The Cosby Show: Audiences, Impact, and Implications (Contributions to the Study of Popular Culture) [Hardcover]

Linda K. Fuller (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0313264074 | ISBN-13: 978-0313264078 | Publication Date: September 30, 1992

This volume chronicles the phenomenon of a television program that commanded first place for much of the time since its premiere in September 1984. Each week in the United States it has consistently drew a loyal audience of up to 60 million people, breaking records for ratings and shares. The show is credited with lifting a third-place network into commanding leadership, advancing the image of black families, being the object of the greatest syndication barter deal in history, and regenerating the sitcom genre. Approached from a systems-theoretical perspective, this book considers The Cosby Show historically, economically, politically, legally, and socioculturally. The book provides detailed examination of the show's production, audience profiles, and international reviews and reactions to it. Fuller includes the results of a survey conducted by her (and translated into appropriate languages) for more than 800 responses from a dozen countries. Media scholars continue to call for future research on acculturation effects of television and for research on complete, contextual studies of specific television genres. The Cosby Show: Audiences, Impact and Implications attempts to fill those gaps.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Several helpful appendixes, useful chapter notes, and an excellent bibliography make this a worthwhile research tool. A fine descriptive study of Cosby for undergraduates on up.”–Choice

“...Both rigorous and readable, this book could have a wide appeal among many of the millions of people who watched the show every week. It could also provide valuable supplementary reading in both undergraduate an graduate classes.”–Journal of Popular Culture

“The author has gathered together, and analyzed, a vast amount of material on The Cosby Show, and I am sure there is much here that will fascinate those involved in the scholarly study of the television medium.”–Classic Images

About the Author

LINDA K. FULLER, Ph.D., is Professor of Communications at Worcester State College. She is the author/(co-) editor of more than 20 books, including The Cosby Show (1992), Community TV in the U.S. (1994), and Dictionary of Quotations in Communications (1997). Awarded Fulbright scholarships to teach in Singapore in 1996 and do AIDS research Senegal in 2002, she has also been a Visiting Scholar at Northeastern University.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Greenwood Press (September 30, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0313264074
• ISBN-13: 978-0313264078
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #283,635 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Linda K. Fuller, Ph.D.
499 Main Street
Wilbraham, MA 01095 USA
Tel/Fax: [phone]

Linda K. Fuller, Professor Emerita in the Communications Department of Worcester State College and a Senior Fellow at Northeastern University since 2003, earned a B.A. in American Studies from Skidmore College, an M.A. in Human Technology from American International College, and a Ph.D. in Communication Studies from the University of Massachusetts. A Fulbright Senior Fellow at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore in 1996 and a Fulbright Senior Researcher on HIV/AIDS in Dakar, Senegal, in 2002, she was invited to lead a workshop on ethnicity at the World Conference Against Racism (WCAR) in Durban, South Africa. Linda and her husband, Eric, have three sons, two daughters-in-law, three granddaughters, a black lab, and a Siamese cat. Responsible for 250+ professional publications and conference reports, she is the author/ (co-)editor of the following:
* Beyond the Stars: Studies in American Popular Film (1990 - 1996); a five-volume series
* Communicating Comfortably: Your Guide to Overcoming Speaking and Writing Anxieties (1990)
* The Cosby Show: Audiences, Impact, Implications (1992)
* Community Television in the United States: A Sourcebook on Public, Educational, and Governmental Access (1994)
* Chocolate Fads, Folklore, and Fantasies (1994)
* Communicating About Communicable Diseases (1995)
* Media-Mediated Relationships: Straight and Gay, Mainstream and Alternative Perspectives (1996)
* Dictionary of Quotations in Communications (1997)
* Women and AIDS: Negotiating Safer Practices, Care, and Representation (1998)
* Media-Mediated AIDS (2002)
* National Days/National Ways: Historical, Political, and Religious Celebrations Around the World (2004)
* Sport, Rhetoric, and Gender: Historical Perspectives and Media Representations (2006)
* Community Media: International Perspectives (2007)
* African Women's Unique Vulnerabilities to HIV/AIDS: Communication Perspectives and Promises (2008)
* Sportscasters/Sportscasting: Practices and Principles (2008)
* Exercises in Sportscasting (2008)
* Sexual Sports Rhetoric: Historical and Media Contexts of Violence (2009)
* Sexual Sports Rhetoric: Global and Universal Contexts (2009)
* Tsunami Communication: (Inter)personal/intercultural, Media, Technical, Ethical, Philanthropic, Development, and Personal Responses (2010)
* Women, War, and Violence: Personal Perspectives and Global Activism (2010)

Check out her sports website: http://www.LKFullerSport.com.