America in Primetime (2011) User Reviews

A Cultural View Of Television

[zkonedog · 7/10 · 3 March 2017]

Since that little box started appearing in living rooms across the United States during the 1950s, television programs have constantly evolved in both culture and scope. "America in Primetime" examines some of those cultural moors and tries to understand their significance.

This set is broken down into four parts:

1. The evolution of men on the small screen, beginning with the stereotypical Father Knows Best and coming to rest on more complex males such as those in Breaking Bad, The Wire, or Mad Men.

2. The ever-changing role of women on television, from the "happy homemaker" days of June Cleaver to the pill-popping Nurse Jackie and the gals of Sex and the City.

3. The "outcasts", or those who never quite fit in (e.g. the Dwight Schrutes or Ugly Bettys of the TV landscape). An interesting discussion ensues surrounding why exactly these figures are so prevalent on television.

4. The crusaders (like Jack Bauer or Fox Mulder) who exhibit stoic traits such as persistence, loyalty, and integrity.

This is a fun little set to watch because, let's face it...those of us who are serious about our TV viewing (and if you aren't, you aren't considering this collection to begin with) like to revel in the nostalgia and memories of all our favorite shows both past and present.

I can't give the series a full five stars because, in all seriousness, I'm not sure that the deep societal issues pondering by the filmmakers are truly the driving force behind each show (e.g. is True Blood really an allegory on the human condition, or is it an excuse to show half-naked vampires getting it on?). However, "America In Primetime" does make enough sentient points to keep you engaged throughout.

United States of Television: America in Primetime

[jboothmillard · 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!

America in Primetime

[undertaker198419 · 24 February 2018]

PRODUCED WITH THE PRODUCTION OF The Canada Media Fund The Independent Production Fund Bell Broadcast and New Media Fund

AND WITH THE PRODUCTION OF The Canadian Film and Video Production Tax Credit The Government of Ontario The Ontario Production Services Tax Credit and TVOntario