ARISTOTLE UNIVERSITY OF THESSALONIKI FACULTY OF FINE ARTS

SCHOOL OF FILM

MASTER’S PROGRAM: FILM & TELEVISION STUDIES

Master’s Thesis Title:

Abortion Narratives in Contemporary American Television (2004-2020)

By Marina Zigneli

Primary Supervisor: Prof. Betty Kaklamanidou

Second Supervisor: Prof. Eleftheria Thanouli

Third Supervisor: Prof. Stacey Abbott

Thessaloniki, January 2021

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Copyright © Marina Zigneli, 2021 All rights reserved. It is forbidden to copy, store and distribute this work, in whole or in part, for commercial purposes. Reproduction, storage and distribution are permitted for non-‐ profit, educational or research purposes, provided the source is indicated and the message is retained. Questions regarding the paper’s use for commercial purposes should be addressed to the author. The views and positions contained in this paper express only the author.

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Plagiarism Statement

First and Last Name: Marina Zigneli Registration Number: 19002

e-‐mail: [email protected]

Year of entry to the MA program: 2019

Abortion Narratives in Contemporary Title of Master Thesis: American Television (2004-2020)

I hereby solemnly declare that the present thesis is not the outcome of plagiarism but the product of strictly personal work and the bibliography and sources I use, appear properly in the form of citations and works cited. The points where I use ideas, text and/or sources from other writers are acknowledged in a discernible way in the text with the proper citation and the relevant reference is included in full description in the works cited section. Note: This statement helps the containment of plagiarism and secures the author.

Date: 31/01/2021 The Applicant Marina Zigneli

3 Table of Contents

ABSTRACT ...... 5

INTRODUCTION ...... 6

THEORETICAL CONTEXT ...... 10

LITERATURE REVIEW ...... 13

METHODOLOGY/CORPUS CONSTRUCTION ...... 15

POLITICS AND ABORTION TELEVISION ...... 17

GENRE and ABORTION STORIES – THE RISE OF the “ABORTION COMEDY” ...... 28

ABORTION TELEVISION NARRATIVES and STIGMATIZATION ...... 34

CONCLUSION ...... 39

WORKS CITED...... 41

APPENDIX ...... 47

4 ABSTRACT

Contemporary TV narratives which center on abortion have not been extensively discussed by scholars, despite their large and ever-increasing number. To date, the only systematic researches to examine relevant TV narratives cover a time period that spans until 2015. The purpose of this thesis is to provide an overview of fictional TV narratives which represent pregnancy decision and abortion related plots dating from 2004, which is considered the beginning of the peak TV era, until 2020. During this span of sixteen years, streaming services have managed to become established and change the way stories are narrated and delivered to people. As a result, they have altered the landscape regarding the way reproductive health issues are depicted in American television, whether on cable or streaming services. The study will be based on the thorough construction of an inclusive corpus tracking the number of the abortion TV narratives that were released every year in the aforementioned time period. By conducting a systematic online research and by cross-referencing information among relevant sources, this thesis will identify all the abortion-related plots included in TV shows. We aim to discuss how the abortion plots relate to political and sociocultural circumstances, which genres accommodate them more often, and whether they help towards the destigmatization of abortion or not.

The theoretical context will be based on a review of the already existing relevant literature, previously conducted researches as well as prominent theories on television and genre studies. Inevitably, through the examination and discussion of these fictional abortion TV narratives, the historical and sociopolitical context surrounding them, will also be discussed.

Keywords: abortion, television genre, abortion stigma, reproductive health rights

5 INTRODUCTION

In the United States, abortion was practiced legally until the 1880s, when at that point almost all states came up with anti-abortion legislation. The fact that abortion was illegal did not impede women with unwanted pregnancies to seek one. However, their financial status would determine whether or not such a procedure would be safe for them, rendering abortion a matter of class.

The beginning of the discussion for the change of the law regarding abortion was part of the reforms the Civil Rights Movement fought for. During the 1960s, women started fighting more consistently for equality, part of which consisted of reproductive rights and the right to abortion. Among the changes that were put in effect after their protests, the most significant one took place in 1970 in New York. Abortion was decriminalized for the first 24 weeks of the pregnancy, three years before the legal case known as Roe v. Wade would lead the Supreme Court to decriminalize abortion for the entire United States (Perez-Pena 2000).

Although it is impossible for scholars to come up with an accurate number of abortions before Roe v. Wade, a research revealed that in 1972 the number of illegal abortions that were performed reached up to 130,000 (Cates and Rochat 1976, 87). According to the Guttmacher Institute, in 1972 more than 100,000 women traveled from their own states to New York to have a legal and safe abortion (Gold 2003, 8). However, as it is mentioned, traveling had a significant severe impact on a woman’s abortion. Depending on how much time it would take for a woman to get to New York, a delayed abortion could prove dangerous or fatal. The legalization of abortion in 1973 helped towards the reduction of these numbers. In 1975, the annual number of illegal abortions plummeted to 17,000 (Cates and Rochar 1976, 87).

Abortion for Americans became a moral issue and it managed to polarize the country. This debate gave life to the terms of “pro-life” and “pro-choice” and their advocates, with the former propagating against abortion tactics and against a woman’s own life autonomy, while the latter considered abortion an inextricable human right.

Of course, this continuing controversy also extended on the territory of mass media and popular culture. Until the 1960s, abortion was absent from television plotlines. The first show to feature a narrative that not only dealt with the issue of abortion, but also took

6 the pro-choice stance was the legal procedural The Defenders (CBS, 1961-1965). The second case for an abortion-related plotline on television is that of the show Another World (NBC, 1964-1999). Not only was it the first television show to feature a storyline of abortion, but it was also the first one to belong to the genre of soap operas.

Driven by the 1972 New York legalization of abortion, two episodes of the series Maude (CBS, 1972-1978) were broadcasted on November 14 and November 21, where the titular character (Bea Arthur) faces an unexpected pregnancy at the age of 47. Viewers were able to watch Maude discuss her dilemma openly with her husband and then make the decision to terminate her pregnancy, while her husband is persuaded to have a vasectomy. Although the series takes place in New York where abortion was legal, Maude in both episodes struggles to make a decision, as she is afraid and hesitant for moral and health reasons. Maude as a sitcom, apart from the fact that it “made television history”, is the show where the titular character [..] tackles the issue of abortion in the show’s first season (Kypker 2012, 147).

Following Maude and Roe v Wade, the representation of abortion would be revised by prime-time television. Whether the characters were primary or secondary, and whether the discussion around abortion included a present or past abortion, the issue started reaching a wider audience. By researching more recent examples of those portrayals, I noticed a gap in recent literature and how abortion-related narratives are not usually the center of attention in scholarly articles. I consider this a major drawback, especially if we take into consideration how much television has evolved and changed throughout the years.

This thesis aims to provide a thorough and consistent analysis that will seek to touch upon the context of these stories and discuss contemporary American television through the lens of abortion. The reason I have chosen to examine television over films that touch upon abortion, lies in Celeste Michelle Condit’s explanation of how prime-time narratives shape ideas and minds. For Condit (1990, 123), television is, “the primary source of "shared stories" that explain "life as an American”. Newcomb and Hirsch (1983, 561) also endorsed the idea that a cultural approach on television is necessary if one wishes to understand the twofold role television plays both as a “communications medium” and as a medium that “examines culture”. and have selected as a starting point of this research the year 2004, which marks the beginning of the peak TV era. The

7 corpus covers all the TV series episodes that were produced in America and dealt with pregnancy decision-making and abortion up until 2020. The genres that are examined here are drama, comedy, police and medical procedurals, animated comedy, and period dramas. What is important throughout this span of sixteen years, is the emergence of the streaming services which provided television the space and the freedom to explore reproductive health matters at a larger scale, without the fear of being censored by multiple sponsors. The main points this thesis examines are:

1. the way contemporary abortion narratives mediate the politics of the times of their production. 2. how these portrayals can perpetuate stigma and affect the beliefs of the viewers and, 3. which genres facilitate these representations and how comedy has emerged as a nuanced type of abortion related plotlines.

The first chapter presents the sociopolitical context in which the selected abortion narratives can be located chronologically. Beginning with President Bush’s administration and later moving to Obama’s and Trump’s presidencies, the changes of the nationwide abortion law as well as the way they have been mediated through television portrayals of the time are examined. As it is expected, the Bush administration was a very conservative one when it came to abortion law. As a result, the number of abortion episodes that were broadcast during that time is limited in contrast to the ones that followed. Obama’s administration aimed at making abortion more accessible and affordable to women across the country, considering this an indispensable human right. For this reason, television became more tolerant towards abortion narratives and tried to incorporate them into its storylines more often. This upward trend continued even in Trump’s administration, yet for a different reason. Although, President Trump had made his conservative pro-life theses clear even before his election, television sought to bring to its audiences a larger number of abortion narratives in the sense that pop culture could now move against the political background and showcase the crucial need for inclusiveness. I will bring forward examples of episodes that aired between 2004 – 2020 and attracted media’s attention immediately.

The second chapter studies the stigma attached to abortion stories. It examines whether television narratives have helped perpetuate or abolish it regarding reproductive rights.

8 I will be tracking the misrepresentations and inaccuracies that are usually mediated through television narratives, based on previous research. These include the reasons why a woman may choose to have an abortion, the race of the women obtaining abortion annually, or the inherent danger of the operation. Unfortunately, television tends to overemphasize certain aspects of abortion or falsely attribute certain characteristics to the women who choose to obtain one.

Finally, the third chapter approaches the genres that usually accommodate abortion plotlines. Condit (1999) first related generic categories with abortion and analyzed how different genres perform a distinct role in the understanding of those stories. Given the current corpus, I note that until 2015 drama and its subgenres are the main generic categories used to narrate abortion stories on television. Up until that year, the only way that comedy could be employed for that purpose was through animation. However, since 2015 television experienced a turn where more and more instances of comedic fictional narratives appeared and incorporated abortion plotlines. I will be discussing particular examples that stand as the most indicative throughout the years. This discussion will lead to the conclusion that these narratives have led to the emergence of a new subgenre called “abortion comedy”.

