A Look at TV Sitcom Very Special Episodes Featuring Author/Historian Lee Gambin - Part 1
Release Date: 04/06/2023
Talking Sci-Fi with a Scientist: Dr. Sherry Ginn
Advanced TV Herstory
On location at the Pop Culture Association (PCA) National Conference in Chicago, I met with Sherry Ginn, PhD, the current PCA president. Dr. Ginn is an impressive pop culture and science fiction scholar and I’m grateful that we were able to sit down and talk about our mutual interests in television and the impact of women in society. Our discussion includes the evolution of science fiction in popular culture, the legacy of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the problem with Dollhouse, female representation and role models, feminism, diversity, inclusion, norm breaking, and the special...
info_outline
TV Talk Show Moment: Vivien Leigh as Herself
Advanced TV Herstory
We continue to celebrate the female voices that have provided a foundation for cultural advancement and modern discourse by featuring a rare TV talk show appearance by two-time Academy Award winner Vivien Leigh. The year was 1958. The show was “Small World,” hosted by American broadcast journalist Edward R. Murrow. Appearing alongside Ms. Leigh are motion picture executive Samuel Goldwyn and British writer and entertainment critic Kenneth Tynan. Ms. Leigh, best known for her work as Scarlett O’Hara in “Gone with the Wind” and Blanche DuBois in “A Streetcar Named...
info_outline
Intimacy Coordinating feat. Daytime's Yvonne Perry
Advanced TV Herstory
Host Cynthia Bemis Abrams welcomes Yvonne Perry to Advanced TV Herstory. Yvonne is an award-winning actor, drama teacher, director, and intimacy coordinator. In addition to her work in film and primetime television, she originated the role of Rosanna Cabot on "As the World Turns." Yvonne’s experience in daytime TV, with its groundbreaking storylines and thoughtful intimacy handling, has informed her approach to work today. Cynthia and Yvonne reflect on the wins in the 2023 SAG-AFTRA contract, including new standards and protocols for the use of intimacy coordinators. Yvonne discusses...
info_outline
Parade of Accomplished Women 2023 - Part II
Advanced TV Herstory
In this special episode, Cynthia Bemis Abrams is joined by guest co-host Ashley Pacini for the Parade of Accomplished Women 2023. Instead of a somber “in memoriam,” we’re bringing you a celebration of the talented, influential women who helped shape the television industry. In this second part of our tribute, we highlight the women of daytime, the often-overlooked creatives working behind the scenes, and—new this year—the women of reality shows. It is especially difficult to preserve the legacy of lesser-known women in an ever-expanding industry, but their influence is no less...
info_outline
Parade of Accomplished Women 2023 - Part I
Advanced TV Herstory
OUT in 2024 - "In Memoriam" IN - Parade of Accomplished Women This is the first of our two-part celebration of some of the talented, influential females we lost in 2023. Guest co-host Ashley Pacini of The Reel Women joins host Cynthia Bemis Abrams for this discussion. The Reel Women interviews and profiles women in the industry to increase visibility and opportunity for the next generation of women who want to work in television, film, and media. Cynthia and Ashley pay respects to the creatives who played pivotal roles in front of, and behind, the cameras. In addition...
info_outline
TV Talk Shows: Hellman v. McCarthy
Advanced TV Herstory
Welcome to the next episode in our special series on TV Talk Shows. Big talk show moments, especially the controversial ones, provide snapshots that we can use to examine our politics and culture at a singular point in time. Some of the moments we discuss in this series may be unfamiliar to you or they may seem obscure or forgotten, but that’s the point. We’re here to preserve TV Herstory. Today, when alternative facts are part of our daily life, it’s especially instructive to look back more than 40 years at a grudge match over Truth and Reputation that played out on The Dick Cavett Show...
info_outline
Annie Potts: Hooked on Helping
Advanced TV Herstory
We know her as Meemaw, Mary Jo Shively, Emmie Sims, and the voice of Bo Peep. But Annie Potts is hooked on helping others—she’s very hands on—and she’s here to tell us about that part of her life. In doing so, she inspires us with her commitment and challenges us to “turn the car around.” Annie’s charitable organization, The Heart Channels, provides direct support quickly and creatively to people at critical crossroads in their life. Its mission reflects what Annie witnessed growing up—that wherever there was a need, people opened their hearts and quietly stepped in to help...
info_outline
TV Talk Shows: The First in a Series
Advanced TV Herstory
Join host Cynthia Bemis Abrams as she launches a new limited series, TV Talk Shows, part of the Advanced TV Herstory podcast. In this first episode, Cynthia delves into a study that reveals women are more prominently featured in unscripted television shows than in scripted ones—another example of the industry’s inclination to front women in projects that are less expensive to produce. She also touches on the recent strikes by SAG-AFTRA and the WGA, emphasizing the importance of storytelling and representation in scripted television. Cynthia then outlines the focus of the TV Talk...
