Teacher TV: Sixty Years of Teachers on Television examines some of the most influential teacher characters presented on television from the earliest sitcoms to contemporary dramas and comedies. Both topical and chronological, the book follows a general course across decades and focuses on dominant themes and representations, linking some of the most popular shows of the era to larger cultural themes. Some of these include:
- a view of how gender is socially constructed in popular culture and in society
- racial tensions throughout the decades
- educational privileges for elite students
- the mundane and the provocative in teacher depictions on television
- the view of gender and sexual orientation through a new lens
- life in inner-city public schools
- the culture of testing and dropping out
Every pre-service and classroom teacher should read this book. It is also a valuable text for upper-division undergraduate and graduate level courses in media and education as well.

The third edition of this book analyzes over 165 films distributed throughout the United States over the last 80 years to construct a theory of curriculum in the movies that is grounded in cultural studies and critical pedagogy. The portrayal of teachers in popular motion pictures is based on individual efforts rather than collective action and relies on codes established by stock characters and predictable plots, which precludes meaningful struggle. These conventions ensure the ultimate outcome of the screen narratives and almost always leave the educational institutions - which represent the larger status quo - intact and dominant. To interrogate "the Hollywood curriculum" is to ask what it means as a culture to be responsive to films at both social and personal levels and to engage these films as both entertaining and potentially transforming.

This unprecedented volume includes 30 essays by teachers and students about the teacher characters who have inspired them. Drawing on film and television texts, the authors explore screen lessons from a variety of perspectives. Arranged in topical categories, the contributors examine the "good" teacher; the "bad" teacher; gender, sexuality, and teaching; race and ethnicity in the classroom; and lessons on social class. From such familiar texts as the Harry Potter series and School of Rock to classics like Blackboard Jungle and Golden Girls to unexpected narratives such as the Van Halen music video "Hot for Teacher" and Linda Ellerbee's Nick News, the essays are both provocative and instructive. Courses that could use this book include Education and Popular Culture, Cultural Foundations, Popular Culture Studies, other media studies and television genre classes.

This unprecedented volume includes 30 essays by teachers and students about the teacher characters who have inspired them. Drawing on film and television texts, the authors explore screen lessons from a variety of perspectives. Arranged in topical categories, the contributors examine the "good" teacher; the "bad" teacher; gender, sexuality, and teaching; race and ethnicity in the classroom; and lessons on social class. From such familiar texts as the Harry Potter series and School of Rock to classics like Blackboard Jungle and Golden Girls to unexpected narratives such as the Van Halen music video "Hot for Teacher" and Linda Ellerbee's Nick News, the essays are both provocative and instructive. Courses that could use this book include Education and Popular Culture, Cultural Foundations, Popular Culture Studies, other media studies and television genre classes.

Teacher TV: Seventy Years of Teachers on Television, Second Edition examines some of the most influential teacher characters presented on television from the earliest sitcoms to contemporary dramas and comedies. Both topical and chronological, the book follows a general course across decades and focuses on dominant themes and representations. Although each chapter presents an overview of the all the teachers on television for each decade, the focus will link some of the most popular shows of the era to larger cultural themes. "1950s Gender Wars: Our Miss Brooks and Mr. Peepers" looks at acceptable behavior for men teachers and women teachers on television and offers a context for making links to how gender is socially constructed in popular culture and in society. The racial tensions of the 1960s take a more implicit form on two series and are examined in "1960s Race and Social Relevancy: The Bill Cosby Show and Room 222." In "1970s Ideology and Social Class: Welcome Back Kotter and The Paper Chase," both lower and upper ends of the class spectrum are blunted in favor of storylines that are personal and predictable instead of overtly political. Two popular television sitcoms validate educational privileges for elite students in "1980s Normalizing Meritocracy: The Facts of Life and Head of the Class." The 1980s reflect a return to conservatism, and two popular television sitcoms mark the transition by validating educational privileges for elite students. The 1990s mark a time of significant change for teachers on television. In "Gaining Ground From Margin to Center: Hangin' With Mr. Cooper and My So Called Life," the two featured shows, illustrate the mundane and the provocative in teacher depictions on television. In "Embracing Multiculturalism: Boston Public and The Wire" we use these dramas as exemplars of the 2000s to examine themes such as race, gender, and sexuality, but view them through a new lens. Chapter Eight is new to this edition and looks at the downward spiral in the depiction of educators in popular culture during 2010s and pays specific attention to Madam Secretary and Teachers. The Afterword, which is also new, explores these television texts in the larger socio-political context and makes important links between television narratives and issues of identity, the culture of testing, poverty, and dropping out. We must reestablish the importance of public education and consider its essential role in creating an informed citizenry, which is necessary for the future of democracy. Recent trends represent a dangerously skewed view of educators, and it is essential that we begin to "flip the script"-literally and figurative-to combat the cynicism of today's television narratives and stop the way those stories influence public perceptions of education in America.

Despite the popularity of the sitcom, one of the oldest and most ubiquitous forms of television programming, The Sitcom Reader is the first book to offer critical essays devoted specifically to the form. The contributors address important topics in relation to sitcoms, such as conventions of the form, the family, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, work and social class, and ideology, and they do so from a variety of perspectives, including cultural studies, feminist theory, queer theory and media studies.