I am very excited to share the second 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

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 1: 1957-1985

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"> Tonight, On A Very Special Episode: When TV Sitcoms Sometimes Got Serious Volume 2: 1986-1998

Cinemaniacs

SOUND CLIPS

Diff’rent Strokes: The Bicycle Man (S5.E16-17)

Designing Women: Killing All the Right People (S2.E4)

All in The Family: Edith’s 50^th Birthday (S8.E4-5)

BOOKS / ARTICLES

Norman Lear Memoir - Even This I Get to Experience

PERTINENT EPISODES OF ADVANCED TV HERSTORY

Designing Women 1, Body-shaming 0

Sports Night: More Relevant Than Ever

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/

I 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

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 1: 1957-1985

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"> Tonight, On A Very Special Episode: When TV Sitcoms Sometimes Got Serious Volume 2: 1986-1998

Cinemaniacs

SOUND CLIPS

Diff’rent Strokes: The Bicycle Man (S5.E16-17)

Designing Women: Killing All the Right People (S2.E4)

All in The Family: Edith’s 50^th Birthday (S8.E4-5)

BOOKS / ARTICLES

Norman Lear Memoir - Even This I Get to Experience

PERTINENT EPISODES OF ADVANCED TV HERSTORY

Designing Women 1, Body-shaming 0

Sports Night: More Relevant Than Ever

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/

In 1989, Oprah Winfrey produced and starred in the two-part TV miniseries, The Women of Brewster Place, which was based on Gloria Naylor’s award-winning debut novel. The book, and the movie, explore a variety of personal issues and social themes faced by seven African American women who live in an urban housing project.

When, just for fun, we asked the new artificial intelligence software, ChatGPT, to connect Oprah’s cultural influence with themes from the book/movie, the AI chatbot got it… sort of right. Sort of. It dispassionately summarized many of the challenges faced by the women in the story. And it mentioned Oprah’s commitment to highlighting personal and social issues. But ChatGPT failed to find the essential storyline.

And it’s no wonder. The online content about The Women of Brewster Place neglects the underlying racism that’s at work when urban planners and policymakers target the destruction of specific neighborhoods in the name of progress. As long as history is “written by the victors,” the online trough that feeds artificial intelligence will prevent AI, and the people who rely on it, from making the most crucial connections of all.

MENTIONS AND REFERENCES  We encourage you to visit your local bookseller or library.

• Book by Gloria Naylor - The Women of Brewster Place
• Movie on YouTube - The Women of Brewster Place
• People Magazine Article - Oprah Goes Hollywood
• Book by Carol Stabile, PhD - The Broadcast 41
• Podcast Series (first of four) - Calculated Efforts to Preserve Power: TV Women Blacklisted
• Vulture Article - women-of-brewster-place-theresa-lorraine.html"> 30 Years Ago, The Women of Brewster Place Cracked Open the Door for Queer TV
• Vice Article - I’ve Made More Than 1,700 Wikipedia Entries on Women Scientists and I’m Not Yet Done

CONNECT WITH CYNTHIA BEMIS ABRAMS and ADVANCED TV HERSTORY

• Website
• Podcasts
• Instagram 
• Twitter
• Facebook 
• YouTube

On this episode of Advanced TV Herstory, we connect the dots between TV and feminism with American culture and politics by remembering the 1979 television miniseries, Backstairs at the White House.

The series is based on the New York Times bestseller by Lillian Rogers Parks, a seamstress in the White House from 1939-1961. Parks based the book on her own experiences and on those of her mother, Maggie Rogers, who, as a maid in the White House from 1909-1939, was encouraged by Eleanor Roosevelt to keep a diary of her time serving the various first families.   

MENTIONS AND REFERENCES  (We encourage you to visit your local bookseller or library.)

Jackie Kennedy - Interview with Sander Vanocur, NBC - March 1961 - https://youtu.be/j3ZvIzL1JbI

My Thirty Years Backstairs at the White House - by Lillian Rogers Parks in collaboration with Frances Spatz Leighton

Backstairs at the White House - TV miniseries (Part 1 of 4)- https://youtu.be/BIlFp_-mdXk

Michelle Obama - Speech at 2016 Democratic National Convention - https://youtu.be/4ZNWYqDU948

White House Historical Association - https://www.whitehousehistory.org

CONNECT WITH CYNTHIA BEMIS ABRAMS

Instagram: @advancedtvherstory

Twitter: @TVHerstory 

Website: https://www.tvherstory.com/

Apple podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/advanced-tv-herstory/id1014759821

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TVHerstory/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@advancedtvherstory/featured

As we wrap up our two-part In Memoriam for 2022 by honoring women with famous names and faces, we also pay tribute to those who were less visible yet made significant contributions to TV, movies, news, and science.

This celebration is the perfect time to reflect on the importance of acting as a champion for other women. Their success does not detract from our own—instead, it strengthens us all.

The wonderful women featured in this episode will continue to entertain and teach and inform us for decades thanks to syndication. They are why I podcast.

MENTIONS AND REFERENCES   (We encourage you to visit your local bookseller or library.)

