Is This Lady-Like? the Portrayal of Women's Relationship with Food in American" Working Girl" Sitcoms Between 1966 and 2017

Home , 30 Rock (season 1), 30 Rock (season 4), 30 Rock (season 5), Cleveland (30 Rock), College (30 Rock), Cougars (30 Rock)

IS THIS LADY LIKE? THE PORTRAYAL OF WOMEN’S RELATIONSHIP WITH FOOD IN AMERICAN “WORKING GIRL” SITCOMS BETWEEN 1966 TO 2017

A thesis submitted to the Kent State University Honors College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for Departmental Honors

Tristan Davis

May, 2020

Thesis written by

Tristan Davis

Approved by

______, Advisor

______, Chair, Department of Sociology

Accepted by

______, Dean, Honors College

Thesis written by

Tristan Davis

Approved by

______, Advisor

______, Chair, Department of Sociology

Accepted by

______, Dean, Honors College

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF TABLES…..…………………………………………………………………....iv

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS……………………………………………………………...... vi

CHAPTER

I. INTRODUCTION…………….………………………………………….1

Media Today……………………………..……………………………….2

Gender and the Media……………………………..……..……………….3

American Foodways……………..……..………………………………...4

History of working women on television………………………………...7

The current study………………………………………………………..10

II. Methods/Analysis…………………………………………….…………12

Show Selection……………………………..……………………….…..12

Procedure……………………………..………………………………....12

Sample Characteristics…………………………………………………..13

Measures………………………………………………………………...14

III. Results…………………………………………….……………………..16

Heuristic Observations……………………..………………………..…..16

Food Prevalence………………………..………………………………..17

Prevalence of Junk/Snack Foods……………………………..………….19

Eating Behaviors……………………………..………………………….21

Dining Locations……………………………..………………………….22

iii

IV. Discussion/Limitations…………………………………………….……25

REFERENCES…...... 32

APPENDIX

A. Plot Synopses and Food Notes From Shows……………………………35

LIST OF TABLES

Table

1. Description of Sample…………………………………………………………..15

2. Percentage of Episodes: No Eating.…………………………………………….17

3. Percentage of Episodes in which “Junk” Food or Snack Food is Eaten……….19

4. Representation of Group Eating Vs. Eating Alone (N%)……………………...21

5. Where Does The Main Character Eat?*……………………………………….24

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to express my deepest thanks and gratitude to my thesis advisor, Dr.

Susan Roxburgh, who without this would not have been possible. I am thankful for her support and guidance for not only the thesis, but the trials I have undergone in my undergraduate career. You have been a mentor to me and a role model for where I hope to be in the future as a professor, and as a researcher. I am thankful for the accountability you held me to, but also the graciousness and your willingness to work with me through life changes and mental health ups and downs. I have now been able to do research with your guidance, research we will continue, and I have taken a class from you in what I want to specialize in. I always feel like I learn from you, and your pictures of Gimli and

Maggie and your garden keep me going.

I would like to thank the members of my defense committee: Dr. Christopher

Dum, Dr. Dave Kaplan, and Dr. Kimberly Winebrenner. I am thankful for your guidance and suggestions on how to make this better. I am also thankful for your willingness to work with me through this peculiar semester and having to set everything up twice. It was a pleasure hearing your thoughts and having your questions really challenge my knowledge of the subject. I am glad I got to share this milestone with you all.

I would also like to thank other members of the Department of Sociology at Kent

State University. Dr. Christopher Dum, Dr. Clare Stacey, Dr. Gregory Gibson, Dr.

Richard Adams, and Dr. Zach Schiller. Without all your contributions to my journey, I would not be where I am today. Everyone named above has helped to curate my sociological imagination and hone my skills and interests. Dr. Dum, who helped me

conduct my first research project, and helped reign in my ambitious ideas (ideas that I hope we can revisit someday). Dr. Richard Adams for showing me the ropes in another study and working with me intensively over eight weeks in the Summer Undergraduate

Research Experience to help me write a full-length paper and learn how to use SPSS and

Stata. Dr. Gibson, for allowing me to intern and later work in the Survey Research Lab and always being in my corner through the difficulties. I have learned so much about survey research methods and various other topics from our discussions. Dr. Clare Stacey, who brought me into Sociology Scholars on a whim and cultivated my passion and ideals for research. Dr. Zach Schiller as well, for teaching theory and political sociology at the same time, and always encouraging us to look deeper at everything we see and understand how sociology can view it.

I must express my thanks to the McNair Scholars program at Kent State

University for taking me in and giving me professional resources and monetary resources to allow me to focus on research for an entire summer. Dr. Liz Piatt and Siobhán Hicks and Imani Reynolds for dealing with me in trips for an entire summer and helping me navigate the crazy world of graduate school and getting in with a good funding package at a school of my choice.

The last thanks I have to give are to family and friends, who have always supported me and listened to me stress about this for two years. Family and friends for even sitting through Zoom meetings as I practiced the presentation, and my mom for sitting through the presentation multiple times over the years as the study developed. My deepest thanks go to my future wife, as we got engaged last summer, for always

vii

supporting me and reminding me that it is okay to take breaks and that my mental health is just as important as my research. My housemates for reminding me to take some time off from time to time to play music and games. Also my cat, who kindly likes to remind me that I need to eat so that she can to. She keeps me company and gets excited when I take breaks because it means play time.

viii

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION/LITERATURE REVIEW

Media has profoundly altered the way we interact with and learn about the world.

Electronic versions of media have an even more profound effect, especially in the way we are socialized to understand the world. Socialization plays a prominent part in our lives in defining our self-concepts, behaviors, habits, and perceptions of the world.

Television is a form of media, one of the significant four sources of socialization in the modern era and a significant influence on gender socialization (Sink & Mastro, 2017;

Ray 2007; Oakes & Slotterbeck, 2004). Media teaches and reinforces what each gender should do, and how one should navigate the world.

Rules and customs around food consumption play an important role in how humans construct their social reality. Focusing on food can uncover societal stigmas, social norms, and attitudes. Throughout the world, food has always been a source of power and food choices increase independence and can reinforce one's place in the social hierarchy. Food practices and customs can vary by culture and country, but they all serve the same focus. Food is used to mark social class and define families, networks, friendship groups, religions, ethnic identification, and other social institutions (Anderson,

2005). Anderson (2005) suggests that food is second only to language as a system of social communication. In any food instance, choosing food to serve, who sits where, who takes what portions, and even condiment placement on the table sends subtle social

messages we intuitively notice. Engendering food occurs in nearly every culture; different cultures depict different food customs and certain foods for men and women.

The focus of this research is to assess the portrayals of women relating to food in television media. To do this, I turned to the situation comedy. Situation comedies have the highest number of food instances per episode relative to other show formats such as crime-dramas, cooking, or nature shows (Ray, 2007). Situational comedies have 4.95 food instances per half hour of programming. They often emulate real life by taking place in commonplace settings (i.e., lounge spaces and restaurants), thus making them more relatable to real life. (Avery, 1995, Ray, 2007). In their 2007 article, Ray had suggested that all modern programming can be grouped into two different camps: sitcoms and anti- sitcoms. Ray's distinction illustrates how prominent the sitcom has become on television today.

Media Today

Television is an important medium worthy of analysis because it has become pervasive in the modern era, and with the advent of streaming services and video platforms online, even more so today. Indeed, researchers contend that television is so pervasive and influential that it is virtually impossible to avoid its influence (Figueroa,

2005). In 1995 Americans spent an average of 40% of their free time watching television

(Avery et al. 1997). In 2017, a report revealed that 78% of households had a computer,

75% had a smart phone or tablet, and among that subset of respondents, 77% had an internet subscription (Ryan & Lewis, 2017). Individuals can stream virtually any content,

especially with the rise of streaming services such as Netflix and Hulu, and the increase in connectivity to the internet. The ability to stream virtually any content has led to

Americans now watching, on average, more than 7 hours and 50 minutes of television per day (The Atlantic, 2018). Media has become the focal point of the modern world, and technology has dramatically changed how we interact with, perceive, and learn about the environment around us (Covic et al., 2007).

Gender and the Media

Television consistently disseminates stereotypic messages, cultural assumptions, and norms that can have pervasive effects on gender socialization (Signorelli, 1993,

2001; Bock & Kanarek, 1995; Covic et al., 2007; Elasmar et al., 1999). Individuals who identify as females have a different experience of the social world and are generally socialized differently than their masculine counterparts; thus, there is a dissemination of differing messages on television. These differing messages encompass everything from body appearance, to social positioning in the workplace, and family, and social environments.

Women are depicted on screen in vastly different ways than men. One aspect of gender depictions that are different is the display of women's relationship to food.

(Vandenbosch, 2017; Signorelli, 2001; Oakes & Slotterbeck, 2004; Elasmar et. al, 1999;

Bock & Kanarek, 1995). In 2015, Figueroa examined four television shows in a content analysis of the women represented in them. The authors content analysis involves four culturally significant shows, chosen for their high ratings, vast audience, and diverse

ethnic representation. In the study, the author watched 100 hours of culturally significant shows such as Girls, Scandal, Orange Is the New Black and The Mindy Project. They coded interactions between characters in these shows in categories such as sexuality, body, career, gender violence, female relationships, romantic narratives, race, class, and identity (Figueroa, 2015). Figueroa finds television portraying women with thin bodies as more feminine, desirable, and more in control of their actions and lives. The same shows are seen portraying characters who are not thin as undesirable, masculine, or animistic, especially in the presence of food. Figueroa concludes that heavier individuals are typically depicted as unhealthy and are often the butt of jokes. Heavier set individuals are also portrayed as abnormal and judged often, whereas individuals with healthier diets and a smaller body size generally experience less ridicule and judgment. Portraying diets differently coincides with presenting their relationship with food, with characters of heavier body types lacking control over their consumption. This study and several others suggest that gender norms have pervasive effects on food behaviors in both the public and private sphere of life, and the media further extends these vast effects on gender role socialization. (Reiheld, 2014).