9 THEORETICAL CONTEXT

The theoretical context of the analysis is based upon the relevant work that has been conducted in sociopolitical studies, which have helped raise the issue of abortion in relation to media studies. In particular, I will be using the work of sociologist Gretchen Sisson. Her current research in collaboration with the project “Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health” at the University of California, Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health (ANSIRH) will be of great use for this thesis. In this qualitative research, Sisson examines how abortion is portrayed on screen, focusing on film and television narratives. She manages to do this by approaching the matter from many different angles, which makes it possible for her to discuss how these portrayals affect the common beliefs of the audiences regarding abortion and reproductive rights.

In 2014, along with medical sociologist Katrina Kimport, they researched the abortion- related plots in American film and television from 1916 until 2013 (Sisson and Kimport, 2014). They concluded that abortion narratives appear on screen more frequently than it is believed, however, the way abortion is portrayed, or its outcomes do not reflect real data and are often misleading for the audiences (ibid.). In 2017, Sisson and Kimport touched upon the issue of abortion access portrayed on American television through another qualitative research. They remarked that the obstacles a woman may face in order to obtain an abortion are often underrepresented on screen (Sisson and Kimport 2017, 65). This in turn causes audiences to believe that most women have access to nearby abortion clinics and safe procedures, which is not always the case in real-life situations, according to statistics that the two scholars provide (ibid, 66). Again in 2017, Sisson and Rowland examined how abortion portrayals on American television from 2005 to 2016 dealt with complications during or after the procedures. They found that television narratives tend to exaggerate on the negative implications an abortion may have on a woman’s health, in sheer contrast to real patients and data. (Sisson and Rowland 2017, 26). This narrative choice can also make viewers shape false expectations and beliefs (ibid.)

Finally, in 2019, Sisson researched and discussed the genres that accommodate abortion-related plotlines (Sisson, 2019). This work is used by this thesis in order to construct a thorough analysis of the way genre is used in more recent television portrayals of abortion. Although, abortion was merely used as a device that had a

10 dramatic effect on a narrative, there has been a significant increase of the comedies that choose to accommodate an abortion-related plotline (ibid., 250). This also has an effect in how audiences perceive abortion, as it will be discussed later.

Another prominent scholar whose theory is going to be useful for this thesis, is Celeste Condit and her view on abortion rhetoric (Condit, 1990). In her book Decoding Abortion Rhetoric, Condit devotes a chapter to talk about Prime-Time abortion (ibid., 123) and she categorizes abortion-related plots into three different types. In the first, the plot deals with abortion from a medical or legal point of view (ibid.). This is usually the case with police or medical procedurals. She names the second category, the “false pregnancy” one, where in a family setting, a woman comes face to face with an unexpected or unwanted pregnancy only to find out later that it was a false alarm or to deal with a miscarriage (ibid.). Finally, the third type is the “pro-abortion” one, where a central female character decides to have an abortion without facing any significant obstacles (ibid.). As I will argue later, this categorization can still be applied today to study recent abortion television narratives.

In 1999, Andrea Press and Elizabeth Cole, also addressed the polarity that appears on American television when it comes to abortion-related plotlines. Almost twenty years after the legalization of abortion across the country, they underline that although abortion could be a purely medical matter, it has extended further on social and legal affairs, and thus it has become political (Press and Cole 1999, 27). This is also endorsed by terms that have come up in the feminist rhetoric, where scholars discuss body politics and reproductive health rights (Gorren 2009, Yenerall 2011). Press and Cole (1999, 26) stress how significant it is to acknowledge the power those abortion narratives acquired, since they appeared on media and more particularly on television. Similarly, in 2009, Latimer also argued that the battle over reproductive rights found a solid ground on popular media and culture, where it can be openly discussed.

The theoretical and historical background regarding abortion rights that is needed to conduct this research is mainly drawn from the book Our Bodies, Ourselves (2011). Indexed as “a book by and for women”, Our Bodies, Ourselves is a feminist piece of writing curated by Boston Women’s Health Book Collective. The book provides a thorough analysis of the legislation that shaped reproductive rights, by combining historical events along with personal experiences of women. In a similar vein,

11 Rohlinger (2014) discusses how particular groups of activists used the mass media to actively change policies and anti-abortion laws.

As mentioned above, apart from the academic writings, mass media outlets play a significant role in the shaping of the landscape around abortion portrayals. What should be noted, however, is that those pieces should only be thought of as opinions around the current subject matter. For example, Dionne (2019) and Smith (2019) consider that during 2019, TV finally managed to portray abortion storylines right. Terrell (2019) and Williams (2017), by tracing the most prominent examples of abortion portrayal on television, discuss the change that they have brought in an optimistic tone. Other journalists, editors and writers (e.g. Yahr (2015), Beale (1992), Butler (2019)) and their pieces will be useful to discuss particular episodes and significant abortion scenes.

12 LITERATURE REVIEW

The representation of abortion in American television has not been extensively discussed in the academic world, despite its frequent occurrence. Inevitably, this research will also draw from writings that examine abortion filmic narratives in parallel with television. Apart from that, since the largest part of the corpus consists of episodes belonging in recent television history, online media articles and critical analyses will serve as the foreground on which this thesis will be based.

In 1989, Faye Ginsburg became one of the first scholars to deal with abortion in the book Contested Lives: The Abortion Debate in an American Community, where she aimed at recording how American people reacted at the recent reform of the law. The legalization of abortion was still very new, and television had not tried yet to tackle the issue, in fear of public disapproval. Again in 1989, Lauren Rabinovitz addressed feminism on American television and the way it was represented through situational comedies. While she did not bring up any instances of abortion narratives, she claimed that issues like abortion have caused a certain fracture in society, that cannot easily be abolished (ibid., 5).

In recent years, scholars have attempted to discuss film and television abortion narratives from different aspects. They have also tried to find out whether a more nuanced vocabulary and a more frequent integration of abortion stories in television plotlines may be able to change public opinion. Kevan Yenerall (2011) discusses six contemporary films and the way they chose to portray the female characters and their reproductive rights. Some of these fictional characters did not adhere to the social norms of their time regarding abortion politics, while some others reflected the values and the beliefs of American society. Yenerall (2011) considers that this diversification of opinions reflects best a divided American society. Nathaniel Swigger (2017) also concluded that pop culture and television still have a long way to go until they are able to have a certain effect on audience’s political opinions.

Two more scholars have recently examined the relationship between genre and abortion narratives. Kristen Hungerford (2010) discussed medical dramas and the way they address gender norms and reproductive rights through their stories. Driven by observations she made while watching the series of her corpus, she concluded that contemporary medical dramas help perpetuate myths about abortion which mislead

13 viewers from facing real facts (ibid, 78). Motherhood is usually depicted as of the utmost importance for women and the female characters who eventually decide to terminate a pregnancy are usually middle-class, white women (ibid.). On the other hand, Erika Byrnison (2019) discusses a genre that has recently gained much attention within abortion narratives, namely animated comedy. By examining popular animated TV shows, Byrnison tracks the jokes characters make about abortion, which are largely fueled with political connotations.

The given literature proves that scholars have tackled individual subjects that move around the core theme of how abortion and reproductive health rights are mediated through film and television. However, as the media culture moves forward, it is important to have an all-encompassing view of the subject that will allow certain comparisons between the past and the present. In the current research, I will be drawing from these analyses in order to highlight the points where abortion culture and media culture overlap.

14 METHODOLOGY/CORPUS CONSTRUCTION

In order to discuss the representation of abortion in American television, I compiled a corpus with abortion-related episodes that aired from 2004 until 2020 and mainly belonged to the generic categories of drama, comedy, animated sitcom, science fiction, medical, legal and police procedurals. My basic criteria were that the episodes should be produced and broadcast in the U.S and that either a character of the TV show should undergo an abortion procedure or come close to the decision of having an abortion. I first consulted the Abortion Onscreen Database which is provided and curated by the University of California San Francisco and its project on Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health (ANSIRH). Then I crosschecked the results of the Abortion Onscreen Database with the International Movie Database (IMDb) by searching for keywords such as “abortion”, “unwanted pregnancy”, “abortion decision”, “reproductive health”. Eventually, I watched more than 300 episodes, out of which the 194 centered or referred to an abortion. These 194 episodes were brought down to a final number of 155, since 39 were produced outside the U.S.

The 155 episodes were then categorized by year of release. As the years go by, there seems to be a gradual increase in the number of abortion stories. Out of these 155 episodes, there were found 62 (40%) cases where a female character reveals or implies a past abortion. This leaves us with 93 (60%) episodes where a female character decides to have an abortion in present time, usually off-screen. These female characters portray certain motifs and characteristics. Out of the 155 women, 120 (77.4%) are white, 21 (13.5%) are black and 11 (7.0%) are Latinx. The majority of these characters ages between 20-39 (71.7 %), while 32 (20.6%) are teenagers and only 12 (7.7%) belong to the 40+ age group.

Another observation to be made is the time setting in which these 155 abortion storylines take place. The majority of the abortions (78.7%) takes place in present time, 28 (18.0%) abortions are placed in a historical setting and thus they are illegal, while only 5 (3.2%) take place in a fantasy future timeframe. Out of the 28 narratives featuring an illegal abortion (18%), there are four which eventually result in death. In the case of legal abortions, there is a variety in the possible outcomes. There are 16 women who face adverse physical outcomes following their abortion operation, four women are largely affected psychologically afterwards and only two women experience a positive

15 health outcome, meaning that their pregnancy was considered dangerous and it had to be terminated.

My attention was then turned to the genres accommodating these abortion narratives. As expected, drama is the dominant and most frequent genre (55%) in the final corpus. There are also 32 (20.6%) cases which belong to the comedy or comedy-drama genre, 17 (10.9%) are part of a legal procedural, 14 (9.0%) are part of a medical procedural and seven (4.5%) belong to science fiction series.

16 POLITICS AND ABORTION TELEVISION

For Schwarz and Latimer (2012), television is now considered a battleground for the ongoing debate regarding reproductive rights and more particularly abortion. However, reality influences television content as well. As Condit (1990, 123) notes, the abortion debate that divided people in real life gradually became a topic of discussion for fictional characters on television, where the audience can clearly see their beliefs and viewpoints represented in various contexts. At this point, it is important to acknowledge television’s contribution to this divisive subject. If we consider abortion a political subject, then the ideas that are being reproduced on screen by using the abortion narrative trope are also political.

