TV Family Values

During the 1980s, U.S. television experienced a reinvigoration of the family sitcom genre. Drawing on Foucauldian and feminist theories, Alice Leppert examines the nature of sitcoms against the backdrop of a time period generally remembered as socially conservative and obsessed with traditional family values.

---

During the 1980s, U.S. television experienced a reinvigoration of the family sitcom genre. In TV Family Values, Alice Leppert focuses on the impact the decade's television shows had on middle class family structure. These sitcoms sought to appeal to upwardly mobile “career women” and were often structured around non-nuclear families and the reorganization of housework. Drawing on Foucauldian and feminist theories, Leppert examines the nature of sitcoms such as Full House, Family Ties, Growing Pains, The Cosby Show, and Who's the Boss? against the backdrop of a time period generally remembered as socially conservative and obsessed with traditional family values.