television — Bunk History

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Collage of popular culture references from 2008 onward.

That Feeling You Recognize? Obamacore.

The 2008 election sparked an outburst of brightness and positivity across pop culture. Now hindsight — and cringe — is setting in.

by Nate Jones via Vulture on August 20, 2024

Illustration of man throwing football to sports broadcaster.

Before and After the Contest: Wraparound Sportscasting Through the Ages

National Football League pre- and postgame shows have become a testing ground for novel technology in the waning days of linear television.

by Chloe Lizotte via Mubi on August 1, 2024

Cover of "Cue The Sun!" featuring videographers filming people lounging in backyard.

Time to Face Reality

Charting the history of a TV phenomenon.

by A. S. Hamrah via Bookforum on July 2, 2024

A photograph of Bonnie Erickson posing with the Phillie Phanatic mascot.

Miss Piggy Has a Mother

Everyone’s heard of Jim Henson. It’s time to give Bonnie Erickson — creator of beloved Muppets and mascots including the Phillie Phanatic — her due.

by Nell McShane Wulfhart via The Cut on June 13, 2024

Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert giving two thumbs up.

When the Movies Mattered

Siskel and Ebert and the heyday of popular movie criticism.

by Annie Berke via The Yale Review on June 12, 2024

Man laughing.

The Most Hated Sound on Television

For half a century, viewers scorned the laugh track while adoring shows that used it. Now it has all but disappeared.

by Jacob Stern via The Atlantic on April 15, 2024

Black women gathered in discussion for an episode of "Black Journal."

“The Black Woman”

Black women activism within documentary films in the 1960s United States.

by Manar Ellethy via Journal of the History of Ideas Blog on April 10, 2024

Larry David.

The End of “Curb Your Enthusiasm” Marks the End of an Era

Larry David is the last of his kind—and in several ways.

by Daniel Bessner via The Nation on April 8, 2024

Still from the 2023 indie film "Late Night with the Devil"

The Role of Talk Shows in Sensationalizing the Satanic Panic of the 1980s

"Late Night with the Devil," a “found footage” horror film, perfectly captures the mood and style that surrounded media depictions of the occult in the 1970s.

by Joseph Laycock via Religion Dispatches on March 26, 2024

The Hollywood sign replaced with the words "The End."

The Life and Death of Hollywood

Film and television writers face an existential threat.

by Daniel Bessner via Harper’s on March 21, 2024

Peanuts' Franklin as a flat two-dimensional character.

It’s Flagrant Tokenism, Charlie Brown!

Peanuts’ Franklin has been a controversial character for decades. A new special attempts reparations.

by Troy Patterson via Slate on February 16, 2024

A gem tintype album of Elizabeth (Almy) Cobb Hall, with portraits of the Almy family and friends

Past Lives

Who wants to watch a show whose characters never make real moral choices?

by Adina M. Yoffie via Contingent on December 14, 2023

flickr.com/photos/dalelanham

Playing to the Cameras

The prominence of politicos-turned-pundits is a product of cable news' turn to opinion commentary as a cheap and easy way to meet the needs of 24/7 coverage.

by Kathryn Cramer Brownell via HNN on December 12, 2023

Football player on the ground, grabbing his head in pain.

‘Another Player Down’

How concern about injuries is changing sports.

via Retro Report on November 20, 2023

Dell O'Dell performing a magic act for live tv with children watching.

Dell O'Dell's Trailblazing Magic Show Cast a Spell on Early Television Audiences

Rare footage of the woman magician's act captures her magnetic stage presence and range of tricks.

by Vanessa Armstrong via Smithsonian Magazine on October 24, 2023

2024 Republican presidential debate on Fox News.

How Cable News Upended American Politics

Cable TV's backers sold the technology as a boon to democracy, but embraced a business model that chased niche audiences.

by Kathryn Cramer Brownell via Made By History on September 27, 2023

Martial arts fighting scene from Warrior.

Bruce Lee’s “Warrior,” and the Politics of Kung Fu

The Max series makes a radical argument for what constitutes American history.

by Jasper Lo via The New Yorker on September 12, 2023

Injured reporter interviewing bloodied antiwar demonstrator

Seeing Was Not Believing

A new book identifies the 1968 Democratic convention as the moment when broad public regard for the news media gave way to widespread distrust, and American divisiveness took off.

by Eric Foner via New York Review of Books on August 30, 2023

Cover of the book "24/7 Politics," featuring photos of Nixon and Carter.

The Battlefields of Cable

How cable TV transformed politics—and how politics transformed cable TV.

by Jesse Walker via Reason on August 15, 2023

Richard Nixon on a television screen.

The Problem With Fox News Goes Way, Way Back

Richard Nixon decided a powerful new medium should appeal to the marketplace, not to citizens.

by Kathryn Cramer Brownell via The Atlantic on August 13, 2023

Television with LeVar Burton holding book and surrounded by rainbows.

How An Untested, Cash-Strapped TV Show About Books Became An American Classic

Despite facing political headwinds and raising 'suspicion' among publishers, 'Reading Rainbow' introduced generations of American kids to books.

by Jonathan Taylor via Los Angeles Times on July 11, 2023

Sonia Manzano and the Muppet Grover launch the Super Grover sandwich in honor of the 4,000th "Sesame Street" episode on Feb. 27, 2002, at a New York City deli.

I Was the First Latina on Sesame Street. Now I Have My Own Ideas About Bringing Representation to TV

"I thought, surely after the success of 'Sesame Street' and my contribution to it, all kinds of Latinx talent would flood the media. Not so."

by Sonia Manzano via HuffPost on June 4, 2023

Colorful abstract art

The Writers’ Strike Opens Old Wounds

The deep roots of the latest WGA strike.

by Kate Fortmueller via Los Angeles Review of Books on May 19, 2023

Security guards separate guests on an episode of ‘The Jerry Springer Show’ titled ‘I am pregnant by my half-brother.’

Jerry Springer and the History of That [Bleeping] Bleep Sound

As ‘The Jerry Springer Show’ climbed the ratings ladder, the censorship bleep became a star of the show.

by Matthew F. Jordan via The Conversation on May 2, 2023

How Lloyd Morrisett Built Sesame Street, From the Foundation Up

Sesame Street's most famous origin story centers on a 1966 dinner party. But the program was actually the culmination of a career that began much earlier.

by Kathryn Ostrofsky via HistPhil on February 15, 2023

The son of Robert "Whitey" Fuller, director of publicity for Dartmouth athletics, and other children playing football, Dartmouth, 1946.

'Hit the Line Hard'

During the cold war, football’s violence became precisely its point.

by Jake Nevins via New York Review of Books on February 12, 2023

Looney Tunes "That's all Folks" on a TV screen.

HBO Max’s Great Looney Tunes Purge

Hundreds of classic cartoons vanished without warning. How can you raise your kids on favorites you can’t access anymore?

by Sam Thielman via Slate on January 11, 2023

The Life of Song

What the surprising career of Bob McGrath teaches us about popular music.

by Kathryn Ostrofsky on December 14, 2022

A still from "Ulitza Sezam" with the cast and puppet characters sitting around a table.

When the Muppets Moved to Moscow

A new book details the tangled tale of "Ulitsa Sezam," a "Sesame Street" spinoff that aired until visions of Russia's democratic future faltered.

by Brigit Katz via Smithsonian Magazine on October 14, 2022

Repeated newspaper photograph of Stokely Carmichael.

How Stokely Carmichael Helped Inspire the Creation of C-SPAN

A Black Power radical, a Navy veteran, and the story behind the most boring channel on television.

by Eamon Whalen via Mother Jones on August 24, 2022

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