The time span of this analysis coincides with three different administrations in the United States of America. More particularly, it examines the shift from the new golden age of television towards the peak TV era which is largely affected by but also reflects each presidency. Beginning in 2004, George W. Bush is re-elected for a second term of his republican presidency. Since 2001, when he was first elected, his theses were made clear for the American public. Regarding reproductive health rights, his stance was largely conservative. Abortion was already a divisive subject for Americans and George W. Bush came to confirm this belief. Early in his presidency, he issued an order to block abortion funds. As he mentioned in the statement that was released by the White House: “It is my conviction that taxpayer funds should not be used to pay for abortions or advocate or actively promote abortion, either here or abroad” (ABC News 2006). That was meant to be the first step in order to make abortion inaccessible, if not illegal.

Two years later, Congress passed an abortion bill that banned all women from acquiring a late term or partial birth abortion (Ronver 2006). That was the first abortion bill to be put in effect after its legalization by the Roe v. Wade case. (ibid.) Given the fact that this would cause a number of problems for women all over the country, the National Abortion Federation challenged the law aiming at postponing or canceling its enforcement. Finally, the law was never put into effect due to its vague language that did not account for several possible cases and due to the unbearable difficulties it would cause to women’s lives. As a matter of fact, the law President Bush was trying to pass did not contain or refer to any exceptions regarding the health issues a woman might

17 deal with at a late pregnancy. Thus, it was considered by the Supreme Court as unconstitutional (Stevenson 2003).

During the time frame of Bush’s presidency, television mediated the kind of conservatism he promoted regarding reproductive health rights. More particularly, the majority of abortion episodes between 2004 and 2009 belongs to medical or police procedural television shows. Shows like House M.D (Fox, 2004-2012) or Law & Order SVU (NBC, 1999-) have had abortion narratives in individual episodes where the female character considers to have an abortion because she was either impregnated in an illegal manner or her health is at risk and an abortion is the only way that her life can be saved. Abortion in these shows is portrayed more as a dangerous procedure for women that may cause a lot of problems than an individual choice and/or a solution to an unwanted pregnancy. In a way, televised abortion narratives reflected the conservativism of the time period they belong to.

Interestingly, one episode that caused great discussion was the case of Degrassi-The Next Generation (TeenNick, 2001-2015). Although the series is a Canadian production and is therefore not included in our corpus, it was broadcast on U.S television and its abortion-related plotline became the center of attention for the American audience. In the series, a 14-year-old teenager named Manny (Cassie Steele) faces an unplanned pregnancy and she decides to have an abortion. Given this fact, the U.S distributor of the series censored the content and made the decision not to air the two-part episode that featured the decision-making process of a teenage girl for her abortion and continue with the episode right after that (McDermott, 2017). Young American audiences felt that this was unfair and proclaimed that they should have the chance to watch the same episodes of the series as the Canadian audience (ibid.). This happened multiple times in the case of Degrassi, since the series tackled several controversial issues in a number of episodes (ibid.) The pay-TV channel TeenNick, which broadcasted the TV show, would not air such episodes given the conservativism that the American government wanted to promote (ibid.). However, the 2004 two-part episode of Degrassi-The Next Generation that was initially censored by the US distributor, finally aired two and a half years later when the cast chose some special episodes to be replayed. (ibid.)

Another episode that reflects the conservativism of its times is the finale episode of the L Word (Showtime, 2004-2009) where the protagonist, Kit (Pam Grier), a middle-aged

18 woman finds out that she is pregnant. Her boyfriend, Angus (Dallas Roberts), is happy hearing the news, yet he decides to support her whatever her choice will be. Kit thinks that an abortion should be the right decision for her and together they visit an abortion clinic. Before Kit has the abortion, they ask her to have an ultrasound. While they wait, Kit realizes that she has not visited an abortion clinic, but an anti-choice crisis pregnancy center. As soon as Kit realizes that, she wants to leave. However, staff members of the center try to block the door. This infuriates Kit even more and she finally leaves the room and moves toward the lobby to find Angus. They both leave the center, while Kit is still in her hospital gown. In a later episode, Kit reveals to her friends that she has had an abortion recently, which the viewers have not watched.

This was one of the few times such a center was featured at a prime-time TV show (Smith, 2019). Its goal was to show how crisis pregnancy centers want to deceive women into believing that they have visited an abortion clinic (ibid.) As a 2006 report by the National Abortion Federation mentions, there are multiple ways that they mislead women into believing that these are centers which provide a variety of services, including abortion. Other than that, they make sure that the appearance of the buildings looks like a health center, while the people working there usually wear doctor robes without being doctors at all. It is important to mention that George W. Bush increased federal funding for crisis pregnancy centers in 2006, impeding abortion access even more (Smith, 2019).

These two examples showcase that anti-abortion supporters did not only want to limit the number of women who sought an abortion, but also wanted to limit if not stop any kind of conversation around this topic. Since this could not be achieved by overturning Roe v. Wade, they found multiple other ways. They wanted women to have no information as to where and how they can obtain an abortion, to shut down abortion clinics, to dissuade women outside or even inside abortion clinics or make the cost of the procedure unbearable for young women to cover.

During the Obama administration, viewers watched a gradual shift towards acceptance and more genuine -or at least more frequent- portrayal of abortion on television. The Obama administration provided a safer space for productions, networks and the newly introduced streaming services to explore different tropes of abortion narratives. His initiatives to support Planned Parenthood, in spite of what was already enacted by

19 President Bush, gave hope to people, and specifically women, that the new President will provide equal opportunities at health care and that abortion will be accessible for the majority of women (Berg 2017). Obama also became the first president of the US to attend the Planned Parenthood National Conference in 2014, where he acknowledged the exceptional work it has been doing for years (ibid.). However, while the President made serious efforts to retain abortion as a legal right for all women, several states, such as Kentucky or Missouri were going against his lead by passing laws that made abortion unfeasible (Eilperin 2017). Television drew from all these political decisions and moved towards a new era, trying to avoid conservativism. At the same time, the new streaming services led the way towards the destigmatization of abortion.

The trope of communicating an abortion story through a flashback or a narration referring to the past yet persisted in the majority of the relevant narratives. However, new narratives added to the public conscience the idea that abortion exists, and it happens more often that is being discussed. One of the most widely discussed abortions in recent television history has been the one Doctor Christina Yang (Sandra Oh) was meant to obtain in the first season of Grey’s Anatomy (ABC, 2005-).

As the creator, Shonda Rhimes mentioned at the time, the original story was for Christina to find out that she is pregnant and decide immediately to terminate the pregnancy (Paskin, 2011). However, what actually happened was that Dr. Yang collapsed amidst a surgery only to realize that she had suffered an ectopic pregnancy. Rhimes’s initial intention for the abortion storyline was overturned due to many discussions and oppositions on the part of Broadcast Standard and Practices1. However, she also found the narrative with the ectopic pregnancy even more compelling at the time. What the audience admired so much in this particular episode (“Make Me Lose Control”, 9 October 2005) was Dr. Yang’s determination to obtain an abortion. She was not at all hesitant or had a second thought as to if she should do it or not, unlike previous female characters on television. Her only concern was whether she was going to inform her boyfriend about it or not. Even the way she reacted while talking on the phone with an abortion clinic is indicative of her firm determination to terminate her pregnancy because she does not want anything to impede her career as a surgeon.

1 The Broadcast Standard and Practices is an independent department within the ABC channel, responsible for reviewing all advertisements and entertainment programs, according to the ABC Advertising Guidelines (2016).

20 It is not until the show’s 8th season in 2011, where Christina Yang faced another pregnancy and decided again for an abortion. According to the Guttmacher Institute (2012), that was the year when “reproductive health rights received unprecedented attention”. More specifically, by the end of the year 36 states out of 50 had enacted 135 provisions in total (ibid.). These included restrictions to abortion access, general bans, extended waiting periods, mandatory ultrasound before an abortion and the need for the patient and the doctor to be in the same room for the prescription of the abortion pill. (ibid.) Abortion providers were also under attack, since they had to relocate to sites near hospitals or away from schools; an unfeasible task for many of them (ibid.). This indicates that regardless of President Obama’s efforts to support and reinforce safe and legal procedures for all women, anti-choice politicians knew and made use of their rights to enact provisions which could ultimately lead to a general ban of abortion provisions in certain states.

Given these facts, Dr. Yang’s abortion in Grey’s Anatomy became an even more important narrative in recent television history. Rhimes returned to the idea of having one of the protagonists dealing with an unwanted pregnancy. What feels “revolutionary” in the case of Christina Yang is that a possible abortion does not seem to change her whole life theory. She is determined and does not need nor want to apologize to anyone for her decision. More importantly, she does not regret it afterwards. Previous female characters in prime-time TV shows, such as Kimber in Nip/Tuck (FX 2003-2010) or Keri in Criminal Minds (CBS 2005-2020), were portrayed as if they had no other choice than abortion or as having second thoughts until the very last moments (Sisson, 2019). Here, in Grey’s Anatomy, it is one of the first times since the case of Maude that a female protagonist of a prime-time TV show reacts matter-of- factly to an unplanned pregnancy. As Christina clearly stated in “She’s Gone” (22 September 2011): “I don’t want one. I don’t hate children, I respect children, I think they should have parents who want them”.

Another instance that has been acknowledged as significant for its time is found in the “I Can’t” (20 January 2010) of Friday Night Lights (NBC, 2006-2011). The series takes place in small-town Texas, one of the most conservative and pro-life states of the U.S. While abortion in Texas is legal, the number of abortion clinics declines every year leaving no option to women with unwanted pregnancies. In the fourth season of the series, a teenage girl, Becky (Madison Burge), comes face to face with a sudden and

21 unwanted pregnancy. She turns to the principal of her high school, Tami Taylor (Connie Britton), for help and advice. During their discussion, it is clear that Tami tries as much as she can to contain her expression and vocabulary when Becky asks her about the option of abortion. It becomes obvious to the viewer that Tami is in favor of abortions, however at the same time she is very well aware of her position as a principal. She seems to know that if she provides Becky with more information about the option of abortion, she will be severely criticized by the colleagues. Eventually, Tami indeed becomes the target of many hateful comments by her colleagues who also think that she should be fired because of her inappropriate beliefs. Although this brings her before the school board, she refuses to apologize for the consultation she provided. Subsequently, she is moved to another school, as she is considered a “danger” for the students of the current one. As for Becky, her boyfriend steps up and offers to help her raise the baby together, however Becky answers that “she took care of it”. In this way, viewers are informed that Becky did obtain an abortion off-screen.

