#cccbroadcasting 22

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, TV networks began to cater to their new audience of “working women” by adding serial narratives to their prime time lineups.  

Can you assess the importance of the new, “sexy,” serialized dramas of the 70s and 80s?

With women entering the workplace and earning their own wages, they became a highly desirable group of consumers that TV networks wanted to target. Shows like Cagney and Lacey catered directly to these second wave feminists. It featured two strong female leads and dealt with controversial issues, such as domestic abuse and sexual harassment, from a feminist approach. It inspired other shows like Murphy Brown and LA Law with its cast of mature, successful women. Cop shows today are still at least partially feminized in this format, as show in programs like Law & Order.

You can read more about Cagney and Lacey here: http://www.avclub.com/article/icagney-laceyi-survived-two-cancellations-and-mult-101747

Another groundbreaking prime time soap was Dallas, broadcast on CBS beginning in 1978. It was the first successful “soapish melodrama” on prime time and the first American program to become an international hit. Dallas inspired many imitators, like Flamingo Road on NBC, and a successful spin off Knots Landing. The show’s style of open-ended, melodramatic serial narrative soon characterized most of the hour length programs on TV. 

Read more about Dallas here: http://entertainment.time.com/2012/06/13/greed-melodrama-and-the-unexpected-what-made-dallas-tvs-greatest-happy-accident/