From Married . . . with Children to Touched by an Angel: Politics, Economics, and the...

Television programming has changed dramatically over the past three decades and today’s shows often feature a degree of sexual explicitness never seen in 1950s and 1960s. However, many Americans have found these changes troubling and symptomatic of a general decay in the country’s moral fiber. The issue of "family values" in popular culture even fueled heated debates in the political campaigns of the 1980s and 1990s. This paper will examine the social and economic forces of the 1980s and 1990s that led to the airing of more explicit programs that challenged the traditional television image of family life, such as Married . . . with Children and Murphy Brown. Such shows produced a backlash that continues to be exploited as a political issue in national campaigns. One result has been the scheduling of more "family values" programs, such as Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman and Touched by an Angel, and the emergence of new “family friendly” networks.

Английский

Conference of the Popular Culture Association/ American Culture Philadelphia, PA, April 13, 2001. – 2001. – P. 1–32.