According to Guttmacher Institute, in the years between 2011 and 2013, there were 205 abortion restrictions enacted across the U.S. while there had been just 189 throughout the previous decade (Nash et.al. 2013). This translated into the fact that although in 2000 there were 13 states which were considered “hostile” for abortion rights and abortion seekers, by 2013 this number rose to 27 (ibid.). Nevertheless, television did not retreat from mediating abortion stories, even to a lesser extent.

There are two notable instances, which aired in 2013 and tackled teenage pregnancy and abortion in a different way that Friday Night Lights did. The first one is to be found in the series Parenthood (NBC 2010-2015). In the episode “Small Victories” (January 9, 2013), Amy (Skyler Day), a high school student, faces an unexpected pregnancy. When she shares the news with her boyfriend, Drew (Miles Heizer), he insists to accompany her on her Planned Parenthood appointment. After the doctor has explained the available options for Amy, she is determined that she wishes to have an abortion as soon as possible. Drew, although it is clear from the very beginning that he wants her to continue her pregnancy, he decides to support her whatever her choice is. When he suggests that he could provide for her and the baby financially she responds that if she keeps this baby “her life will be ruined”. Drew suppresses his resentment for her decision and tries to be as supportive as possible. Shortly after, they visit Planned Parenthood once again and Amy has her pregnancy terminated.

22 Parenthood was praised (Paskin 2013, Daly 2013) as one of the few shows on network television to handle abortion in such a delicate and realistic manner. Although, Drew tries really hard to remain objective and respect Amy’s decision, at the end of the episode he finally collapses in tears into his mother’s arms and confides everything in her. Yet, the way the show unfolds after Amy’s abortion, is considered problematic. Viewers would normally expect to watch her being content with her decision, since she did not doubt much about it. However, in the following season, Amy is seemingly upset and faces severe depression. Her emotional state is implicitly attributed to the abortion she obtained. At some point, Drew tries to ask her what is it that triggers this kind of behavior and whether this is about “what happened last year”. Abortion is not directly referred to and Drew suggests that she might want to talk to someone about it, since he felt better when he confided in his mother as well. In this light, the story seemed to take a pro-life turn, by rendering the character to feel extreme regret and discomfort after her abortion.

Again in 2013, East Los High (Hulu 2013-2017) used the pregnancy-decision trope as the main narrative mode around which the first season revolved. Jessie (Janine Larina), a high school student, finds out that she is pregnant after having an affair with her choreographer Cristian (Hector David Jr.). After this realization, a series of events begins to unfold. Cristian denies any involvement or responsibility for Jessie’s pregnancy and when her mother, Lupe (Monica Guzman), finds out about the pregnancy, she assumes that the fetus is Jacob’s (Gabriel Chavarria), Jessie’s boyfriend. Jessie does not reveal the truth to her mother and as a result, Lupe expects the two of them to get married and form a family. She has been diagnosed with terminal cancer, so her last wish is for her daughter to get married. As the plot moves forward and after Lupe’s death, it is clear that Jessie wants to obtain an abortion, however this is not an option for her religious family. Moments before the wedding, she reveals to Jacob that the father of the fetus is Cristian and the wedding is called off. She then confesses everything to her aunt Paulina (Catalina Rodriguez), who tells her that it is not too late for her to have an abortion. However, Jessie believes that “good girls do not have abortions”, like her mother taught her. Paulina responds to that by saying “yes, we do”, and then she continues on telling her about an abortion she had when she was a teenager. She also makes sure to mention that she never felt any regrets about it.

23 This abortion plot aimed at realistically portraying how an unexpected teenage pregnancy might affect the lives of many. Unlike Parenthood, East Los High proved that Jessie’s decision to obtain an abortion benefited her and everyone close to her. After graduating high school, she is able to attend medicine college, while her now ex- boyfriend, Jacob, is happy in another relationship. The significance of this abortion story lies in the fact that it was created to meet a twofold goal: to entertain teenagers and inform them on sexual health and reproductive rights (Singh 2016). The series was created by Population Media Center (PMC)2 and the creators worked closely with Planned Parenthood and social workers. They wanted to provide comprehensible information on such matters since it was found that Latinas faced double the teenage pregnancies white women did. (ibid.). The show aimed at reminding viewers that reproductive health rights do not only belong to the sphere of politics and the ever- changing laws and restrictions (Pena 2020). It is rather the means that people will use to create a future for themselves, regardless of the community they belong to (ibid.).

Obama’s presidency was followed by Donald Trump’s administration. That was a huge shift in American people’s lives, including reproductive health rights. Early in his presidency, Trump assured American people that he would nominate anti-abortion judges at the Supreme Court in order to overturn Roe v. Wade. Supported by anti-choice politicians, more and more states enacted abortion restrictions. As of 2019, “11.3 million women of reproductive age need more than 1-hour drive to nearest abortion facility” (Lai and Patel, 2019). However, with the rise of streaming services, TV shows would only push forward. In the past five years, television still reflects reality by being critical towards it. It would be impossible to go back to wide conservativism, once there had been so major changes. Streaming services moved away from censorship and allowed creators to touch upon things and portray taboo issues as they haven’t been depicted before. Until that point, as Condit (1990, 123) mentions, “television followed rather than led the public argument and legal change”. During Trump’s presidency, viewers watched this normality be reversed. As the examples below will indicate, television narratives did not follow the conservatism that came back with Trump’s policies and “the timing worked out nicely for creators with political points of view to

2 The Population Media Center (PMC) is an entertainment, non-profit organization and it aims at providing people with entertainment programs that bring social change. (https://www.populationmedia.org/)

24 share” (Kleigman, 2017). Rather, television content in the end of the 2010s and the beginning of the 2020s now follows its own trajectory and it tries to free itself from the already established conformities, even if this is achieved at a slow pace.

From 2015 until today, abortion narratives on television met their largest increase in television history with approximately 100 episodes featuring an abortion airing in the last five years. The reason for that lies, as we already mentioned, in the increase of the available options of televised content, both on networks and streaming services, but more particularly in the need of the creators to decriminalize abortion culturally in the minds of the viewers. In 2015, another popular TV show created by Rhimes tackled on the issue of abortion. Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington) in Scandal (ABC, 2012-2018) finds out that she is pregnant with the baby of President Fitz (Tony Goldwyn). Her decision for the abortion comes as a surprise for the viewer, since the pregnancy had not been discussed at all or even implied. What makes this particular abortion story distinctive is the way it is portrayed. Usually, we see women in television before or after having terminated their pregnancies. Even if we see them visiting an abortion clinic, we as viewers do not get a glimpse of the inside and the procedure. Scandal did that for the audience. Olivia entered the abortion clinic, filled the papers she had to without much talking and the camera followed her until she was on the operation table and the doctors were around her. The viewers see her lying still while on the background they listen to “Silent Night”, since it is Christmas Eve. The choice of this song was not accidental on the part of Scandal writers; “Silent Night” has been for years a Christmas hymn meant to celebrate Jesus’ birth. To be using such a song as the soundtrack of an abortion scene, feels even more “dissonant” for the viewer (Cruz, 2015). After the operation, Olivia leaves the abortion clinic, and her procedure is never mentioned again. Rhimes chose not to make such a big issue out of Olivia’s abortion, to make clear that her decision does not need to be life-changing or regrettable.

The following year, television came to know two more notable instances of abortion. The first one was on Jane the Virgin (The CW, 2014-2019), where the protagonist’s (Gina Rodriguez) mother, Xiomara (Andrea Navedo), faces an unwanted pregnancy after a one-night stand. One day after its broadcast, the media praised the episode for the authentic and realistic portrayal of an abortion-decision (Bradley 2016, Butler 2016, Truong 2016). In collaboration with Planned Parenthood, Jane the Virgin became the first TV show where a Latina female character obtained an abortion (Truong 2016).

25 Although, unlike Scandal, the abortion happens off-screen, the episode is charged with several subtle political messages. What is considered “revolutionary” again here is that it does not deal much with the decision-making process. The episode begins right after Xiomara had her abortion, depicting this as given information for what is to follow. Following Olivia Pope’s lead, Xiomara’s life is not defined or changed by this unplanned pregnancy, neither does she exaggerate or trouble herself with regret. It is a conscious decision that she makes immediately given that she is at an age where she does not want more children. The episode aired a few days after the third and final presidential debate between candidates Hilary Clinton and Donald Trump, where they also discussed and expressed their views on women’s reproductive health rights (Stanhope 2016). Creator of Jane the Virgin, Snyder Urman, shared her desire to politicize her show by portraying a rather heated topic on regular cable TV (Bradley, 2016). By doing so, she also wanted to bring forward another sensitive subject matter, that of religion. Xiomara’s mother, Alba, is a deeply religious person who, as it is expected, does not always approve abortion. She and her daughter quarrel about her decision and the fact that she did not consult anyone on this. However, by the end of the episode they both agree that it is normal for them to have different opinions and thus they reconcile.

Three months after the inauguration of Donald Trump as President of the U.S.A, in April 2017, the popular series The Handmaid’s Tale (Hulu 2017-) had its premiere. The series is based on Margaret Atwood’s 1985 novel of the same name, and although it is placed in a dystopian future, it was considered an ominous foreshadowing of what was going to follow (Edelstein 2019). This is one of the rare cases where one TV show did not actually mediate the political changes of its time, but it was able to predict parts of it. The series explores the fictional Republic of Gilead, where the oppressive totalitarian political landscape subjects the last remaining fertile women, known as Handmaids, to be reproductive surrogates for the wives of the men in power. Although there is no explicit abortion in the series, in the first episode (“Offred”, 26 April 2017) viewers find out that a doctor has been killed because he was providing illegal abortions to these women. Viewers were also able to notice many similarities related to the political landscape of the time.

Right after Donald Trump’s inauguration, several states started enacting abortion restrictions which rendered abortion inaccessible for most women. While the 1973

26 federal law did not change, individual states now had the support of the President to apply their conservative politics and reform abortion restrictions. According to Guttmacher Institute, in 2017, 19 states enacted 63 new abortion restriction (Nash et.al. 2018). That was the largest number of abortion restrictions that were enacted within a calendar year, since the surge in the abortion restrictions in 2013 (ibid.). By 2018, 23 new abortion restrictions had been enacted in 15 more states (ibid.). In 2019, the state of Alabama signed and passed an abortion restriction that was considered the most “extreme” one since the decriminalization of abortion in 1975 (ibid.). The Alabama abortion bill considered almost any case of abortion illegal, with no exceptions for the cases of rape or incest (ibid.). At that point, the women who protested against the new abortion restrictions in the U.S., drew from the iconography and the costumes of The Handmaid’s Tale to do so. Dressed in the distinctive red robes, that are used in the series to distinguish Handmaids from other women, these protesters identified with the characters in the series, and they also used phrases in lines from the series in their protest signs (Edelstein 2019). In the series, the Handmaids’ worth is reduced to their reproduction ability, thus the comparison to the new abortion bills that would deprive women from the right to regulate their reproductive health, found a “frightful resonance” (Parham 2019).

