Marcus Welbey, M.D. - Dr. Marcus Welby, NYPD Blue – Det. Andy Sipowicz, The Rifleman - Lucas McCain, The Shield – Detective Vic Mackey, The Wire - Omar Little and The X-Files – Special Agent Dana Scully. With contributions from Alan Alda, Gillian Anderson, Judd Apatow, Alec Baldwin, Alan Ball, Roseanne Barr, Candice Bergen, Steven Bochco, Andre Braugher, James L. Brooks, Marcy Carsey, Chris Carter, David Chase, Marc Cherry, The Shield's Michael Chiklis, Robert Cochran, Diablo Cody, Sara Colleton, Bryan Cranston, Danny DeVito, Diane English, Edie Falco, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Tom Fontana, Dennis Franz, Vince Gilligan, Michael C. Hall, John Hamm, Patricia Heaton, Marshall Herskovitz, Ron Howard, Felicity Huffman, Mitchell Hurwitz, Al Jean, Michelle King, Robert King, Jenji Kohan, Hugh Laurie, Norman Lear, Steven Levitan, Warren Littlefield, Christopher Lloyd, Eva Longoria, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, David Lynch, Stephen McPherson, James Manos Jr., Julianna Margulies, Jerry Mathers, Laurie Metcalf, George Meyer, David Milch, Mary Tyler Moore, Elisabeth Moss, Sue Naegle, Sandra Oh, Mark V. Olsen, Archie Panjabi, Mary-Louise Parker, Sarah Jessica Parker, Bill Paxton, Kevin Reilly, Carl Reiner, Rob Reiner, Shonda Rhimes, Ray Romano, Philip Rosenthal, Mike Royce, Shawn Ryan, Will Scheffer, David Shore, David Simon, Darren Star, Eric Stonestreet, Joel Surnow, Jeffrey Tambor, Dick Van Dyke, Linda Wallem, Matthew Weiner, Tom Werner, Michael Kenneth Williams, Larry Wilmore, Rainn Wilson and Edward Zwick. Very good!