Women Who Reported Watergate (July 2, 2017 podcast) https://advancedtvherstory.libsyn.com/women-who-reported-watergate

Audition: A Memoir by Barbara Walters https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2847470-audition

Kirstie Alley - List of Works https://www.biblio.com/kirstie-alley/author/15520

Nichelle Nichols on Martin Luther King, Jr. https://youtu.be/zrzygziT11I

Beyond Uhura by Nichelle Nichols https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/672094.Beyond_Uhura

Sacheen Littlefeather was a Native American icon. Her sisters say she was an ethnic fraud Littlefeather-oscar-Native-pretendian-17520648.php"> https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/openforum/article/Sacheen-Littlefeather-oscar-Native-pretendian-17520648.php

Louise Fletcher Wins Best Actress: 48th Oscars (1976) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGl5U7nNlkY

Dizzy & Jimmy by Liz Sheridan https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/dizzy--jimmy-my-life-with-james-dean--a-love-story_liz-sheridan/348349/

Reeling Back by Michael Walsh https://reelingback.com/articles/creative_women_needed

CONNECT WITH CYNTHIA BEMIS ABRAMS

Instagram: @advancedtvherstory Twitter: @TVHerstory  Website: https://www.tvherstory.com/

Apple podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/advanced-tv-herstory/id1014759821

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/TVHerstory/

YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/@advancedtvherstory/featured

Our In Memoriam episodes have become an annual tradition. As the universe of known, talented women in TV gets larger every year, so too does the number of women that we honor. In this first of two episodes, we highlight some of the women of music and theatre who made significant contributions to our culture and society. We lost some very big names in 2022, but as you’ve come to expect with these episodes, we also celebrate the talent and achievements of those who were not quite thought of as a “big name.”

REFERENCES AND MENTIONS

In Memoriam: Angela Lansbury / MSW

https://advancedtvherstory.libsyn.com/in-memoriam-angela-lansbury-msw

Pat Carroll: Gertrude Stein was never a bore

https://www.csmonitor.com/1981/0108/010861.html

Debbie Allen Shapes a Different World

https://advancedtvherstory.libsyn.com/debbie-allen-shapes-a-different-world

Olivia Newton-John - the Making of “Physical”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXitXrVsndg

Olivia Newton-John on Murphy Brown

https://youtu.be/YrwqwZ02gM0

Erica Gimpel on Twitter: @ericagimpel

www.freemusicarchive.org

CONNECT WITH CYNTHIA BEMIS ABRAMS

Instagram: @advancedtvherstory

Twitter: @TVHerstory 

Website: https://www.tvherstory.com/

Apple podcasts: 

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/advanced-tv-herstory/id1014759821

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TVHerstory/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@advancedtvherstory/featured

Mallory Lewis joins host Cynthia Bemis Abrams for a fun chat about her book, Shari Lewis and Lambchop: The Team That Changed Children's Television. Mallory's book, published by University of Kentucky Press in fall 2022, is a collection of stories from Shari's childhood and career as a businesswoman and multifaceted entertainer. While Shari Lewis died from cancer in 1998, Lambchop continues to charm audiences with the help of her sister, Mallory.

FULL VIDEO INTERVIEW

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7eYcoRGL70&t=263s

GET THE BOOK

Shari Lewis and Lambchop: The Team that Changed Children’s Television by Nat Segaloff and Mallory Lewis

UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY PRESS

https://www.kentuckypress.com/9780813196268/shari-lewis-and-lamb-chop/

Watch for the documentary, Shari and Lambchop, to be released in 2023.

CONNECT WITH MALLORY

TikTok: @yourfavlambchop

Website:  https://mallorylewisandlambchop.com/home

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/mallorylewisandlambchop

CONNECT WITH CYNTHIA

Instagram: @advancedtvherstory

Twitter: @TVHerstory 

Website: https://www.tvherstory.com/

Apple podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/advanced-tv-herstory/id1014759821

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/TVHerstory/

YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/@advancedtvherstory/featured

We celebrate the creative life and career of Angela Lansbury with Bridget Kies, Assistant Professor of Film Studies and Production at Oakland University in Michigan.

From MGM contract player to Tony-winning Broadway star to her role as Jessica Fletcher on Murder, She Wrote, Lansbury’s long and impressive career has touched generations of film, TV, and theatre goers.

Professor Kies' work has been published in numerous academic journals and edited collections. She is co-host of the Cabot Cove Gazette podcast and in 2023 will publish a book about Angela Lansbury and Murder, She Wrote.

Clip from S. 4, E. 20 Showdown in Saskatchewan.

Celebrating the podcast's 7th complete year, Cynthia revisits highlights of the past year, muses on the state of TV and streaming today, and preaches the wisdom of owning physical copies of your favorites.

Liza Minnelli is celebrating 50 years since Cabaret, her big break film.TV revealed of Liza's talents as well as her love of performing which was not always detected on film.  Cynthia spotlights Liza sharing the stage with Mikhail Baryshnikov, The Muppets, Goldie Hawn, Robert Plant, Guns & Roses, Shirley MacLaine and Diahann Carroll in a host of formats that showcased her dramatic, dancing and singing. 

Resources include:

Lorna Luft's Me and My Shadows

https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/1061873.Me_and_My_Shadows

The Judy Garland Show Christmas Special https://youtu.be/oOmjvgaT9-A

The Muppet Show (Nov. 1979) Copacabana clip  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCGSZmTsX7o

The Dangerous Christmas of Red Riding Hood, or Oh Wolf, Peter Wolf https://youtu.be/DixzC8Fur5g

UK Daily Mail interview about the early days of HIV/AIDS Taylor-taught-live-life-Liza-Minnelli-pays-moving-tribute-friend.html"> https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2004484/Liz-Taylor-taught-live-life-Liza-Minnelli-pays-moving-tribute-friend.html