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From 1989 through 2002 there was an unprecedented surge in American sitcoms featuring explicitly Jewish lead characters, thirty-two compared to seven in the previous forty years. Several of theseâMad About You, The Nanny, and Friendsâwere among the most popular and influential of all shows over this period; one programâSeinfeldâhas been singled out as the âdefiningâ series of the nineties. In addition, scriptwriters have increasingly created âJewishâ characters, although they may not be perceived to be by the showâs audience, Rachel Green on Friends being only one example.
In Something Ainât Kosher Here, Vincent Brook asks two key questions: Why has this trend appeared at this particular historical moment and what is the significance of this phenomenon for Jews and non-Jews alike? He takes readers through three key phases of the Jewish sitcom trend: The early years of television before and after the first Jewish sitcom, The Goldbergsâ, appeared; the second phase in which America found itself âUnder the Sign of Seinfeldâ; and the current era of what Brook calls âPost- Jewishness.â
Interviews with key writers, producers, and âshowrunnersâ such as David Kohan, (Will and Grace), Marta Kauffman (Friends and Dream On), Bill Prady (Dharma and Greg), Peter Mehlman and Carol Leifer (Seinfeld), and close readings of individual episodes and series provoke the inescapable conclusion that we have entered uncharted âpost-Jewishâ territory. Brook reveals that the acceptance of Jews in mainstream white America at the very time when identity politics have put a premium on celebrating difference reinforces and threatens the historically unique insider/outsider status of Jews in American society. This paradox upsets a delicate balance that has been a defining component of American Jewish identity.
The rise of the Jewish sitcom represents a broader struggle in which American Jews and the TV industry, if not American society as a whole, are increasingly operating at cross-purposesâ torn between the desire to celebrate unique ethnic identities, yet to assimilate: to assert independence, yet also to build a consensus to appeal to the widest possible audience.  No reader of this book will ever be able to watch these television programs in quite the same way again.
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About: From 1989 through 2002 there was an unprecedented surge in American sitcoms featuring explicitly, Jewish lead characters, 32 compared to seven in the previous 40 years.
About: From 1989 through 2002 there was an unprecedented surge in American sitcoms featuring explicitly Jewish lead characters, thirty-two compared to seven in the previous forty years.
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