21L.432 | Spring 2003 | Undergraduate

Understanding Television

Exams

Examinations

Midterm Quiz: Class #13
Take-Home Quiz: Distributed: Class #17. Returned: Class #19.
Final Exam: Class #27, Duration: Two hours.

The final exam will have an identification section (10 items, 3 points each), a keyword section (4 items, 5 points each), and an essay section (50 points).

Try to be as specific as possible in your essay, citing specific titles, scenes, visual details, names of performers, writers, producers, approximate dates for programs you discuss.

Do not spend too much time on the identification section, which can earn a maximum of 30 points.

You will be asked to identify ten items, supplying three pertinent facts about each one. Each pertinent fact will earn you a point up to a maximum of three points per item. The answers must be intelligible, but they do not have to be in complete sentences. Below are some sample identification questions with suitable answers.

Garry Marshall

Sample answers (any three of the following would be enough to earn you three points):

  • TV producer
  • produced popular escapist sitcoms that came to dominate ratings during the later 1970s
  • created Happy Days, Laverne and Shirley, and Mork & Mindy
  • rote for The Dick Van Dyke Show early in his career
  • Left TV to direct feature films

Nickelodeon

Sample answers (any three of the following would be enough to earn you three points):

  • basic cable channel
  • started in late ’70s
  • features programming aimed at children
  • one of the earliest TV attempts to target a specific demographic
  • Rugrats is one of the series created for this channel
  • runs “classic TV” programming for adults at night (“Nick at Nite”)

Star Trek

Sample answers (any three of the following would be enough to earn you three points):

  • science fiction TV series
  • late ’60s
  • broadcast on the NBC network
  • created by Gene Roddenberry
  • starred William Shatner
  • featured first interracial kiss on American network TV

Andy Griffith

Sample answers (any three of the following would be enough to earn you three points):

  • actor
  • TV career spans ’50s to present
  • honed folksy down-home image throughout his career
  • starred in Golden Age comedy No Time for Sergeants
  • starred in The Andy Griffith Show
  • starred in Matlock

Course Info

Departments
As Taught In
Spring 2003
Learning Resource Types
Lecture Videos
Written Assignments