The Handmaid’s Tale, although a dystopian TV show, remains largely political. When Kaklamanidou (2016, 3) examines “disguised” political filmic narratives, she points out that these continue to perform the double role of films, which translates in either reflecting upon current societal matters or “foreseeing” how changes are going to unfold. This can also be applied on the case of The Handmaid’s Tale, where the dystopic future that was imagined in the past, not only foreshadowed the future, but also managed to influence it on a certain degree.

Since abortion remains a political matter and the locus for heated political debate, TV shows that choose to implement abortion stories in their plots, enter this heated discussion. The fact that these narratives may take a political stance, either clearly or more tactfully, does not necessarily renders them political. However, it is important to examine how different genres embark on exploring the various aspects of the abortion matter.

27 GENRE and ABORTION STORIES – THE RISE OF the “ABORTION COMEDY”

Condit (1999) was one of the first scholars to examine the relationship between generic categories and abortion narratives in prime-time television. She found that these abortion narratives usually make their appearance within a medical or legal procedural, and generally dramas (Condit 1999, 124). Press and Cole (1990) applied Condit’s categorization in order to examine the abortion narratives of their times. However, it is important to take into account the dates of both these writings. In the 1990s, abortion narratives had not made their appearances in genres other than those that stand under the umbrella of “drama”.

What prompts this particular chapter is the fact that although the first female character to obtain an abortion on prime-time series was the titular character of the sitcom Maude, many years passed until abortion was re-introduced through a comedic narrative. What is being questioned here is the appropriacy of drama as the only suitable genre to accommodate an abortion story on television. Regarding the dynamic relationship between television genres and culture, Mittell (2004, xii) explains that different genres serve different social functions. As a result, narratives that belong to different genres function differently in the way that they affect the audience. Of course, genres are not exclusive, closed lists, neither do the narratives that are being examined here belong to one single category. However, taking into account the “I know when I see it” theory (ibid. i), one can infer the dominant genre of a narrative, while admitting that it borrows elements from other generic categories as well. For this reason, I am not interested into categorizing the narratives of the current corpus into all the generic categories they belong to, but rather I am paying more attention on how genres in this case operate culturally.

So far, the use of the drama label has been the more “appropriate” format to portray abortion. In this generic context, female characters are represented as having a difficult time deciding whether they really want the abortion and it is implied that their decision will affect their lives forever. An interesting trope that is also being used frequently is that of the past abortion after a teenage unwanted pregnancy, which accounts for 17 cases (10.9 %) in our corpus. The female character usually “confesses” having terminated an abortion which either changed their lives completely or one that they still

28 have regrets over. Martha in The Americans (FX, 2013-2018) does so when her past comes up in “Persona non Grata” (8 June 2016). It is revealed that she got pregnant from her boyfriend when she was in high school, and when he found out, he walked away from her. Then she decided to terminate her pregnancy and never talk about it again due to the bad memories. Unlike this kind of portrayals, within the time span of this analysis, there were also several comedy-dramas to approach abortion in a “funny” or sarcastic way (Sisson 2019, 251).

Given the examined timeframe, The Sarah Silverman Show (Comedy Central, 2007- 2010) was the first comedy non-animated TV show to feature an abortion plotline. The series is set in California and Sarah gets entangled in an anti-abortion church group by accident. When she finds out, she clearly states that she has already had three abortions in her life. This leads viewers to a flashback sequence, featuring the song “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)” by Green Day as a sarcastic way to portray her abortion as something that relieved her, and she had fun doing every time.

Until 2015, almost all the comedic narratives that tackled on the issue of abortion were animated TV shows. In her research, Erika Byrnison (2019, 114) concludes that abortion, as well as other taboo subjects, are more popular in animated comedies, such as Family Guy (Fox, 1999-) or Bojack Horseman (Netflix, 2014-2020), since through satire and humor they can be more approachable or digestible for the audience. However, it should be mentioned that I have selected and incorporated only a limited number of animated abortion narratives, as indicative of their times. As Byrnison (ibid. 51) highlights, references to abortion and other taboo issues in these series are more than frequent, hence it would be wise to study them separately. As a matter of fact, I will be dealing with them shortly, only to examine the way in which they have approached abortion in a humorous manner.

In the time of this analysis, South Park (Comedy Central, 1997-) is the first series that addressed abortion in its 8th season finale. One of the main protagonists, Cartman, is narrating a story to the rest of his class. There abortion is portrayed as the only way to save Christmas, in a humorous, yet realistic manner. Family Guy (Fox, 1999-) is another popular animated TV show that uses abortion as a laughing tool to comment and criticize past or current practices. Among these, there is criticism over George W. Bush’s administration and his pro-life stances in the 5th season, whereas in the 7th season

29 finale, the series satirizes past abortion practices by making a joke of how women would terminate their pregnancies in the 1600s.

While the most indicative examples of abortion rhetoric in comedy series between 2004 and 2014 are only nine, there is an obvious surge in the number of comedies or comedy- dramas which integrate abortion into their plotlines since 2015. This relatively new practice unfolds gradually, first with the already discussed trope which suggests that a character may reveal a past abortion instead of having one in present fictional time. Sisson (2018) maintains that “In a country where one-quarter of women have an abortion at some point in their lives, a disclosure is perhaps a more relatable way for abortion to cross into friend group or family dynamics.”

The popular TV series Girls (HBO, 2012-2017), for example, explored the matter of abortion in a very subtle, yet significant way. In a scene where there has been no long decision-making, Mimi Rose (Gillian Jacobs) announces that she had one abortion by saying: “I can’t go for a run because I had an abortion yesterday” (“Close Up”, 22 February 2015). Her boyfriend, Adam (Adam Driver), is instantly furious with the choice she made without consulting him and when he asks her whether it was a boy or girl, she simply states that “it was a ball of cells”. This matter-of-fact announcement of Mimi Rose reinforces the idea that an abortion should not be a complicated decision. There are women who deal with it as pragmatically as this fictional character does, when they feel that a child does not fit in their lives at a particular moment. What is considered “groundbreaking” again is that Mimi Rose chose not to inform Adam on her pregnancy, because she did not want him to affect her feelings or try to dissuade her from terminating her pregnancy.

In the years that led to 2020, abortion narratives in comedies were more frequent than ever before. Starting in 2016 until today, there are at least 17 instances where abortion narratives have been included in a comedy context. However, as Sisson and Gretchen (2019, 252) note, the way most of these comedies use abortion, is “similar to dramas in their focus on decision-making. [C]omedies use abortions as ways of clarifying what is most important for a character, reinforcing their future goals and opportunities.” For this reason, abortion in comedies cannot be thought of as clearly revolutionary, because their representation does not add anything new to the already established narratives. Yet, I would argue that it adds the joke, which is always misunderstood. Like the sitcom

30 which, according to public opinion, is there to entertain people and not to try and politicize things (Mills 2009, 26), comedies in general are not considered the appropriate context through which abortion should be explored. However, it should be understood that the jokes that are made in comedy TV series are not entirely about abortion, but mainly about the hypocrisy of our culture regarding abortion (Moss 2013).

The argument that abortions can be funny is based on the fact that abortions are too common and frequent among women to be so dramatically portrayed (Singer 2020). Also, the fact that we make fun of old practices and how we treated abortion as a definitive moment in a woman’s life, renders abortion relatable (Romm 2018). Yet, it depends on the kind of the joke that is being used (ibid.). After all, a bad joke may cause the same harm to viewers as an overly dramatic television narrative (ibid.). Smart and sharp jokes are the effective ones which make the audience think twice.

According to Sisson (2019, 252), there is an example of good subversive humor on abortion used in the sixth episode (“Brrap Brrap Pew Pew”, 22 July 2016) of the third season of the adult animated sitcom Bojack Horseman (Netflix, 2014-2020). Bojack and Diane are attending an award ceremony, where Diane, a social media manager, gets distracted and accidentally tweets that she is getting an abortion using the Twitter account of her client, celebrity Sextina Aquafina. The next day, the tweet has gone viral to Sextina’s 40 million followers, who either criticize her or support her in this decision. Sextina decides to take advantage of this misunderstanding, without admitting the mistake that has been made, since a lot of women are now supporting her for speaking out about her abortion. Sextina appears as a guest at multiple talk shows and also releases a satirical and really offensive song about the practice of abortion. At the same time, we see Diane at an abortion clinic with her supportive husband. She is obviously furious not only about Sextina’s vulgar song, but also about all the bureaucracy and paper-filling needed for an abortion. At the clinic, they meet another woman in the waiting room who epitomizes the whole discussion around abortion by stating: “abortion is scary”. However, as she continues, it is not the operation that causes fear, but rather the amount of pro-life protesters outside of each clinic and the fact that doctors make women listen to the heartbeat of their fetus before terminating a pregnancy, just in case they change their minds on the operation table. The character concludes, “when you can make a joke about abortion it makes it less scary”. For

31 Sisson, this “less scary” quality goes along with the high chance of relatability (2019, 252).

However, towards the end of the episode, Sextina finds out that she is really pregnant and the whole team tries to figure out how they are going to cover this. As Byrnison (2019, 65) notes, the use of Sextina’s real pregnancy was somewhat “clumsy”. Yet, the writers probably wanted to provide the audience with a narrative that covers as many aspects of abortion as possible (ibid.).

The comedy series Shrill (Hulu, 2019-) offered another straightforward depiction of abortion in the pilot (“Annie” 15 March 2019). This it was immediately praised by the media for its realness and authenticity on the subject. The protagonist, Annie (Aidy Bryant), has been having unprotected sexual intercourse with her friend without being in an exclusive relationship. Although she takes the morning pill every time, she finds out the hard way that it is not completely effective for overweight people. So, afterwards, she and her good friend, Fran (Lolly Adefope), visit an abortion clinic, where she fills all the necessary papers to have her abortion. What is notable, at that point, is the fact that, like Scandal, Shrill not only has its main lead protagonist have an abortion, but also follows her in the abortion room, while focusing on her face. Annie looks relieved and happy and she does not seem to have second thoughts at any point. Lindy West, the writer of the titular book upon which the series is based, explained that abortion for Annie is “pivotal” but not the way it has been used in other series (Romero, 2019). Rather, it gives Annie the chance to reconsider some aspects of her life that she is not content with and decide to change them (ibid.).