American Foodways

Focusing on the phenomena of food relationships on television has resulted in valuable insights concerning TV characters portrayals relating to food. Avery and colleagues conducted a study in 1997 analyzing data collected from 276 programs and

224 hours of shows aired during the primetime television hours of 7 PM – 11 PM, when

most television viewing takes place. Their representative sample included four major networks - NBC, ABC, CBS, and FOX - during a week in both the fall and the spring when they sampled all programming. Situation comedies made up about a quarter of their sample. In their analysis, they created nutrient profiles of the food in these programs.

Food was also coded for latent messages; for example, whether the food was delicious or bad, positive or negative. Avery and colleagues found characters on primetime television shows are often depicted eating junk-snack foods and portraying unhealthy eating habits

(Avery et al., 1997). Characters most often ate in groups (61%) and in-home settings

(39%) with a low incidence (10.3%) of portrayals of eating alone. Characters eating in a group involved any eating instance with another. In-home settings broadly refer to eating within their place of residence, whereas the category of eating alone could be virtually anywhere. The distinction is critical to illustrate that food was rarely a solitary experience on television. Avery and colleagues had concluded that food portrayals are related to a character's intended image and that this image is reinforced, partly, through their food habits. Food habits reinforcing character images are seen through overweight characters being more likely to be shown with negative foods or poor eating behaviors (Story et al.,

1990 & Avery et al., 1997).

In American culture, we find that Americans are often concerned with what they are eating, but do not have a firm grasp on dietary health. In 1996, Rozin and colleagues conducted two analyses of American’s attitudes toward food. In their first study, they distributed questionnaires to three groups of participants, freshman and sophomore college students, physical plant employees, and a randomly selected population of

Americans. In their second study, they distribute modified questionnaires to an introductory psychology course and faculty and staff of four different educational institutions. Their surveys assessed general nutritional principles, relative healthiness of foods containing certain substances, caloric content, and the relation between

“healthiness” and nutritional completeness. They find a propensity for respondents to think monotonically about food; that is, bad things are bad, and good things are good at any level. For example, concerning salt respondents believed that salt is harmful at all levels when, of course, a certain amount of salt is required for survival. Similarly, concerning vitamins, a majority of respondents believed vitamins to be good for you, irrespective of the amount consumed. This kind of thinking in dichotomous ways has been found previously by Rozin to be a significant part of thought in the American culture. Their findings relate to women and food on television, in that this generally maladaptive attitude toward food can describe the loss of femininity through diet, where a woman on T.V. has a primarily masculine diet, thus making them more masculine than feminine in the eyes of the viewer.

In Rozin and colleague's 2002 study of 2,200 undergraduate students from six regionally dispersed colleges, they found gender to be the strongest predictor of responses to their questionnaires. They found women concern themselves more with diet and body appearance, and worried more than men about diet and the health qualities of food. The notion is pronounced when they find that 14% of women in the study report being embarrassed to buy a chocolate bar when at the store, as opposed to only 4% of men reporting the same. From their results, they find that respondents evaluated food

more in nutritional terms than in terms of taste and pleasure, and 61% of their respondents believed in a strong diet-health link. From this same study, forty-four percent of their respondent's associated food more with health than pleasure. Rozin and colleagues conclude that their findings show American women to be more concerned about their diet and health. These findings show how Americans, more specifically

American women, are concerned mainly with the nutritional content of their foods, rather than being interested in the taste of something. These attitudes also reflect a cultural orientation to food that emphasizes its value for improving us, rather than an interest in eating for pleasure.

This current study looks specifically at the prevalence of food on television shows because there is insufficient literature on this topic. There are a number of studies examining gender on television and even some examining food on TV, but there is a gap to be explored in how these intersect. As these shows influence the social world, it is important to remember that food is one of the most important choices we can make in our life. Decisions we make in food have vast implications in life and are influenced by social spheres in which we exist (Reiheld, 2014; Oakes and Slotterbeck, 2004; Counihan, 1992,

2001; Covic et al., 2007). I examine the depiction of attitudes toward food and how food consumption is portrayed in television sit-coms to understand the food messages situation comedies are conveying to viewers.

History of working women on television

In the last 60 years in America, women have come to play a more significant role in the American workforce. In the year 1950, forty percent of women were in the workforce, rising in the 1990s to 76% of women that we see in the workforce today

(Casper and Bianchi, 2009). The start of women entering the workforce coincides with the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. This change gave way to the Women’s

Movement in the 1970s, where we saw the most significant increase of women in the labor force until the 1990s when it largely tapers off and has remained stable. In the

2000s, Casper and Bianchi contend that we have entered a “stalled revolution” in which women are participating in the work force nearly as much as men, but are still doing disproportionate amounts of household labor and childcare. The Stalled Revolution finds reinforcement in the fact that the women tend to do twice as much housework on average than men despite having close to similar equal rates of paid labor (Casper and Bianchi,

2009). Even though women are just as active in the work force, this participation in the labor force is merely added work given that domestic responsibilities are not as equal between men and women. Since television programming tries to emulate real life, one would think that the portrayal of womens social positions on television have improved over this time, but this is not the case.

Women’s social statuses are often portrayed differently on TV than that of men.

In a study from Elasmar and colleagues (1999), they assessed 42 hours of one year of programming on ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox from 1992-1993, including 60 different TV shows. They coded and analyzed all female characters with a speaking role in either a

major role, a leading role, or a minor role. They further coded these characters by their home roles as either housewives or homemakers, the latter being women who also worked outside of the home. Elasmar and colleagues took care to note that being a homemaker was not necessarily their only role in this sample, but that their obligations of home work were never totally absolved. As time has progressed, television has shown more women as working, but it is still not proportional to the percent women compose of the American workforce. They found that most of the female characters on television

(80.2%) in their sample held minor roles, making it difficult or impossible to discern their occupation for analysis.

According to a content analysis conducted by Signorelli and Kahlenberg in 2001, television has improved in the way of portraying women's occupations. In this study, they analyzed major, leading, and supporting characters in 11 weeklong blocks of primetime television from 1990-1998. Signorelli and Kahlenberg, in this 2001 study, analyze shows from only popular networks using shows on ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, UPN, and WB. The focus of their study was on the television program and the major, leading, supporting character units. They examined the character's gender, marital status, age, and occupation. This analysis resulted in a sample of 3,119 characters, with 60.2% male,

39.8% female, 82.4% white, and 17.6% of people of color. Signorelli and Kahlenberg

(2001) found that women are equally as likely to be portrayed as professionals and in white-collar jobs. However, television shows are often depicting women on screen as being unable to handle multiple roles with a career, such as marriage and a successful career (Signorelli, 2001). Although the current labor force on American television does

not accurately reflect the actual statistics of the labor force today: they found women casting in more gender-neutral or male jobs. (Signorelli & Kahlenberg, 2001). This analysis suggests that even though there is progression to be more inclusive of women in the televised workforce, women are still disproportionately represented in the workforce.

Television is an important source of information regarding occupations and the world of work. On TV, marital status effects social status in that single or divorced women on television were working in non-traditional lines of work on these shows

(Signorelli & Kahlenberg, 2001). Further, Signorelli and Kahlenberg found in 2001 that single, and formerly married, female characters dominate the workforce on television with married characters still predominantly at home in TV shows. This finding further suggests that women must shed their marital status to be successful, for when marriage is intertwined, being a wife and holding traditional wifely duties take precedence over work. This finding dovetails well with Sink and Mastro's 2017 study of 89 programs and

1,254 characters on primetime television. In their 2017 study, they conclude that there are still differences in the presentation between men and women are on primetime television, predominantly in the realm of male dominance (Sink & Mastro, 2017). This finding, with

Signorelli’s 2001 finding, suggests that when a man and woman character are married, the man's work takes precedence over the women’s work, leaving the woman character at home to maintain household duties.

The current study

In this study, I examine American situational comedies aired on American television between 1966 and 2017. The common theme of the shows is that they all feature a single, working woman as the lead. The programs selected were chosen because they were popular enough to air for several seasons and because they influenced popular culture and many are now considered iconic. Murphy Brown, for example, was the first mainstream TV situation comedy to feature a single woman choosing to raise a baby on her own. The show became prominent in the national dialogue about changing gender roles when then-Vice President Dan Quayle publicly criticized it. Utilizing other social analyses and analyses of the food behaviors of the characters gives insight into the cultural messages sent on food and gender. I suggest that this is important because these messages will, in turn, influence attitudes toward food and gender among American TV viewers. In the same analysis, I discuss the professional presentation of these characters and how these have changed over time.

