Candice Bergen Murphy Brown

Murphy Brown, Motherhood, and “Family Values”

Murphy Brown represented a threat to “family values”—a position that inherently placed her on the side of the families of color whose single family structures supposedly threatened the white, middle-class status quo of the 1990s.
Iran hostage crisis TV

How the Iran Hostage Crisis Changed International Journalism

On November 4th, 1979, Iranian militants took over the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. They seized 63 Americans, a number later ...
Star Trek: Discovery

What Star Trek: Discovery Can Tell Us About Tech and Social Progress

What makes Star Trek essential for any contemporary tech user is its role in helping us understand our relationship to technology.
Old movie theater

Weirdly Enough, Movies about TV Prepared America for TV

Ironically, it was movies that helped accustom American viewers to television in the first place, writes Richard Koszarski.
Roloff Family

Little People on TV: Educational or Exploitative?

Little people have been used for entertainment purposes in royal courts from ancient Egypt to medieval Europe. But can this be more than exploitative?
Mae West

How The “Fag Hag” Went From Hated to Celebrated

At its core, the relationship between single women and gay men has longstanding historical roots.
Dan Rather

Dan Rather on Dan Rather

Dan Rather's ruminations on politics and morality feel so 2017. This interview he gave in the '70s lends insight into how seriously he takes journalism.
Condoms

A Short History of the Condom

Dating back to at least medieval times, the condom has taken a winding path to social acceptance.
Ronald Reagan 1982

Ronald Reagan, The First Reality TV Star President

Ronald Reagan is at the heart of the modern American politics of advertising, public relations, and a television in every home.
Jack Barry, Charles Van Doren and Vivienne Nearing

How Academics Fell In and Out of Love with TV Quiz Shows

In the 1950s, the world went quiz-show crazy. But something was rotten inside Hollywood—the shows were packed with ringers.