A final case of a comedy series that featured an abortion plotline is that of Veep (HBO, 2012-2019). Amy (Anna Chlumsky), the chief of staff in the President’s office, finds out that she is pregnant after a one-night sexual intercourse with Dan (Reid Scott), who handles the communications of the presidential campaigns. Amy and Dan have long had a conflicting relationship since Amy always considered him a threat for her job and Dan does not want to be committed in any relationship. When Amy finds out about her unplanned pregnancy in the premiere of the final season, she begins wondering how her life would look like if she kept that baby. Amy has been working hard for many years and she has not been profiled as a person who would give up their career to make a family; at least not with Dan. When she makes up her mind to obtain an abortion, she

32 and Dan visit an abortion clinic where they have to come face to face with pro-life protesters outside the building. After the abortion, Dan and Amy head to a hotel where her phone rings and she is offered the position of the campaign manager she wanted.

Being a rather edgy political comedy on a cable channel, Veep has always managed to criticize, satirize, or subtly comment upon political practices. This episode aired amidst Trump’s presidency, where the need for discussion around abortion was timelier than ever. However, it was received with mixed reviews. On the one hand, critics thought that it was appropriate if not necessary for a political comedy to address the debate of abortion in this way (Pond 2019, Reilly 2019), an opinion that I hold as well, but on the other hand, some felt that this was a very crude and exhilarating way to do so (Shipley, 2019). However, had the episode not been provoking on a certain degree, it is highly probable that the media would not pay attention to the story and therefore it would not add much to the discussion around television abortion narratives.

The rise in the number of abortion plotlines might be indicative for the emergence of a novel subgenre named “abortion comedy” (Singer, 2020). Comedy films that also tackle abortion in funnier ways than before, for example Juno (2007), Obvious Child (2014) and the most recent Unpregnant (2020) contribute to the formation of this micro- category that might be eligible to be studied separately from other comedy categories. For Lee (2020), the discussion around abortion in the most recent films feels refreshing, since they are not “manmade”. Thus, female filmmakers and creators aim at “correcting” any misunderstandings or misconceptions that the male gaze imposed on abortion stories. Yet viewers need to be reminded constantly, that creators do not aim at ridiculing abortion, but rather subtracting fear and shame that has already been attached to it by pop culture and media (Singer 2020).

Abortion is not an issue to be taken lightly and “television has the power to shape how abortion is understood, as a social phenomenon […] or even as a joke” (Sisson 2018). However, even an abortion joke or an abortion comedy film may carry other stereotypes that need to be addressed as well. Television seems to identify these and tries to overthrow them gradually with its new stories.

33 ABORTION TELEVISION NARRATIVES and STIGMATIZATION

So far, we have discussed how abortion television narratives since 2004 have reflected political changes and how the surge of comedic abortion stories might provide a safe space for a more realistic and destigmatized portrayal of health reproductive rights. However, comedy is only one part of the whole effort that needs to be done in order to remove stigma from abortion through television. A more skeptical argument would be that television has tried to remove shame from abortion without considering other stereotypes that arise. First, we need to take a look into how stigma is defined, shaped and perpetuated. For Wayne (2016, 216) abortion representations are not “only […] typically buried in stigma - unlike almost any other medical procedure portrayed - but they are muddled with falsehoods and misconceptions about the entire procedure.”

By definition, abortion stigma is “a shared understanding that abortion is morally wrong and/or socially unacceptable” (Cockrill, 2013). Some factors which may provoke abortion stigma include that abortion goes against the current law, it diminishes the idea of femininity, it disregards the idea that the fetus is already a person or simply it is because pro-life supporters have realized the strength of abortion stigma used against women who wish to or have already had an abortion (Norris et.al., 2011). Even the shows examined above, which seemed to move beyond stereotypes and prejudices, showcase faults at a deeper level. A main critical point against those portrayals is that the majority of the women obtaining an abortion are predominantly white and wealthy. According to a 2004 survey by the Guttmacher Institute, 34% of white women had an abortion, the 37% was held by black women, the 22% by Hispanic and the final 8% by Asians, Pacific Islanders, Native Americans and those of mixed race. In 2017, it was found that between 2008 and 2014, although white women obtained a larger number of abortion, they kept the lowest rate at 10.0 per 1000 (Jones, Witwer & Jerman, 2019). On the other hand, black women revealed the highest rate in abortion, which was 27.0 per 1000. (ibid.).

In 2015, almost 90% of the fictional female characters having an abortion on television were white (Sisson 2016). However, what is really hopeful, is that in 2018 black women represented almost half of the abortion portrayals on television (Sisson 2018). For instance, Coco (Antoinette Robertson) in Dear White People (Netflix, 2017-), after

34 dealing with an unplanned pregnancy while at university, she decides to have an abortion since her ambition to become a successful lawyer is much stronger than her willingness to become a mother. Kelli (Natasha Rothwell) in Insecure (HBO, 2016-), addresses her past abortion in a humorous manner, claiming that “if I wanted a kid, I would have kept the last one (“Ghost-like”, 30 September 2018). In The Deuce (HBO, 2017-2019), which is set in 1977, Darlene (Dominique Fishback) finds out that she is unexpectedly pregnant and does not seem to question what to do; abortion is the only way for her to continue her life as it is. Also, by her stance and words, viewers understand that this was probably not the first time she obtained an abortion.

What also needs to be discussed at this point, is whether all these women in TV shows have a relatively easy or difficult access to safe and legal abortions. According to the Guttmacher Institute, eight states in the United States have only one abortion provider left, while ANSIRH found that there are 27 “abortion desserts”, meaning cities with over 100,000 residents where one has to travel more than one hour in order to reach an abortion facility. Such difficulty in abortion access is usually underrepresented on television. The most frequent barrier that arises in the narratives examined here is the one of illegality although this is frequent in period dramas, where abortion had not yet been legalized. Other than that, women seem to be able to overcome all obstacles that may impede their abortion, and almost none of them in recent plotlines is excluded from having the right to acquire an abortion. As Sisson (2017) notes, this come in sheer contrast with the narratives of previous decades which, as Press and Cole (1999) found, depicted low-income women having trouble to obtain an abortion due to socioeconomical reasons. Wayne (2017, 231) remarks that “the lack of diversity in film and television is an obvious factor in the failure to depict more accurate and nuanced abortion plotlines […]”.

Another inaccuracy that is often met in recent abortion television plotlines, is the way they misrepresent abortion as a process and its effects. First of all, there seems to be a certain preference for surgical abortion in TV shows, while the option for a medication one is often neglected (Herold and Sisson, 2019). According to the data collected by the Guttmacher Institute (2019,) “medication abortion accounted for more than one- third (39%) of all abortions in the United States in 2017”. However, television abortion portrayals of 2018 featured no medication abortion at all (Herold and Sisson 2019). Some of the plotlines that were considered nuanced for following the female character

35 into the abortion room, such a Scandal in 2015 or the majority of medical procedurals, actually perpetuate the myth that a safe abortion can only be obtained on a surgical table. Herold and Sisson (2019, 502) examine these narratives where women are watched having a surgical abortion and reach the conclusion that this kind of abortion serves the interests of popularity and sentimentality best. It is on those surgical tables, where the camera focuses on the character’s face to identify possible hesitation, regrets or life-changing decision that are about to come. In the case of Scandal, as we mentioned earlier, the song that is used in the background creates a certain atmosphere, while in GLOW (Netflix, 2017-2019), when Ruth (Alison Brie) lies still on the clinic table, it is the first time that she identifies as a wrestler, and not as an actress, thus connoting the shift in her life that is going to follow her abortion. Considering these parameters, another question arises. Most female characters in the series examined realize that they might be pregnant early on when they miss their first period. And although mifepristone, or commonly known, abortion pill, is most effective in the first 63 days of the pregnancy, as well as the second trimester, the first thing that they urge to do is not visit a pharmacist, but rather an abortion clinic.

In contrast to medication abortion that is being underrepresented, there are the mortality rates of abortions which are exaggerated on television compared to real life (Sisson and Rowland, 2017). Based on the 155 instances of abortion of the corpus, there were approximately 30 instances of adverse physical outcomes that followed an abortion. These complications, of course, are not minor ones. Amongst the most frequent ones are severe hemorrhage, infertility or even death. For example, in the second season of True Detective (HBO 2014-), Jordan attributes her current infertility on the multiple abortions she had in the past. Also, in an episode (“Tell me the Truth” 3 April 2019) of Chicago Med (NBC 2015-), a teenage girl, goes to the hospital with severe abdominal pain after taking an abortion pill she ordered online. She also faces severe hemorrhage and an infection, but eventually she is able to recover.

Sisson and Rowland (2017, 28) found that the number of characters who face serious health implications after an abortion is larger than that of women in real life. As a result, a reasonable question is why creators choose to concentrate on past practices of abortion that were illegal and thus more dangerous, or simply focus on portraying the danger and risks of an abortion nowadays, while they have the chance to create content that will promote the idea that abortion is mostly safe and risk-free for all women (ibid. 28).

36 After all, it has been proven that viewers pay little attention to the context in which an abortion is portrayed, and they are left with the idea that abortions in general are risky. (Bessett et.al 2015, 741).

What needs to be understood is that every abortion portrayal on scripted television is important, whether it is destigmatizing, or it perpetuates myths and stereotypes about the abortion procedure or the women who have one. (Byrnison 2019,33). In this way every narrative adds to a bigger, shared conscience of what abortion is and how it may affect people’s lives. If these narratives continue to perpetuate stigma, then, according to Kumar et.al. (2008, 634), society and more particularly women, will have to face the negative consequences that will derive from this. Abortion stigma creates, among others, shame, silence and fear which may lead to delayed or self-inducted abortions and finally to adverse physical or mental outcomes (ibid.).