CHAPTER 2

METHODS/ANALYSIS

Show Selection

Coding for the chosen shows consisted of the years they aired, the number of seasons aired, and whether or not I could obtain access to it. From this list, I had selected six shows that fit the criteria of single, working, and career-based women. In addition to these criteria, I also choose to exclude from the sample any programs that had multiple female leads (e.g., Kate and Allie, Sex in the City). The shows were chosen from a website that ranked "The best single woman sitcoms" (Ranker, 2019). The final shows selected were, That Girl, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Murphy Brown, Caroline in the

City, 30 Rock, and The Mindy Project. I had roughly one show representing every decade,

That Girl for the 1960s, Mary Tyler Moore for the 1970s, Murphy Brown 1980' s/90's,

Caroline in the City 1990s, 30-Rock 2000s, and The Mindy Project 2010's. Figure 1 presents a brief synopsis of each show.

Procedure

After selecting the shows, I used the numbered lists of all shows on Wikipedia and from the lists sampled 15% of these using a random number generator with the range set by the total number of episodes produced of each. For example, if the show produced

200 episodes, a number between 1-200 was generated, and that episode's name documented in a list for analysis. I watched every randomly selected episode while

making notes of when food appears in the scene, who was eating it, who cooked it, and where the characters were consuming it. I also wrote descriptions of the plot of every episode viewed, allowing more context around the food experience to be discerned. The two coders were my advisor and I and we ran interrater reliability checks on one another to ensure we obtained quality data.

Sample Characteristics

The current study explores a total of 140 episodes of television aired between

1966 to 2017. The sample for each show varies because each program aired for a differing number of years. For example, Mary Tyler Moore ran for 7 years and for a total of 166 episodes. The longest running show is Murphy Brown with 247 episodes and the shortest is Caroline in the City which only ran for 4 years and a total of 97 episodes. The number of the sub-samples for each show (15% of the total number of episodes) are; That

Girl (n=20), Mary Tyler Moore (n =25), Murphy Brown (n=37), Caroline in the City

(n=15), 30-Rock (n=25) and The Mindy Project (n=18).

Measures

In table one, I describe the sample in terms of the years they aired, a brief description, the number of seasons and episodes and also how many episodes were sampled. In the first analysis I looked for common themes within the entire set of data obtained, anything that seemed to resonate with every show. This lead to the creation of four count variables from the data; two dichotomous and two nominal. Coding for

episodes entailed the episode had (1) no eating and (2) with eating. "No eating" is defined as no food seen at all in the episode. The coding for episodes also counted for whether they (1) had “ultra-processed food” (Montiero, 2010) or (0) they did not. In the current study I define junk/snack foods as any food that would fit into Montieros Nova System in category 3 (Montiero, 2010). He defines an “Ultra-Processed” food as food made from ingredients that are not found in a kitchen, chemicals and compounds made in a lab, finished with additives and emulsifiers. The first nominal category coded for was the representations of group eating versus eating alone. In this category we counted instances where the (1) Main character eats alone, (2) Group eating, (3) Group eating, main character not eating, and (4) Group eating, including main character. For the second nominal category, we counted how often characters ate in various settings; (1)

Restaurant: fancy, (2) Restaurant: casual, (3) Work: group setting (e.g., break rooms), (4)

Work: desk or a personal office, (5) at home, and (6) miscellaneous. Only a few of the eating occasions fell into the miscellaneous category, mainly picnics. These variables were counted with all of the data for each show for analysis. In addition to these variables, I also did heuristic observations of the data as a whole. These heuristic analyses brought forth general observations beyond what the count variables show.

Table 1. Description of the Sample 1

Seasons, Total Number of Years Show TV Program: Brief Descriptions Episodes, and Number of Aired Episodes Sampled (15%) 1966-1971 That Girl: Ann Marie is an aspiring 5 seasons, 136 episodes, n=20 actor who moves from a small town to New York to pursue her acting career.

1970-1977 Mary Tyler Moore: Mary is a 30- 7 seasons, 166 episodes, n=25 something woman, newly split from her physician boyfriend, who lands a job as a producer on a local news program in Minneapolis, MN.

1988-19981 Murphy Brown: Murphy is a well- 10 seasons, 247 episodes, n=37 known TV journalist on a 60- Minutes-like news show in Washington, DC.

1995-1999 Caroline in the City: Caroline is a 4 seasons, 97 episodes, n=15 successful cartoonist living in New York. 2006-2013 30-Rock: Liz is a head writer for a 7 seasons, 138 episodes, n=25 TV sitcom in New York.

2012-20172 The Mindy Project: Mindy is an 6 seasons, 117 episodes, n=18 obstetrician/gynecologist who works in a small medical practice in New York.

 Murphy Brown received a reboot in 2019 but did not do well, so it was not included in the analysis 2 At the time of the study, The Mindy Project was still in its final season, so the final airing season was omitted from the sample

CHAPTER 3

RESULTS

Heuristic Observations

In addition to count variables, I also did heuristic analyses of the total data with plot summaries and pulled out that between 1966 to 2017, there are fewer eating occasions, overall, shown in television programs featuring “career” women. Over the time of these shows the portrayals of these “career” women in the labor force seem to lend support to the stalled revolution as discussed by Casper and Bianchi in 2009. We see in That Girl that Ann is a struggling actress, and she still struggles to find a power position in the work force and relies heavily on her partner. Then, in Mary Tyler Moore, we see Mary as divorced and having to enter the workforce. She gains an entry level position, and must work her way up to a higher position. Murphy Brown is arguably the most successful of the characters (she is a TV celebrity journalist). In contrast, the other main characters are a writer/illustrator (Caroline in the City and 30 Rock) or a geinocologist/obstetrician (The Mindy Project). From Murphy Brown and on, we see women have obtained powerful positions in a job, or are their own bosses. This progression is about where it stops, right around the era when it is proposed the revolution stalled. Over time, the types of food consumed also seem to change. In earlier shows, we see the characters eating in a traditionally female way. Traditionally female foodways involve consuming salads and other “feminine” foods, and consuming these in moderation. In both That Girl and Mary Tyler Moore, there are several scenes of sit-

down meals that often involve these kinds of foods. In contrast, in the most recent programs, The Mindy Project and 30 Rock, there is an increase in the amount of ultra- processed food consumed and the main characters rarely sit down to a meal. An exception to this is in the case of 30 Rock where characters sit down for a work-related restaurant meal. We see that over time, there seems to be a complete role reversal for these characters eating habits. This is illustrated by the increase in consumption of

“masculine foods” such as pizza, steak, and hamburgers.

Food Prevalence

Table 2. Percentage of Episodes: No Eating Number of Episodes Percentage of Episodes with No Eating That Girl 2 10% Mary Tyler Moore 4 16% Murphy Brown 21 57% Caroline in the City 3 12% 30 Rock 13 52% The Mindy Project 1 5.5%

In table two I report the analyses of the number and percentage of episodes in which there was no eating. The data indicate a paucity of food in these programs relative to the main character as measured by the percentage of episodes when we did not see any food, the characters did not talk about food, and there was absolutely no food pictured.

The percentage of episodes where there was no food ranged from 5.5% to 57%. In particular, table two shows that in Murphy Brown and 30 Rock, there was no food seen or discussed in over half of the episodes, 57% and 52%, respectively. This finding comes from a rather drastic difference in The Mindy Project where we see in table two that there

was only one episode without any food, and this was an episode where Mindy herself was not present. Table two shows, however, in the two shows where there is no food in over half of the episodes sampled both main characters are portrayed as career focused. This lack of food of any kind can aid the image of them being “workaholics”. Through being such a workaholic, they seemingly have little time for anything else but work, not even to eat. When Murphy and Liz (30 Rock) are seen eating, they are commonly doing so with coworkers. No matter how much they work, they are seemingly never off of work.

In the present study, there are plenty of examples of no food being shown in an episode and some of these are more blatant than others. A good example of this is seen in the episode Be it Ever So Humboldt from Murphy Brown. In this example, Murphy and some other characters are at a banquet, and it appears to be a highball sort of ordeal.

Nobody eats in this episode, however, one of the male characters clearly are shown having drink. Characteristic of this episode is the setting, a banquet, where there is no food on the tables. This example is a good illustration because food is a staple at events like banquets. Similarly in the episode Mary’s Father from Mary Tyler Moore, we see

Mary out to lunch, but she only orders a virgin bloody mary. This episode does show her kitchen, but there is never any food in her kitchen, it is simply a set up of various appliances used to compliment a scene.

Prevalence of Junk/Snack Food

Table 3. Percentage of Episodes in which 'Junk' Food or Snack Food is Eaten Number of Episodes Percentage of Episodes That Girl 2 10% Mary Tyler Moore 4 6% Murphy Brown 0 0% Caroline in the City 4 16% 30 Rock 8 32% Mindy 12 67%

In table three, I report the findings of how many episodes contained ultra- processed foods. The data are reported both in number and percentage of the eipsodes in which ultra-processed foods were seen. The data show that there is a rising prevalence of junk food consumption, operationalizing this as ultra-processed food that is high in sodium, high in saturated and trans fats, under the guidelines of Montieros 2010 Nova system level 3 (see above in measures). Table three shows a steady decrease from 1966 to the 1980s in the percentage of episodes where junk food was prevalent. By contrast, table three shows the percentage of episodes with junk food doubled every ten years from the

1990s (Caroline in the City) to the 2010s (The Mindy Project), increasing from 16% to

67%. Although we did not observe the consumption of junk food in Murphy Brown, that is because Murphy Brown was the show with the fewest instances of eating overall, as seen in table three. Similarly, in 30 Rock the main character is rarely shown eating, but thirty two percent of the eating shown involved consumption of ultra-processed foods

(e.g., nachos). Interestingly, although Caroline in the City only had ultra-processed foods in 16% of the episodes, it was noted that coffee was seen being consumed in almost every episode in the sample. Overall, table three shows a low incidence of consumption of

ultra-processed foods until Murphy Brown, when there is a clear increase in the future shows. This change in the quality of the food corresponds to the decline in the number of scenes – especially in domestic settings – where characters are eating formal meals, as opposed to eating at work or 'on-the-run’ as reflected in tables four and five.