info_outline
Pioneer Women Writers of TV with Annie Berke, PhD
Advanced TV Herstory
Advanced TV Herstory’s commitment to connecting the dots of TV & feminism and American politics & culture continues with an examination of the pioneering women writers during the early days of TV. My guest, Annie Berke, PhD, is the author of Their Own Best Creations: Women Writers in Postwar Television, part of the Feminist Media Histories book series by the University of California Press. With a focus on 1949-1963, Dr. Berke’s foundational work appeals to scholars and students as well as others with an interest in gender roles, women in the workplace, and the cultural...
info_outline
WGA, MTM and Hollywood Stories with Victoria Riskin
Advanced TV Herstory
Cynthia Bemis Abrams welcomes Victoria Riskin, a second-generation filmmaker with a rich Hollywood legacy. Victoria's parents—Robert Riskin, a prolific, Oscar-winning screenwriter, and Fay Wray, best known for her role in the original King Kong—were instrumental in shaping the classic years of the motion picture industry. And Victoria has crafted an impressive career all her own. She is a producer, writer, digital magazine publisher, PhD in psychology, and past president of the Writers Guild of America (WGA). She shares her experiences as WGA president and explains how power has shifted...
info_outlineI am very excited to share the first of a two-part conversation with author and TV/film historian, Lee Gambin. His double-volume work, "Tonight, On a Very Special Episode: When TV Sitcoms Sometimes Got Serious," provides a launch pad for our thoughtful and fast-paced discussion of the issues and activists behind TV’s “very special episodes,” which date back 50 years or more.
These TV events—featuring familiar, beloved characters—mixed serious topics with comedy so effectively that, in many cases, activists were born, movements were started, legislation was passed, and minds were changed.
Legendary showrunners like Norman Lear and Linda Bloodworth-Thomason used the sitcom format to normalize awareness and discussion of race relations, women’s issues, representation, discrimination, divorce, alcoholism and drug addiction, sexual assault, HIV/AIDS, and LGBTQ rights.
Fronting these issues shaped our culture in ways that should not be lost to history. Join us for a discussion of the iconic episodes and the legends who made them happen, as well as how they continue to impact us today.
CONNECT WITH LEE GAMBIN
Tonight, On A Very Special Episode: When TV Sitcoms Sometimes Got Serious Volume 1: 1957-1985 - https://bearmanor-digital.myshopify.com/products/tonight-on-a-very-special-episode-when-tv-sitcoms-sometimes-got-serious-volume-1-1957-1985-paperback?_pos=1&_sid=72a8817db&_ss=r
Tonight, On A Very Special Episode: When TV Sitcoms Sometimes Got Serious Volume 2: 1986-1998 - https://bearmanor-digital.myshopify.com/products/tonight-on-a-very-special-episode-when-tv-sitcoms-sometimes-got-serious-volume-2-1986-1998-paperback?_pos=3&_sid=72a8817db&_ss=r
Cinemaniacs - https://cinemaniacs.com.au/
SOUND CLIPS
Diff’rent Strokes: The Bicycle Man (S5.E16-17) - https://youtu.be/XX-yeqTaltE
Designing Women: Killing All the Right People (S2.E4) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cozd3HN6xS8
All in The Family: Edith’s 50th Birthday (S8.E4-5) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eGFuSpSn1U
BOOKS / ARTICLES
Norman Lear Memoir - Even This I Get to Experience - https://www.normanlear.com/the-book
PERTINENT EPISODES OF ADVANCED TV HERSTORY
Designing Women 1, Body-shaming 0 - https://advancedtvherstory.libsyn.com/designing-women-1-bodyshaming-0
Sports Night: More Relevant Than Ever - https://advancedtvherstory.libsyn.com/sports-night-more-relevant-than-ever
Eating Disorder Movies: TV For and About Women - https://advancedtvherstory.libsyn.com/eating-disorder-movies-tv-for-and-about-women
ATVH NEWSLETTER
Sign up at https://cynthiabemisabrams.com/
CONNECT WITH CYNTHIA BEMIS ABRAMS and ADVANCED TV HERSTORY
Website: https://cynthiabemisabrams.com/
Podcasts: https://cynthiabemisabrams.com/advanced-tv-herstory
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/advancedtvherstory/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/tvherstory
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Media.Cynthia
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@advancedtvherstory/featured
PRODUCTION
Music: Jahzzar - https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Jahzzar/