This inevitably leads to the last topic of this discussion that examines how the abortion stigma emanating from these misrepresentations affects the beliefs of the viewers. In order to be able to understand this, one needs to take a closer look at the reasons why abortion is initially stigmatized. According to Norris et.al. (2011), there are five particular reasons which provoke and perpetuate abortion stigma:

1. The idea that abortion goes against the two main principles of womanhood: “nurturing motherhood” and “sexual purity”,

2. the idea that “a fetus is a person”, and therefore it is killed,

3. the constant reforms of the abortion law,

4. the view of abortion as “dirty” and “unhealthy”, and

5. the idea that the perpetuation of abortion stigma is a “powerful tool” in the hands of pro-life advocates.

Gerbner and Gross (2007, 23) suggest that the reason for this does not lie simply in the effects that these narratives have on the audience, but rather on what they name the “cultivation theory”. While the notion of the “effects” connotes a one-way type of process between television and media in general with the public, “cultivation” assumes the kind of interaction that exists between them (ibid.). For Gerbner and Gross, “cultivation is thus part of a continual, dynamic, ongoing process of interaction among

37 messages and contexts” (ibid. 24). The conservation of the stigma prevents any kind of change in abortion rights, since viewers are not able to understand the real severity of the problem through media and culture (Wayne 2016, 241).

However, according to cultivation theory, viewers do not interpret television messages in the same way. While the transmitter is the same for everyone, receivers have the ability to alternate and filter the incoming messages though critical thinking (Gerbner and Gross 2007, 24). By sending the message to multiple different directions, already established groups may influence or create new groups with differentiated beliefs and ideas (ibid.). Of course, this might be achieved at a slow pace, depending on the quantity and quality of the narratives that are broadcast. As a matter of fact, in the case of abortion narratives and the subsequent abortion stigma, the more portrayals, the closer viewers will get to the normalization of abortion in the shared conscience.

38 CONCLUSION

This paper has provided an examination of 155 instances of television abortion narratives that were produced and broadcast in the United States between 2004 and 2020. It would be wise to mention that this list cannot be exhaustive since television shows have been increasingly “playing” with taboo issues, without really exploiting them in their plots. Here, I have used plotlines, where the abortion story is clear, and it is usually the experience of a main or recurring character of a show.

Our examination shows that the variety of portrayals of abortion present different sides of the same coin. To put it simply, most of them can either be read as signs of progress or retreat to a conservative past. The optimistic scenario sees the surge in abortion narratives as something positive for today’s culture. Television and streaming services have now entered almost all American houses, creating a constant flow of messages about every societal matter. One cannot deny the fact that, the ever-increasing number of abortion narratives throughout the years is an indicator of the growing tolerance on the part of the viewers towards those stories. Moreover, by portraying abortion regularly on screen, people might become accustomed to the idea that abortion happens more frequently that they tend to think. Of course, what is of utmost importance, is the quality and the tropes that are being used in these narratives.

There comes the opposing argument, which claims that creators have not yet found the appropriate way of depicting these stories and their efforts are more harmful than beneficial for the audience. As it has already been suggested, this claim is supported by the number of stereotypes and prejudices reproduced even in the narratives that seem ahead of their times. However, it is the critical stance of the audience that will make the difference in such cases. The viewer needs to be actively engaged with the content they watch in order to understand whether television is really trying to reproduce certain motifs or criticize them through clear exposure.

Television has been making certain steps towards acceptance and inclusion, yet it can not rid itself completely from what is happening around it. Severe criticism towards it might help open new discussions around certain outdated ideas, but it is the new productions and the new stories that can really make a difference.

39 Although abortion in America has been legal for more than four decades, its discussion, especially in the political context, creates an unprecedented turmoil. Although Trump’s administration has been overtly pro-life, abortion rights managed to survive, and Roe v. Wade was not overturned despite Trump’s proclamations. Abortion rights have been separated from women rights as a topic and are now discussed separately. They have been transformed into something more religious and political at the same time by dividing a whole nation. As long as there are opponents of reproductive health rights, abortion will not be accessible for all women in the United States. Neither can abortion stigma be abolished so easily. Regressive policies, bans and restrictions fuel people and more particularly women with fear and insecurities about what is going to come. It remains to be seen how President-elect Joe Biden will face this issue in the first year of his presidency.

Another situation that will crucially alter the landscape around abortion, is the ongoing pandemic. Abortion access during these unprecedented times has proven to be even more challenging for American women. The so-called abortion desserts are now multiplying, while many states remain unwilling to adjust their policies in order to provide women safe and legal abortions. What matters the most are the slow steps people, culture, media and politics make towards the realization that ever since abortion was legalized, it should also be considered an undeniable human right. Until then, media and pop culture have the potential to keep investing in stories that may change the already established narratives into stories that promote reproductive justice.

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46 APPENDIX

This Appendix includes information about the series and the particular episodes that were included in this research’s corpus. Information has been taken from the International Movie Database (IMDb) and the Abortion Onscreen Database by the Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health (ANSIRH).

No. TV Show Network Episode Date US State Genre 2004

Degrassi: The Drama, S3 NonUS- Next Generation TeenNick January 26 Coming E14,15 Canada 1 (2001–2015) of Age Crime, Cold Case CBS S1 E16 March 8 Pennsylvania Drama, (2003–2010) 2 Mystery The West Wing Drama, ΝΒC S5 Ε17 March 24 Washington 3 (1999–2006) Political Comedy, The O.C (2003– Fox S1 E27 May 5 California Drama, 2007) 4 Romance Nip/Tuck (2003– Medical ABC S2 E8 August 11 California 5 2010) Drama Days of Our September Soap NBC E1.9898 Illinois 6 Lives (1965–) 28 Opera South Park Comedy December Animated, S8 E14 Colorado 7 (1997– ) Central 15 Comedy 2005 Drama, Jack and Bobby Romance, WB S1 E19 April 21 Missouri (2004–2005) Science 8 Fiction House M.D Medical Fox S1 E19 May 4 New Jersey 9 (2004–2012) Drama Crime, Law and Order: November NBC S7 E9 New York Drama, SVU (1999–) 22 10 Legal 2006

Medical ER (1994–2009) NBC S12 E11 January 6 Illinois 11 Drama Battlestar February Science Galactica SyFy S2 E17 --- 18 Fiction 12 (2004–2009)

47 No. TV Show Network Episode Date US State Genre Deadwood South Dakota Crime, HBO S3 E2 June 18 13 (2004–2006) (past) Historical Medical General Drama, Hospital (1963– ABC #1.11120 August 29 New York Soap ) 14 Opera Comedy, Weeds (2005– September Showtime S2 E5 California Crime, 2012) 11 15 Drama Comedy, Scrubs (2001– December NBC S6 E2 California Medical, 2010) 7 16 Drama 2007

The L Word Drama, Showtime S4 E1 January 7 California 17 (2004–2009) Romance House MD Medical Fox S3 E12 January 31 New Jersey 18 (2004–2012) Drama Drama, Veronica Mars Mystery, CW S3 E12 February 7 California (2004–2019) Young 19 Adult House MD Medical Fox S3 E17 April 04 New Jersey 20 (2004–2012) Drama Family Guy Animated, Fox S5 E15 April 29 Rhode Island 21 (1999–) Comedy The Sarah Comedy Silverman Show S2 E1 October 04 California Comedy Central 22 (2007–2010) Legal, Law and Order: NBC S9 E3 October 9 New York Drama, SVU (1999–) 23 Crime Law and Order: Legal, Criminal Intent NBC S7 E2 October 11 New York Drama, 24 (2001–2011) Crime 2008

South Park Comedy Animated, S12 E5 April, 9 Colorado 25 (1997–) Central Comedy Legal, Criminal Minds CBS S3 E18 May 7 Washington Drama, (2005–2020) 26 Crime House MD September Drama, Fox S5 E1 New Jersey 27 (2004–2012) 17 Medical

48 No. TV Show Network Episode Date US State Genre Cartoon Fantasy Comedy, Moral Orel S3 E4 October 21 28 Network Present (US) Animated Crime, Sons of Anarchy FX S1 E8 October 22 California Drama, (2008–2014) 29 Thriller Comedy, Boston Legal November ABC S5 E8 Massachusetts Crime, (2004–2008) 10 30 Drama Crime, Law and Order: November NBC S10 E8 New York Drama, SVU (1999–) 25 31 Legal Private Practice December Drama, ABC S2 E8 California 32 (2007–2013) 4 Medical Legal, Cold Case December CBS S6 E11 Pennsylvania Drama, (2003–2010) 22 33 Crime 2009

Criminal Minds Crime, CBS S4 E17 March 11 Washington 34 (2005–2020) Drama Family Guy Animated, Fox S7 E16 May 17 Rhode Island 35 (1999–) Comedy Weeds (2005– Showtime S5 E5 July 7 California Drama 36 2012) Drama, Defying Gravity Fantasy ABC S1 E1 August 2 Science (2009) Present (US) 37 Fiction Crime, Law and Order: NBC S11 E4 October 14 New York Drama, SVU (1999–) 38 Legal Crime, Law and Order NBC S20 E5 October 23 New York Drama, (1999–) 39 Legal Nip/Tuck (2003– December Drama, ABC S6 E10 California 40 2010) 17 Medical

2010 Friday Night S04 Lights (2006– NBC January 20 Texas Drama E10,11,12 41 2011) Animated, February, Comedy, Archer (2009–) FX S1 E6 New York 11 Action, 42 Drama

49 Crime, Law and Order NBC S11 E18 March 31 New York Drama, SVU (1999– ) 43 Legal Family Guy Animated, Fox S8 E21 June, 21 Rhode Island 44 (1999– ) Comedy Crime, Sons of Anarchy FX S3 E8 October 26 California Drama, (2008–2014) 45 Thriller Legal, Law and Order November NBC S12 E9 New York Drama, SVU (1999– ) 17 46 Crime 2011

The Good Wife February Legal CBS S2 E12 Illinois 47 (2009–2016) 21 Drama Private Practice Medical ABC S4 E21 May 13 California 48 (2007–2013) Drama Grey's Anatomy September Medical ABC S8 E2 Washington 49 (2005– ) 23 Drama AHS: Murder October, FX S1 E4 California Horror 50 House (2011– ) 19 2012 Comedy, The Game BET S5 E1,2 January 10 Georgia Drama, (1997) 51 Romance Boardwalk Crime, February Empire (2010– HBO S3 E12 New Jersey Drama, 13 52 2014) Historical Shameless Drama, Showtime S2 E10 March 18 Illinois 53 (2011–2021) Comedy Boss (2011– Drama, Starz S2 E3 August 31 Illinois 54 2012) Crime Crime, Copper (2012– BBC September S1 E9 New York Drama, 2013) America 2 55 Historical Scandal (2012– November ABC S2 E7 Washington Drama 56 2018) 29 2013 Legal, Law and Order NBC S14 E10 January 2 New York Drama, SVU (1999– ) 57 Crime Parenthood NBC S4 E13 January 9 California Drama 58 (2010–2015) The Good Wife Drama, CBS S4 E12 January 14 Illinois 59 (2009–2016) Legal

50

No. TV Show Network Episode Date US State Genre Continuum February, Fantasy Future Science SyFy S1 E5 60 (2012–2015) 11 (US) Fiction Legal, Law and Order February NBC S14 E14 New York Drama, SVU (1999– ) 13 61 Crime Defiance (2013– Science Syfy S1 E10 June, 13 Missouri 62 2015) Fiction Drama, East Los High Hulu S1 E24 July 3 California Coming (2013–2017) 63 of Age Orange Is The Drama, New Black Netflix S1 E12 July 11 Connecticut Crime 64 (2013–2019) Masters of Sex December Showtime S1 E10 Missouri Drama 65 (2013–2016) 1 2014

House of Cards February Netflix S2 E4,5 Washington Drama 66 (2013–2018) 14 Historical, Salem (2014– WGN Science S1 E1,2 April 20 Massachusetts 2017) America Fiction, 67 Thriller Hannibal NBC S2 E11 May 9 Washington Horror 68 (2013–2015) Drama, The Fosters ABC S2 E6 July 21 California Coming (2013–2018) 69 of Age Drama, The Knick Cinemax S1 E4 August 22 New York Historical, (2014–2015) 70 Medical Transparent September Amazon S1 E2,3 California Drama 71 (2014–2019) 26 The Good Wife Drama, CBS S6 E4,5 October 12 Illinois 72 (2009–2016) Legal Drama, The Knick Cinemax S1 E9,10 October 17 New York Historical, (2014–2015) 73 Medical The Affair December Showtime S1 E9 New York Drama 74 (2014–2019) 14 The Comeback December HBO S2 E7 California Comedy 75 (2005–2014) 21 2015

51

No. TV Show Network Episode Date US State Genre Being Mary Drama, BET S2 E1 February 3 Georgia 76 Jane (2013– ) Romance Girls (2012– February Comedy, HBO S4 E6 New York 77 2017) 22 Drama Scandal (2012– ABC S4 E21 May 7 Washington Drama 78 2018) Grace and Comedy, Netflix S1 E10 May, 8 California 79 Frankie (2015–) Drama Fantasy, Penny Dreadful Showtime S2 E3 May, 17 Fantasy Past Historical, (2014–2016) 80 Thriller Halt and Catch Drama, Fire (2014– AMC S2 E6 July, 5 Texas Historical 81 2017) True Detective Crime, HBO S2 E5 July, 19 California 82 (2014–) Drama Another Period Comedy Comedy, S1 E6 July, 28 Rhode Island 83 (2013–2018) Central Historical You're the worst September, Comedy, FX S2 E3 California 84 (2014–2019) 23 Drama Quantico (2015– September, ABC S1 E1 Virginia Drama 85 2018) 27 AHS: Hotel November, FX S5 E6 California Horror 86 (2015-2016) 11 Scandal (2012– November, ABC S5 E9 Washington Drama 87 2018) 19 Science Jessica Jones November, Netflix S1 E6 New York Fiction, (2015–2019) 20 88 Thriller The Affair November, Showtime S2 E8 New York Drama 89 (2014–2019) 22 Drama, Being Mary November BET S3 E7 Georgia Romace, Jane (2013– ) 24 90 Thriller 2016 Medical Mercy Street February, PBS S1 E4 Virginia Drama, (2016–2017) 7 91 Historical Shameless February, Showtime S6 E2,3,6 Illinois Drama 92 (2011–2021) 14 Pretty Little Drama, February, Liars (2010– ABC S6 E17 Pennsylvania Mystery, 23 93 2017) Thriller

52

No. TV Show Network Episode Date US State Genre The Americans Drama, FX S4 E13 June, 8 Washington 94 (2013–2018) Historical Bojack Animated, Horseman Netflix S3 E6 July, 22 California Comedy, 95 (2014–2020) Drama Better Things Comedy, FX S1 E5 October, 6 California 96 (2016– ) Drama Drama, Jane the Virgin October, CW S3 E2 Florida Soap (2014–2019) 24 97 Opera Good Girls October, Drama, Revolt (2015– Amazon S1 E9 New York 28 Historical 98 2016) You're the worst November, Comedy, FX S3 E10 California 99 (2014–2019) 2 Drama Master of Sex November, Drama, Showtime S4 E9 Missouri 100 (2013–2016) 6 Romance Crazy Ex- November, Comedy, Girlfriend CW S2 E4 California 11 Drama 101 (2015–2019) 2017 Degrassi: Next Drama, Class (2016– Netflix S3 E8 January,18 NonUS/Canada Young 102 2017) Adult The Magicians February, Science Syfy S2 E5 New York 103 (2015–2020) 22 Fiction Drama, The Fosters February, ABC S4 E15 California Coming (2013–2018) 28 104 of Age Underground WGN S2 E2 March, 15 Georgia Drama 105 (2016–2017) America The Handmaid's Hulu S1 E1 April, 26 Massachusetts Drama 106 Tale (2017– ) Brockmiren IFC S1 E6 May, 3 Pennsylvania Comedy 107 (2017–2020) Comedy, Glow (2017– Netflix S1 E8 June, 23 California Drama, 2019) 108 Sport Comedy, Claws (2017– ) TNT S1 E4 July, 2 Florida Crime, 109 Drama Drama, Somewhere ABC S1 E4 August, 8 California Science Between (2017) 110 Fiction

53

No. TV Show Network Episode Date US State Genre Bojack Animated, September, Horseman Netflix S4 E4 California Comedy, 8 111 (2014–2020) Drama Star (2016– September, Drama, FX S2 E1 Georgia 112 2019) 28 Musical Crime, Mindhunter October, Netflix S1 E3 California Drama, (2017–2019) 13 113 Thriller American October, Horror Story: FX S7 E8 Michigan Horror 24 114 Cult(2011– ) The Girlfriend December, Experience Starz S2 E9,10 Washington Drama 3 115 (2016– ) Drama, Black Mirror December, Fantasy Futute Science Netflix S4 E2 (2011– ) 29 (US) Fiction, 116 Thriller 2018

Empire (2015– Drama, Fox S4 E12 April,11 New York 117 2020) Musical Dear White Comedy, People (2017– Netflix S2 E4 May, 4 California Drama 118 2021) Comedy, Claws (2017– ) TNT S2 E2 June, 17 Florida Crime, 119 Drama UnReal (2015– Hulu S4 Ε8 July, 17 California Drama 120 2018) Crime, Ozark (2017– ) Netflix S2 E7 August, 31 Missouri Drama, 121 Thriller Legal, Law and Order: September, NBC S20 E2 New York Drama, SVU (1999– ) 27 122 Crime Insecure (2016– September, Comedy, HBO S3 E8 California 123 ) 30 Romance Crime, Mayans M.C FX S1 E5 October, 2 California Drama, (2018– ) 124 Thriller Animated, Big Mouth Comedy, Netflix S2 E5 October, 5 New York (2017– ) Coming 125 of Age

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No. TV Show Network Episode Date US State Genre The Deuce October, HBO S2 E7 New York Drama 126 (2017–2019) 21 2019

The Good Fight Drama, CBS S1 E3,4 March, 14 Illinois 127 (2017– ) Legal Shrill (2019– ) Hulu S1 E1,2 March, 15 Oregon Comedy 128 Grey's Anatomy Drama, ABC S15 E19 March, 28 Washington 129 (2005– ) Medical Chicago Med Drama, NBC S4 E18 April, 3 Illinois 130 (2015– ) Medical Special (2019– ) Netflix S1 E1 April,12 California Comedy 131 Veep (2012– Comedy, HBO S7 E1,2,3 April,14 Iowa 132 2019) Political The Bold Type Comedy, FreeForm S3 E4 April, 30 New York 133 (2017– ) Drama She's Gotta Have It (2017– Netflix S2 E6 May, 24 New York Comedy 134 2019) Orange is the Drama, S7 New Black Netflix July, 26 New York Comedy, E10,11 135 (2013–2019) Crime Euphoria HBO S1 E8 August, 4 California Drama 136 (2019– ) 13 Reasons Why Drama, Netflix S3 E2 August, 23 California 137 (2017–2020) Mystery The Deuce October, HBO S3 E6 New York Drama 138 (2017–2019) 14 Empire (2015– October, Drama, Fox S6 E4 New York 139 2020) 15 Musical Legal, Law and Order: October, NBC S21 E4 New York Drama, SVU (1999– ) 17 140 Crime New Amsterdam October, Medical NBC S2 E6 New York 141 (2018– ) 29 Drama November, Crime, Bull (2016– ) CBS S4 E7 New York 142 4 Drama Grey's Anatomy November, Medical ABC S16 E7 Washington 143 (2005– ) 7 Drama The Morning Apple November, S1 E4 New York Drama 144 Show (2019– ) TV+ 8

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No. TV Show Network Episode Date US State Genre Soundtrack December, Drama, Netflix S1 E7 California 145 (2019) 18 Musical 2020

Messiah (2020) Netflix S1 E8 January, 1 Texas Drama 146 Shameless Comedy, Showtime S10 E9 January, 5 Illinois 147 (2011–2021) Drama Curb Your Enthousiasm HBO S10 E10 March, 22 California Comedy 148 (2000– ) Roswell, New Science CW S2 E2,3 March, 23 New Mexico 149 Mexico (2019) Fiction Little Fires Everywhere Hulu S1 E5 April, 1 Ohio Drama 150 (2020) Mrs. America Drama, Hulu S1 E2 April,15 New York 151 (2020) Historical Comedy, Run (2020) HBO S1 E6 May, 17 US Romance, 152 Thriller Vida (2018– Starz S3 E5 May, 24 California Drama 153 2020) The Politician Drama, Netflix S2 E7 June, 19 New York 154 (2019– ) Comedy Yellowstone Paramount Drama, S3 E5 July, 19 Montana 155 (2018– ) Network Western

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