There are plenty of examples of this consumption of “ultra-processed” foods, especially in the later shows. For example, in Caroline in the City, episode Caroline and the Ancestral Home, Carolines mother comes to visit. This episode focuses on Caroline returning home for some time and reliving some of those things. Her mom brings her

“powdered orange juice”. Later in the same episode, when things are not going as planned, her boyfriend brings her fried cheese curds. Both of those are examples of consumptions of “ultra-processed” foods, as oranges are not readily powdered and frying cheese curds requires some processing. In The Mindy Project there is a lot of consumption of ultra-processed foods to be seen. In the episode May Divorce Be With

You, Mindy is coping with a short lived marriage and her brother is about to propose.

Mindy takes the entire engagement cake, and eats it alone refusing to share and even eats the engagement ring with it. In the episode Bro Club for Dudes we see Mindy go to a restaurant for lunch. She talks highly of their chicken tenders, and proceeds to order a pink cake with a sparkler from the restaurant. This is all notable as these are only two examples of Mindy consuming ultra-processed foods, and there is a lot of it in the show to be seen. It is a common trope, especially in The Mindy Project and 30 Rock that Mindy and Liz both struggle with their consumption habits extensively.

Eating Behaviors

Table 4. Representation of Group Eating Vs. Eating Alone, N(%) Main Group Eating Group Eating, Group Eating, Character Main Character Including Main Eats Alone Not Eating Character That Girl 0 6 (30%) 6 (30%) 0 Mary Tyler 0 10 (40%) 7 (28%) 3 (12%) Moore Murphy 0 12 (32%) 12 (32%) 0 Brown Caroline in 0 3 (12%) 3 (12%) 0 the City 30 Rock 3 (27%) 4 (16%) 2 (8%) 2 (8%) Mindy 9 (50%) 4 (22.5%) 1 (5.5%) 3 (17%) In table four, I report the findings of how often the main character was seen eating in a group or eating alone in both the number and percentage of episodes in the samples.

The data suggest that the most common eating behavior exhibited is the main character in a group, but not eating. Throughout the first three shows, eating alone never occurs with no instances throughout That Girl, the Mary Tyler Moore Show, Murphy Brown, and

Caroline in the City, as seen in table four. Eating behaviors appear to change beginning in 30 Rock, with 27% of the main character's eating taking place when she is alone. By the Mindy Project, nearly 50% of the episodes feature the main character eating alone.

Table four shows group eating was the only form of eating exhibited for four of the six shows and the only commonality between all of them. Aside from group eating being the only commonality between every show, table four shows that the other common category to every show was group eating, when the main character was not eating. Three shows

(That Girl, Murphy Brown, and Caroline in the City) explicitly only show group eating with the main character, not eating, as seen in table four above.

Examples of the main character in a group that is eating but not eating themselves can be pulled from every show. For example, in the episode Caroline and the Bar

Mitzvah from Caroline in the City, Caroline throws a Bar Mitzvah for one of her good friends who was unable to have one when he was younger. In this party that she coordinated, she cuts up the cake and hands out pieces to everyone in attendance to eat, but does not take one for herself. This similar idea is seen in Murphy Brown in the episode The Bummer of 42. In this episode, it is Murphy’s birthday and they are celebrating. During this, everyone gets a plate of a declicious chicken dish, even Murphy.

However, Murphy has the food on her lap like everybody else, but does not eat with them, even though it is her birthday. For another example, in the episode “ Son of ‘But

Seriously Folks’” from Mary Tyler Moore, Rhoda and Mary are clearly seen eating breakfast together, however, only Rhoda eats during this scene. In the same scene, the camera angle had Mary’s plate hidden from view.

Dining Locations

Table five presents the analysis of the number of different settings in which I saw the main characters consuming food. The data in table five indicate little variety in the dining locations where we observed the characters eating. The only eating location prevalent in every show was a casual restaurant, as seen above in table five. The second most common eating location shown is eating at home. The data suggest that workplace eating is a relatively new phenomenon. We observed a significant percentage of episodes where the main characters were eating at their desk and eating in group settings at work

(like a break room) in both 30 Rock and the Mindy Project. Table five shows these

percentages to be 30% (30 Rock) and 28% (The Mindy Project) respectively. These observations suggest changes in women's relationship to work and food balances in the more recent shows. Caroline in the City had the least amount of food in all categories, and consequently, the entire sample of episodes. For Caroline in the City, the show depicts the main character most often eating in her home, although it is important to explain that the main character works from home for most of the show. In That Girl and

Mary Tyler Moore (especially the latter), most of the eating takes place in the home. The little eating that takes place in Murphy Brown is in a casual restaurant, which is a bar used as an after-hours and lunch hangout by the newsroom staff. We also observe that as domestic eating declines, there is a greater emphasis on the centrality of work in the characters' lives. This shifts with Murphy Brown and reaches its apex with 30 Rock and

The Mindy Project.

To further exemplify some of these findings looking at the show is the best way to get a clear picture. In the episode of That Girl entitled “The Anatomy of a Blunder” we see Ann and Don go for a picnic while on the way to see Ann’s parents. They get out of the car and walk into the woods and find a spot near the stream. Ann sets down the picnic rug and brings out the food, chopped liver sandwiches with vinegar, liver, horseradish, and mayonnaise. Don then has an allergic reaction, but Ann tells him that food allergies are in the brain. Another instance of a Picnic is seen in The Mindy Project in the episode

Triathalon. In this episode, Mindy is training for a triatholon with her work friends and she has a picnic in the park on a training day. She suggests to dangle pancakes on a

fishing pole to get her to do sit-ups, while drinking Sangria. As with many parts of the show, Mindy does something to have the picnic end in a disaster.

Table 5. Where does the Main Character Eat?* Restaurant: Restaurant:* Work: Work: Home Misc Formal Casual Group Desk or Setting Office That Girl 4 (23.5%) 5 (29%)* 0 0 6 (35%) 2 (12%) MTM 2 (9.5%) 5 (24%)* 0 0 12 (57%) 2 (9.5%) MB 2 (8%) 10 (42%)* 3 (12.5%) 0 4 (17%) 4 (17%) Caroline 0 2 (33%)* 0 0 4 (67%) 0 30 Rock 3 (23%) 5 (38%)* 2 (15%) 2 1 (8%) 0 (15%)* Mindy 0 6 (43%)* 3 (21%) 1 (7%)* 0 4 (28.5%)

CHAPTER 4

DISCUSSION/LIMITATIONS

Studies to date have often explored women and their portrayals in media, with some studies considering gender roles and assumptions surrounding food practices. Very few studies have ever investigated the representation of women's food practices as portrayed on television. The present study investigates the portrayal of women relative to navigating food on American television. It is important to examine how women's portrayals on television interaction with food for several reasons. First, the average

American spends a copious amount of their time watching and streaming television shows. Second, the media plays a vital role in socializing individuals and helping them learn to discern what the world is and how to navigate it.

The current study adds to the literature surrounding women in media as well as the literature about women and food. The present study shows a paucity of eating in shows depicting successful career women. This lack of food is noteworthy because all the women in the shows featured in this study are very successful “career” women. Two of our sampled shows, 30 Rock and Murphy Brown, had no food at all in over half of the episodes we analyzed. The lack of food is interesting given foods centrality to everyday life. Anderson (2005) discusses how food not only serves to reinforce social identity but also reinforces social bonds. This would lead one to presume food would be a central part of their character portrayals, but this is not the case.

In both 30 Rock and Murphy Brown, there is a chaotic backstory of their personal lives, always being in disarray, this lack of food could serve to reinforce this narrative

(e.g., their lives are in such disarray that they cannot even eat). They are wholly successful in their professional lives, but their personal lives lack any sort of structure, even in something as subtle as foodways. Anderson (2005) discusses that food is a vast social marker, distinguishing social class, families, networks, friend groups, religions, ethnicity and a host of other identities. Both Murphy Brown and Liz (30 Rock) do not often sit down to any meals, in fact, in later shows we seldom see people eating together.

In these programs, the characters want to have personal lives. However, this leaves one with little doubt that they are struggling to achieve this aim. These later programs coincide with the time of the stalled revolution. This data also supports the idea of the stalled revolution in that women on television are participating in the workforce just as much as men, but their responsibilities are inequal. Their commitment to their work hinders their success in meeting their personal goals, and they seemingly never really have it all “together”. For example, Murphy struggles painfully with motherhood, Liz (30

Rock) longs to adopt a child but struggles to achieve this.

Our results also suggest a change in dieting norms with the rise of junk or snack food. In the first show from the 1960s, That Girl, there was very little junk or snack food consumed, whereas this figure steadily increases over time to the most recent show, The

Mindy Project, which shows the main character eating junk or snack foods for over half of the show aired to date. This shift in the types of food commonly seen on the screen could be due to a cultural change. When That Girl was still on the air, there was less

ultra-processed or junk foods available. Our data support this cultural change of having more ultra-processed foods available in that we do not see a drastic change until the latter three shows, Caroline in the City, 30 Rock, and The Mindy Project. Over the years, scholars have also discussed a change in the American way of life with food (Pollan,

2006). Pollan discusses this change in foodways in America and notes that Americans eat one fifth of their meals out of cars and feeds fully one third of its children at a fast-food place each day. Today, there is a greater tendency for individuals to eat "on the go," similar to food portrayals in The Mindy Project. The results of this study do not support

Rozin’s 1999 and 2002 claims that Americans tend to think more in terms of the nutrition of their food and less in the pleasure. What is shown here is that these characters often eat with gusto and much pleasure in their food. The characters seldom ever discuss the nutrition of their food over pleasure, that is, if they eat at all. The data presented here supports this change in American foodways, as food has steadily progressed into this ultra-processed “on-the-go” diet. This can be cause for concern as these shows are sending messages about what one should eat, and these shows are normalizing eating poorly. For an example of poor eating habits, I remember documenting a scene where Liz was eating her “late-night-cheese”. This change that has happened sends messages conveying that it is normal, and even expected to eat a diet high in ultra-processed foods with a successful life.

The present data shows a trend, especially leading up to The Mindy Project, an increase in impulsive eating and overeating. During The Mindy Project, we often see

Mindy eating in an impulsive way or overeating. This portrayal of her characters food

habits is consistent with literature proposing that heavier characters are often portrayed as more animistic and less in control of their food habits. For example, there is an episode where Mindy pulls an entire cake out of her desk drawer and proceeds to eat seemingly the entire thing. This finding is also interesting in that it also supports a background plot of her trying to be “one of the boys” as in many scenes, she is continuously surrounded by supporting male roles. We also found support for studies that have found the opposite for thinner female characters being shown as more conserved and in control of their food habits. For example, in That Girl, we see Ann take a late night snack of an apple, and in

Mary Tyler Moore, she is seen eating a lot of salads and other “feminine foods”. Whereas not eating at all may not necessarily be a good food habit, it does show an immense control over ones consumption.

Further, our results show that the only eating experience common to every show that we were sampling was group eating. Researchers contend that women are often seen eating in groups. Whereas our data does support group eating, we find that the majority of episodes show the lead character in a group, but not eating with the group. This exclusionary practice was common throughout all six shows but decreased over time. In the time of the earlier shows, work was an obligation and something someone had to do.

Work was largely something that was an addition to their lives, not their entire lives, so we saw more eating outside of the work setting. In the later shows, the portrayals of eating provide support for the centrality of work in women's lives. A common theme observed across all of the shows was the way that work seemed to take over the successful women's life, leaving little time for much else. The idea of work becoming a

central part of life supports the appearance of workplace eating and a decrease in eating at home. This change in eating habits coincides also with the changing landscape of society where work takes up a large portion of our lives and we often eat “on-the-go”.

Eating alone is not prevalent in the sample until the latest two shows, 30 Rock and The

Mindy Project, which coincidentally are the two shows that take place in the 2000s and show the most drastic changes in their eating habits relative to other shows in the sample.

Women in earlier shows almost never ate alone and this changes into the later shows. The latter half of the six shows start to display a different character, which eats more often. However, in these later shows that display women eating more, much more of their eating was done at work and by themselves. The types of food they have started eating have also declined into more ultra-processed foods and more poor eating habits. In the first episode of 30 Rock, we see Liz buy an entire hotdog stands worth of hot dogs and take them into work. We consistently see Mindy stress eating, overeating, and snacking, both at home and at work. Those are two prime examples of some of the changes we have seen from the earliest show, That Girl, until now. Whereas these women are now seen eating more in television shows, it is not sending forth messages good eating practices. Themes in later shows also focus on the ineptitude of these accomplished women in domestic and personal matters. Murphy cannot cook or show kindness and consideration toward others, Liz struggles with everyday self-care (she eats poorly and does not exercise), and Mindy struggles in her personal and work relationships. This ineptitude could be perpetuated by the fact that these characters are portrayed in a way that work encompasses their entire lives, and they have little time for

anything else. This centrality of work leaves them without time for themselves, their personal lives, or even eating. These characters only have time to work on their careers to further their success.

Despite the study's contributions, our study is not without limitations. The current sample consists of primarily white/Caucasian characters; the only exception is the main character of Mindy, who is an Indian American actress. Of the shows we chose, we only randomly selected 15% of the episodes for each show. There is the chance with randomly selected episodes that we may have missed some very important eating instances. We also cut some shows out of the prescreening stage of the study due to the show being relatively inaccessible. One example of a relatively inaccessible program was Julia, which was voted highly but was unable to be accessed reliably, and was therefore omitted from the sampling frame. The current study could have also developed more complex measures, such as instances surrounding alcohol, which would have expanded the amount of data obtained.

Future Research

Future research would benefit from a larger sample that includes more racial/ethnic diversity in order to explore whether the themes we observed are present at the intersection of other identities. The present sample also only focused on situational comedies, and this excludes ensemble comedies such as Friends or Sex in the City. Future research should expand upon our study by examining instances of eating in additional types of television shows, including ensembles. Including other shows into the sample could add to the discussion through an analysis of other popular forms of television

media today. Future studies similar to this could benefit from sampling more than just

15% of the episodes of any show, resulting in a larger dataset to analyze. This topic could also be analyzed comparatively, through analyzing differences between male and female food relationships on television.

REFERENCES

Anderson, E. N. 2005. Chapter 8, ‘Me, Myself, and the Others: Food as Social Marker.’ In: Everyone Eats: Understanding Food and Culture New York: New York University Press., Pp. 124-139 Avery, R. J., Mathios, A., Shanahan, J., & Bisogni, C. (1997). Food and nutrition messages communicated through primetime television. Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, 16(2), 217-227. Bock, B. C., & Kanarek, R. B. 1995. 'Women and Men are What They Eat: The Effects of Gender and Reported Meal Size on Perceived Characteristics.' Sex Roles, 33:109-119. Casper, L., & Bianchi, S. (2009). Women, Feminism, and Femininity in the 21st Century. In E. B. Mousli & E. Roustang-Stoller (Eds.), The Stalled Revolution: Gender and Time Allocation in the United States (pp. 55-77). U.S., Palgrave Macmillan Counihan, C. M. 1992. 'Food Rules in the United States: Individualism, Control, and Hierarchy.' Anthropological Quarterly, 55-66. Counihan, C. M., & Kaplan, S. L. 2013. Food and Gender: Identity and Power New York: Routledge. Covic, T., Roufeil, L., & Dziurawiec, S. (2007). Community beliefs about childhood obesity: its causes, consequences and potential solutions. Journal of Public Health, 29(2), 123-131. Elasmar, Michael, Kazumi Hasegawa, and Mary Brain. 1999. 'The Portrayal of Women in US Prime Time Television.' Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media 44(1):20-34. Figueroa, L. M. (2015). A Good Girl, A Graduate, A Gynecologist, And A Gladiator: A Qualitative Analysis of Representations of Women in Four Television Shows. Madrigal, A. C. (2018, May 30). How Much TV Do People Watch? Retrieved 3, 2020, from https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/05/when-did-tv- watching-peak/561464/

Monteiro, Carlos Augusto, Levy, Renata Bertazzi, Claro, Rafael Moreira, Castro, Inês Rugani Ribeiro de, & Cannon, Geoffrey. (2010). A new classification of foods based on the extent and purpose of their processing. Cadernos de Saúde Pública, 26(11), 2039-2049. https://doi.org/10.1590/S0102-311X2010001100005 Oakes, M. E., & Slotterback, C. S. 2004. Prejudgments of Those Who Eat a "Healthy" versus an "Unhealthy" Food for Breakfast. Current Psychology, 23:267-278. Pollan, Michael. 2006. The Omnivores Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals New York: Penguin Books. Ray, K. (2007). Domesticating cuisine: food and aesthetics on American television. Gastronomica, 7(1), 50-63. Rozin, P., Ashmore, M., & Markwith, M. (1999). Lay American Conceptions of Nutrition: Dose Insensitivity, Categorical Thinking, Contagion, and the Monotonic Mind. Health Psychology, 15(6), 438-447. Rozin, P., Bauer, R., & Catanese, D. (2002). Food and Life, Pleasure and Worry, Among American College Students: Gender Differences and Regional Similarities. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85(1), 132-141. Reiheld, A. N. 2014. 'Gender Norms and Food Behavior.' Encyclopedia of Food and Agricultural Ethics, 1094-1100. Ryan, C. L., & Lewis, J. M. (2017). Computer and internet use in the United States: 2015. US Department of Commerce, Economics and Statistics Administration, US Census Bureau. Signorielli, Nancy and Susan Kahlenberg. 2001. 'Television’s World of Work in the Nineties.’ Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media 45(1):4-22. Sink, Alexander and Dana Mastro. 2017. ‘Depictions of Gender on Primetime Television: A Quantitative Content Analysis.’ Mass Communications and Society 20:3-22. Southard, B. (2008). Beyond the Backlash: Sex and the City and Three Feminist Struggles. Communication Quarterly, 149-167.

Story, M & Faulkner, P. (1999). The Prime Time Diet: A Content Analysis of Eating Behavior and Food Messages in Television Program Content and Commercials. Am J Public Health, 738-740. Vandenbosch, L. 2017. Media Representation: Health and Body Images Unpublished Thesis.

APPENDIX A

Plot Synopses and Food Notes from Shows

That Girl

The Anatomy of a Blunder: Ann is going to have a picnic with her boyfriend while

going to see her parents. Has chopped liver sandwiches with liver, vinegar,

horseradish, and mayonnaise. Says food allergies are in the brain

Sock It to Me: Ann is on a break from the play and is drinking coffee. Ann drinks

water on stage in between scenes of her play

The Subject Was Rabies: No real food. Boyfriend says they will have dinner together

that night. Brings manager a cup of skim milk.

Ten Percent of Nothing is Nothing: An is out to dinner with her boyfriend, unsure of

what she is eating. She is drinking water. Ann keeps playing a waitress in the comedy

special she is in. Eating with boyfriend, can not make out food. Ann gets up and puts

away the dishes and grabs and pours coffee.

Gone-A-Courtin’: Ann is portrayed as being unable to start a charcoal grill. She must

use food as a weapon in a reenactment for a court case. Ann is portrayed as clumsy

around food, knocks a cup of water onto her boyfriend’s lap

The Rivals: Ann is setting the table at dinner, she is drinking water. Ann says she

likes her eggs scrambled when her mom asks what she wants breakfast. Ann says that

her dads food is marvelous and compliments her mother orange juice while dad fights

with boyfriend. Ann is washing dishes with her mother after breakfast. Ann is making

her boyfriend a late night snack, a sandwich specifically. She is grabbing fruit for herself during this late night snack.

Soap gets in your eyes: Ann pours a glass of alcohol, while she is on set for a scene in a soap oprah. Ann turns down a “beverage” with her friend to go get Lunch with her boyfriend. Anns boyfriend orders food for them. Ann suggests taking her boyfriends parents to restaurants. Ann gets cream soda at lunch. Ann gets criticized as a “new

York girl” by Dons parents for selecting what appears to be an expensive restaurant.

Ann wants to order an alcoholic drink at lunch, but falls back on the idea when Dons mom makes a remark about not drinking. Ann is seen drinking, but not eating. Ann invites her boyfriends parents over to “win them over” with dinner. Ann overs to get her boyfriends mom sherry while talking to an actor. Ann made a beef stew with wine for dinner. Ann gets coffee after dinner. Ann offers chocolate mousse for desert, says hers is “marvelous”.

The defiant one: Ann is asked to do the math for three cans of tuna in the grocery store and cannot. Ann buys a candy bar for a poor kid that was stealing and has him help her with the groceries. Takes him out for a chili dog before taking him home.

Ann has to go get icecream for the new child she brought home.

That Shoplifter: Ann steals sugar packets because she forgot to buy sugar.

At the Drop of a Budget: Ann meets her boyfriend at a restaurant for dinner because she got a part and wanted to ask of him to make a budget. Boyfriend makes jokes that she should not drink due to the nature of her new part. Ann has to ask how much a loaf of bread costs and how many slices of bread are in a loaf. Ann is eating chocolate

when she opens the door. Ann made dinner for her boyfriend. She made sauerkraut and pretends to like it. Also made corned beef hash from a can and offers something to “wash it down”. Brags about making a five-course meal for less than one dollar.

*Note* (Ann was challenged to make and maintain a budget) Ann is eating ice.

My Part Belongs To Daddy: Episode starts out with Ann and her boyfriend having dinner with her parents, can not make out food, dinner ended soon after episode started. Ann turns down coffee to talk to her dad. Dad says she has to go get oregano for the dinner because she chose a different lead in the play.

Help Wanted: Ann goes out to eat with boyfriend, he pulls out chair for her

(traditional mores). Boyfriend tries to change Anns mind and train of thought with food. Anns friend suggests she cancels her date because she is too tired from work and must rest for work tomorrow. Ann and boyfriend go to a traditional Japanese restaurant. Boyfriend took her there because he felt she needed to try something new and plans to fire her.

Paper hats and everything: Ann goes out with her father for her birthday to a fancy

French restaurant. Orders a dry mimosa (I think?) before dinner. Boyfriend and friend are throwing her a party and they want her to have the biggest cake they can. Friends continue to get food for her party they think she will like, sandwiches and potato chips. Anns dad orders her a cappuccino at the diner they go to. Ann gives food to a cab driver.

Dark on top of everything else: No food in this episode

Fly me to the moon: Army recruiter flies ann to new orleans for sea food for lunch to discuss a contract. She rushes to get dinner ready for her boyfriend when they get home. Ann made coffee and sandwiches for her boyfriend for dinner.

It’s a Mod, Mod World (Part 2): Anns photographer orders her eggs benedict for breakfast early in the morning when he wakes her up. Anns photographer takes her to an almost authentic English pub in Santa Monica after a photo shoot. (telling her boyfriend about it)

Little Auction Annie: Ann suggests going out to get sandwiches. Donald asks Ann to make him a sandwich instead of going out for it. Ann is discussing a BLT with Don.

Beware of Actors Bearing Gifts: Ann and her boyfriend are going out to dinner They ordered dessert at the beginning of the scene, cannot be seen what it is. Says she will invite the boy who is buying her gifts to dinner soon. Ann is now cooking, tries what she is cooking in the stock pot. She is making lasagna, says it “needs to bubble” at

200 degrees (not boil? Incorrect food terms) Ann is making Italian. Ann gets an espresso maker from her admirer. The director told Ann to skip lunch to work on her lines.

A friend in need: Entire episode note (Ann is injured, boyfriend takes over all

“female” duties for the time, episode is about “challenging her femininity) Ann has a sprained ankle, mom comes over to take care of her. Boyfriend comes over and offers to as well. Boyfriend cooks and cleans while she is hurt and resting. Ann says they had dinner planned at a French place and that they should cancel and order pizza instead, boyfriend offers to cook veal Corden bleu, boyfriend cleans everything for

her to. Asks for orange juice and coffee for breakfast. Has the choice of eggs benedict

upon her by her boyfriend feeling she needs nourishment. Ann is at a dinner with

friends, does not eat with them because she is upset with herself. Ann refers to a kiss

and cleaning as gourmet.

Odpdypahimcaifss: Ann cooks dinner for her boyfriend and his mother. Throwing

together an “ordinary every day dinner”, consists of turtle soup, hearts of palm salad

with vinaigrette, beef bourgenoi and baked Alaska. (I have no idea what any of this

is), says she feels “a man that works all day is entitled to as good of a meal as a

woman can serve him” Ann suggests going to the pizza place for breakfast. Ann says

her boyfriend “spilled pizza”

Mary Tyler Moore

Menage-a-Lou: Mary is having a party – a single plate of hors d’oeuvres are shown,

but you can’t tell what it is. No one eats and only Lou drinks.

Mary’s Father: Mary is in a restaurant having lunch with a priest she’s been working

on a TV show with – she’s worried he’s considering leaving the priesthood for her.

He orders a martini and she orders a Virgin Mary. No other consumption – her

kitchen is shown but there’s never any food in it.

Ted Baxter’s Famous Broadcasting School: Do you like French food a prospective

date asks her – she doesn’t answer. Lou helps himself to a drink while in her

apartment.

The System: Restaurant – lunch – Mary and Lou are eating sandwiches and each are

having a beer – interestingly, hers is almost finished while his looks barely touched.

No discussion of the food – she passes on ice cream for dessert. Super Bowl Party – brunch is referred to but not shown and the kitchen looks spotless.

A Friend in Need: Restaurant is opening scene – they order and the joke is that the waitress is terrible. Lou orders a steak, baked potato and a martini, Mary orders the

‘vegetable salad,’ Murray a Liverwurst sandwich, Ted a Swiss Steak. Later Mary is shown making a Caesar salad (Rhoda makes a joke about the secret to a good Caesar is leaving out the anchovies). They are not shown eating it.

Hi There, Sports Fans: – Mary is in a restaurant with a guy she is going to fire – she orders a Bloody Mary – no food is shown or ordered.

Will Mary Richards Go To Jail: Lou is drinking whiskey in his office – this is treated as mildly unusual because it is the morning. When Mary is in a jail cell with two others, another inmate asks her, ‘what’s the matter, didn’t you like your breakfast?’

But you can’t see the breakfast and no one is eating.

Murray in Love: – Lou and Murray are in a bar – Lou orders ‘double Scotch’ for both of them. Murray says, ‘Gee, Lou, I haven’t even had breakfast yet.’ He replies, saying to the bartender, ‘Slice a banana in one of those, bartender. No food.

Bess, You’re my Daughter Now: Mary eats an ice cream with Bess while on a window shopping trip with Bess. Rhoda, Mary and Bess are supposed to be having breakfast but no food is shown - they’re basically drinking coffee. Later Mary sends Bess out to the grocery store to buy TV dinners. Interestingly, it’s dark and Bess is supposed to be about seven years old. She returns carrying a full bag of groceries (Mary has

told her to put it on her account). Mary and Rhoda come back from movies and Mary takes a few cookies out of the cookie jar on the counter but no one eats them.

Son of ‘But Seriously Folks’: Rhoda and Mary are having a meal (it turns out to be breakfast) – Mary is not shown eating, Rhoda is – looks like scrambled eggs.

Discussion of what kind of restaurant to eat at – Chinese, Italian, Greek.

The Lou & Edie Story: Lou shows up at work after having been missing for four hours drunk. His wife is leaving him. He appears at Mary’s house also drunk where

Mary and Rhoda commiserate with him and he helps himself to a drink. A scene at his home shows him crushing an orange as a gesture of misplaced anger. His wife tells him she’s prepared frozen dinners for him before she leaves.

The Lars Affair: Opens with a party at Mary’s – lots of drinks and coffee but no food.

Phyllis comes into Mary’s apartment asks her if she’s eaten, when she says she has,

Phyllis sets the table and proceeds to slice green grapes in half and eat them one at a time. A parody of dainty eating. In the next scene, she enters the apartment with an apple pie – the joke being that it’s awful. The whole thing is set up as a problem for the women to solve (i.e., the fact that Lars is having an affair with Sue Ann). The final scene is on Sue Ann’s TV show kitchen, where Phyllis tries to persuade Sue

Ann to break off the affair. She appeals to Mary for help, ‘Mary, she won’t give him up.’ Mary threatens her with ruining her reputation with Ted’s gossip and she relents

– Phyllis exits and having ruined her soufflé she flicks chocolate at her.

The Courtship of Mary’s Father’s Daughter: Rhoda and Mary attend the engagement party of Mary’s former boyfriend. There appears to be some hors d’oeuvres on the

table and Rhoda is seen taking a bite of something. The former boyfriend offers

Mary a drink, pours her one, without asking her what she wants. She carries it around but doesn’t take appear to take a drink of it. In the next scene Mary and Rhoda are in her apartment and Rhoda appears to be eating an apple Later in an uncomfortable stairway encounter, Rhoda’s date excitedly interrupts Mary and the (now current) boyfriend because he is having Chinese food for the first time. This is interesting because it is implied that Rhoda’s eating habits are more sophisticated because she is a New Yorker – this is a time when many mid-Westerners – the show is set in

Minneapolis – were being exposed to Asian cuisine. He brings Mary and Dan a plate of food and asks Dan if he knows how to use chopsticks (he says he does). The dish they awkwardly hold but don’t eat is referred to as Chicken with Lichee nuts, which would be a pretty weird combo.

Two Wrongs Don’t Make a Writer: Georgette is in Mary’s apartment – Mary carries over several plates of food but no one eats it and it is not clear what the food is.

The Five Minute Dress: Mary and Rhoda are having dinner. It’s hard to see what it is, but it looks like a steak – it’s certainly brown (i.e., not salad). In a later scene,

Mary is preparing dinner in her kitchen – marinating steaks and shelling peas. Ted tries to help but does so ineptly – she encourages him to sit down and stop helping her.

Love is all Around – no food, but there are several jokes about Lou’s drinking. He has a bottle in his desk drawer and offers Mary a drink which she declines.

What is the real Mary Richard’s Like? Mary is in a restaurant being interviewed by a journalist writing about her because she is a female producer. He eats, but she doesn’t – the joke is that he is having her do all the work by taking notes because his tape recorder is out of battery. He asks her out and mentions a restaurant that serves really good Peking Duck.

One Boyfriend Too Many: Ted and Joe (Mary’s boyfriend) and Mary return to her apartment after a double date (Georgette is sick so she hasn’t joined them). She makes (instant) coffee. Next scene is in her apartment – she and Joe are eating. He comments on how good the food is, the joke being that he has cooked it (stew and salad). She doesn’t actually eat anything. She and another guy who is an old boyfriend enter her apartment. She pours both of them a brandy. In a later scene,

Lou criticizes Ted for liking ‘sissy’ drinks.

The Critic: A cocktail party for a snotty professor – everyone is drinking. No one is eating. Next relevant scene is with the snotty professor in an expensive restaurant.

Mary is eating shrimp which she quickly finished because ‘the critic’ is arguing with the waiter that they are previously frozen.

Rhoda’s Sister Gets Married: no food

Murray Faces Life: Mary unpacks her groceries – all boxes and a loaf of white bread.

She offers to make Rhoda a sandwich but no food is shown.

The Happy Homemaker Takes Lou Home: Sue Ann and Lou are having dinner at her house – no food is shown – they’re drinking coffee. What’s weird is that what she’s

shown doing – insisting that they get together – is basically sexual harassment, but

it’s played for laughs.

Lou Douses an Old Flame: there’s a reference to Lou eating Chipped Beef during the

war. Mary has a party but there is food anywhere in sight. Lou’s long lost love is

eating dessert. She offers some to him to which he replies that he’s watching his

weight. She says ‘you look great,’ so he orders two eclairs then he dumps the dessert

over her head.

Better Late…..That’s a Pun….Than Never: Mary, Rhoda, and Georgette are shown

sitting at the table having what looks like cheese fondue – Mary doesn’t eat. They

have coffee. In another scene, Mary is leaving the office with Ted and he asks where

does she want to have lunch, she replies, ‘Anywhere they have a drink.’

The Six and a Half Year Itch: A date is coming over and Mary is carrying a dish of

something – can’t see what it is. She takes one of whatever is on the tray and eats it.

‘Super career guys’ is used to refer to a man (as a put down).

Murphy Brown

On a Plane: Ordering a TV dinner on the plane – beef or chicken. A flashback

shows them in their bar (their regular local hangout in the show), but no food is

shown – all the characters appear to be drinking beer.

Underdog: Scene in a restaurant – most of the characters are drinking beer or what

appears to be a highball of some sort. There is food on the table but it’s not possible

to see what it is and no one eats. Another scene: a character pours an expensive bottle

of champagne into a hot tub.

The Fifth Anchor: scene in Phil’s, their regularly – Murphy appears to be drinking water (I think there’s a back story that she’s a recovering alcoholic). The ensemble are in Murphy’s house – Corky and Jim, and the Miles are eating ding dongs, chips and chocolate bars – why is not explained.

All in the Family: reference to buying Slim TV dinner. An underlying theme of this is that Corky and Miles are getting married and Miles is Jewish and Corky is from the

South – it’s downright offensive. A joke about her grandfather accusing the Hispanic bellboy of stealing actually gets a laugh (or laugh track). Murphy shows her baking ineptitude by answering the door holding a smoking baking tray, the contents of which she drops in a potted plant. The story takes a totally bizarre turn when Miles objects to the two families trying to get along by declaring that he’s not sure about getting married. But then for no apparent reason they changes their minds declaring their love, while fighting continues around them.

Up in Smoke: no food, one reference to ‘this nations obsession with junk food.’

Rootless People: Murphy is kidnapped by environmentalists – no food.

The Bummer 0f 42: Murphy’s birthday – she’s told she’ll get a complementary salad with her lunch. Murphy’s fake sister makes a delicious chicken dish and there is a joke about how she walked in the kitchen and immediately recognized it. They eat the chicken on their laps – Murphy has the food on her lap, but she isn’t shown eating. The sister starts to make brownies.

Set Me Free: Murphy is frank with her friends how much she wants to drink and smoke. She refers to the fact that she got out of the Betty Ford clinic. The station is held up by a gunman during a live broadcast – no food.

Political Correctness: An overtly and exaggerated Arab name gets a laugh. The episode appears to be some sort of examination of ‘political correctness,’ but ultimately has no point of view. No food

Dial and Substance: Jim gets arrested for possessing marijuana he had bought to help

Murphy through her Chemo. No food

The Brothers Silverberg: Miles brother falls for Murphy – they meet over lunch at a table at Phil’s with nothing on the table. They go to Sardina (sic) a hot DC restaurant at the time – again, there is no food, although there is a discussion of the pastas on the menu. No food, even though unlike other episodes, they are actually in places where people eat food.

Opus One: The gang are in the restaurant, without Murphy – there’s no visible food, although the Lilly Tomlin character has a plate in front of her and is holding a fork.

Murphy arrives and says she’s going to get take out. The take out is handed to her but she hasn’t actually ordered anything. In the next scene Frank and Murphy are back at Phil’s on a ‘date.’ They sit for several minutes but no waitress arrives.

Chubby Checkers appears at a Dick Clark dance show reenanctment of a ‘50’s TV show for her 50th birthday – literally the only black person I think I’ve seen so far.

And almost unwatchably corny.

Be it Ever So Humboldt: They’re at a banquet – one of the male characters clearly has a drink, some kind of highball. There is no food on the tables. No food.

I Never Sang For My Husband: Jim’s wife, ‘I’m going to be late, so heat up a Lean

Cuisine.’ At a party at Murphy’s, a guest is offered a piece of cake, which she refuses it – no one is eating. Corkie eats the cake – we really don’t see her eat.

Who Do You Truss: Scene at Phil’s, Frank and Lily Tomlin are eating and you actually see her put a fork of food in her mouth. She humiliates Frank by getting him to cut up her meat. The two blondes are sitting together in the same restaurant, but they have no food.

You Say Potatoe I Say Potato: The first night the baby is home – it’s really weird the way she holds the baby. It’s almost like they don’t want to show her being loving and they certainly don’t show her breastfeeding. After being up with the baby all night, she is shown tired and cranky – drinking a glass of orange juice (no sign of her drinking). In the next scene they interview nannies – she is shown putting together a baby thing that Eldon has bought her and he is asking the searching questions of the nanny. Weird sexualization of breast feeding, ‘I finally have a chest and the only man in my life doesn’t know what to do with it.’ Yech! Frank has to explain to

Murphy that she should hold him on her left side so the kid can hear the heartbeat.

When A Lansing Loves A Woman: Murphy comes in with a box of donuts – she offers one to her secretary. The plot involves a co-worker (who I think was pee wee herman) who has a crush on her, revealed to have a secret stalker room of her –

treated in the most incredibly creepy way – she has to apologize to him for not liking him.

Son of Dottie: no food, just very bad fashion (suspenders). Weird jokes about the environment –‘ the cockatails are so polluted, they explode like alka seltzer when they hit the water.’ Why did the mynapotanga people cross the road, they didn’t because they don’t exist anymore.’ etc

The British Invasion: This show is so weirdly sexist – Frank: I guess that ring is finally going to fit in your noise.’ Party at Miles house – the only food is the food she drops when she sees a former lover walk in the door. The boyfriend is eating cereal – three days later – he’s shown eating, but no one else is.

Old Flames: An old boyfriend arrives unexpectedly – she’s working and he says he will take care of her and leaves to make her a cup of tea. She falls asleep and dreams of a series of boyfriends, including a husband she married during the Chicago

Democratic Convention riots – during the rush ceremony she declares that she will not cook (‘I don’t cook, never have, never will), or do his laundry. Weirdly racist stuff – on seeing her next boyfriend is black, the old boyfriend says, ‘there goes the old saying, once you’ve had a Jew, nothing else will do.’ Another old boyfriend appears, this time a 12 year old boy – the scene of the adult Murphy dancing with the boyfriend is totally creepy. She’s charged with being ‘totally incapable of maintaining a mature adult relationship.’ The gag being that the jury is her.

Mama Miller: Scene at Phil’s – ordering lunch – the waiter is interrupted while about to take their order and leaves without taking the actual order. No food. Next scene is

at Murphy’s for a story board meeting. Murphy has cooked breakfast but the eggs are too runny and she angrily shouts, ‘I’m sorry, I guess you were under the impression that I was running a restaurant,’ and storms out. She returns with sausages – ‘they are a little runny too.’ So the point is that she is an inept cook. He comes clean to his mother that he is not in a relationship with Murphy and she says she is happy because

Murphy is clearly a slob – judging by her kitchen and closets. In the closing scene she has the same apron on in the office and is serving ‘Gourmet Coffee’ – which of course, is disgusting.

If You’re Going To Talk The Talk: Murphy interviews a famous singer. In one scene

Frank, Corky, and the older guy are eating lunch. Murphy has provided a recipe (or someone provided it for her) of apple pie with ritz crackers instead of apples (which is an old Depression era recipe). In a later part of the scene, Corky is eating a salad.

No food for rest of show.

Retrospective: an anniversary special with scenes from previous seven years – no food.

Mission Control: Murphy takes some old clothes to a food shelter and is strong armed into coordinating a Thanksgiving Meal – she says that if operating a stove is involved, she will need the phone number of the local fire station. In the next scene,

Frank, Jim, and Corkie are eating Chinese food with chopsticks. In the next scene, they’re in the mission and Jim is making stuffing and Frank proposes making an

Italian dish. She mentions Miles being sent off to buy free-range turkeys, which he brings but they’re alive. They’re banter is painfully corny. Frank can’t find turkey

and produces from the health food store, ‘almost turkey made from soy products.’

Everyone leaves and she’s left – a black guy shows up. She serves him and he says,

‘aren’t you going to eat, I don’t like to eat alone.’ She serves herself but doesn’t eat – their conversation makes it clear that he is homeless because he has a drinking problem. He says, ‘you ain’t eating nothing,’ she puts a small amount of mashed potatoes on her fork and off camera puts it in her mouth – he says ‘good, eh,’ and she replies, ‘yes, very good.’

Bump in The Night: The gang are at Phil’s – Murphy orders a burger and fries. She goes to NY with Frank who is booked on Letterman. The running gag is that she ruins the show by being insanely socially inappropriate and then refuses to apologize because that’s just who she is.

Pretty Woman: A big party – lots of trays of food – no one eats.

Anything but Cured: Frank quits therapy and Murphy treats the problem with her usual sensitivity (i.e., none). No food.

Birth 101: Murphy has her baby so, big surprise, no eating/food. Probably one of the more genuine authentic episodes, although why she didn’t have an epidural god only knows.

I Hear A Symphony: Murphy competes in an auction to conduct an orchestra – no food.

Inside Murphy Brown: Murphy discovers her baby is a boy – no food.

Murphys Law: Miles and Murphy come into the office – at some point, she appears to pick something up which you can’t really see and speaks as if she was chewing something (very briefly). Other than that, no food.

Make Room for Daddy: Murphy is having wedding jitters and her fiancée doesn’t make it to the bachelor party held in a strip club – beer on the table, but no food.

Rumble in the Alley: the gang attend a charity event in a bowling alley where Murphy and her serious boyfriend discover that they know very little about one another. No food or drink (Frank is seen briefly drinking a beer).

The Ten Percent Solution: Murphy fires her agent, who sends her presents to get her back. There is a comment about how she received a giant tollhouse cookie, which

Frank swiped – Murphy shows a passing interest in. Murphy has a meeting at Phil’s

– the agent orders breakfast, Murphy has no food in front of her.

Anchor Rancor: Jim and Murphy are competing for a job – they’re at Phil’s and he gets up to order them both burgers. No food.

Trouble in Sherwood Forrest: consoling a crying Corky, ‘It’s not that I give bad advice, it’s just that I have no real interest in other people’s problems. A disastrous dinner party – no party – Frank turns out to be eating cat food (thought to be trail mix). They’re served Shrimp Dijonnaise but no one seems to eat it. Roast is served but it turns out to be frozen. The discussion she and Murphy have at the end seems to suggest, ‘you can’t have it all,’ is the take-home. Corkie is having problems and she realizes that she can’t be a good wife and a mother and have an important job. She ends with, ‘Corkie don’t give up trying to have it all.’

Moscow on the Potomac: Murphy works with a Russian counterpart and her

stereotypically Russian assistant. The assistant is in Phil’s and orders a cheeseburger.

Later, Miles and Jim and Frank are eating lunch – they actually appear to be eating.

Murphy comes in complaining about Vlad, but the joke is that her insensitivity and

rudeness is exactly like Murphy’s.

The Tip of the Silverberg: Murphy sees more of Miles than she intended in a changing

room. The gang exchange mot embarrassing stories at Phils. No food.

IV. Caroline in the City

Caroline and the cat dancer: Carolines boyfriend was going to make her breakfast

in bed, had strawberry frosted poptarts

Caroline and the office: Caroline comes downstairs to make coffee. Caroline

offers to make her boyfriend dinner to make him feel better. Caroline makes a

comment to her friend that she forgot cream in her coffee.

Caroline and the gift: Caroline have coffee ready for her friend. Caroline makes

coffee for the friend with cream. Caroline left the stove on. Caroline is out to

dinner with friends and drinks coffee, no other food is present.

Caroline and the big bad bed: Caroline is in the kitchen eating cereal. Stops to

talk to boyfriend. Caroline uses a fake “Dinner date” as leverage against her

boyfriend.

Caroline and the cabbie; Caroline scolds her friend for giving her the wrong

chocolate. Caroline and boyfriend go to a cybercafé, each get coffee. Caroline is

drinking coffee walking down the street.

Caroline and the ancestral home: Caroline’s mom brings her powdered orange juice. Boyfriend bought her fried cheese curds.

Caroline and the firing squad: Caroline is furiously setting the table for dinner and ranting about her day. Is putting what appears to be olive oil into a salad.

Caroline is having a sympathy dinner for the friend she got fired. Friend says to

Caroline “You have plates, what’s the occasion?”.

Caroline and the Bar Mitzvah: Caroline turns down lunch with her boyfriends aunt, but then decides to go when offered embarrassing stories about her boyfriend. Caroline makes dinner for her boyfriends aunt and her friend, receives a compliment. Can not make out food, scene starts with cleanup. Caroline throws a big party for her boyfriend who wants to keep his Bar Mitzvah low key.

Caroline is cutting cake for everyone at the party and does not take a piece.

Caroline and the Bad Date: Caroline drinks soda at movie theater.

Caroline and The Watch: Caroline goes to the Deli (super 90’s) and comes back with a desk. Gets scolded for “not writing things down” referring to a “Turkey on wheat and a tuna on rye”.

Caroline and the Councilmen: Caroline decides to decline lunch because her assistant is discussing his night before with his partner. Caroline turned down a donut offered to her by a client that wants to buy her art.

Caroline and the rotten plum: Caroline makes cupcakes for her moving into an office for the coworkers (to win them over or make a good entrance?). Caroline tries to rush a cupcake to the office manager after making them mad. Caroline

brings the office manager a basket of muffins to say sorry for making her mad.

Caroline wants to take her boyfriend home for thanksgiving to meet her family.

Caroline and the Married Man: Caroline and a friend go to get food and berate

their friend in an interview. When Caroline is leaving for a date, her friend tells

her that “he pays”. Her date is coming over for dinner tomorrow because they had

a great time together. Caroline is making Chicken Del Feugo because her date is

“a special guy”. