Dustin Kidd

Donald Trump revealed the new cast for Celebrity Apprentice this morning on the Today show: WOMEN: Teresa Giudice (“Real Housewives”) Debbie Gibson (Singer) Lisa Lampanelli (Comic) Victoria Gotti (Mob Princess) Tia Carrere (Actress) Aubrey O’Day (Reality Star) Cheryl Tiegs (Model) Dayana Mendoza (Miss Universe) Patricia Velasquez (Model) MEN: Clay Aiken (“American Idol”) Adam Carolla (TV/Radio Host) Lou Ferrigno (“Hulk”) Arsenio Hall (TV Host) George Takei (“Star Trek”) Dee Snider (Rocker) Penn Jillette (Magician) Marco Andretti (Driver) Paul Teutal (“American Chopper”) 18 cast members, evenly divided by gender and beginning the season (as usual) on gender-based teams. 72% (13) White, 6% (1) Black, 11% (2) Asian, 11% (2, both Venezuelan) Hispanic. 2 of the men are gay. As far as I know, none of the women are lesbian. At 74, George Takei is the oldest. Ferrigno, Teutal, and Snider, are in their 60s. Hall, Jillette, Tiegs, and Lampanelli are in their 50s. Carolla, Velasquez, Gotti, ...

I'm working on a new book project. The research is question is both very long, and pretty simple: How do race, class, gender, disability status, and sexuality impact the content, production, and audience of film, television, music, print media, and the internet? The question is answered using a combination of secondary and primary data, but I also highlight the many ways the question remains unanswered and suggest ways that we could improve our sociological study of popular culture. If you have favorite studies that are relevant, send them my way!

http://dustinkidd.blogspot.com/ Last week's episode of Parks and Recreation, titled April and Andy's Fancy Party , had a nice illustration of Patricia Hill Collins's concept of controllingimages. Co ntrolling images are media images that function, whether by design or not, to remind marginalized groups of their position in the power structure and to justify that position to a wider audience, especially to those who are privileged by their position within that structure. Although stereotypes usually function as controlling images, many controlling images are not so widespread that they can be called stereotypes, and many actually seem positive at first glance. As a case in point, consider the character of Donna from Parks and Recreation. Donna is played by the Black female comedian Retta Sirleaf. In last week's episode, Donna is at a singles event when she is found by Ann Perkins. Ann is played by the biracial actress Rashida Jones, daughter of Quincey Jones ...

The fall 2010 primetime schedule is available on TV Guide's website: http://www.tvguide.com/special/fall-preview/fall-schedule.aspx 16 sitcoms 12 Reality Shows 3 Sports Shows 48 Dramas 4 animated comedies 5 news shows A lot of drama!

http://tvbythenumbers.com/ is a great resource for anyone studying the television industry. I'm particularly following their daily postings of the Nielsen overnights. http://tvbythenumbers.com/category/ratings/tv-ratings-nielsen-overnight-tv-show-ratings Until this site came along, TV ratings could actually be pretty hard to track down consistently.

http://womenintvfilm.sdsu.edu/ This is a good resource for studying women in popular culture. The research reports--The Celluloid Ceiling (film) and Boxed In (TV)--are particularly good. They are very basic but provide straight-forward analysis that is often hard to find. What the Center does well is track women's representation on both sides of the camera. It's very helpful to remember that female characters in TV and film are often authored by male writers, directors, and videographers.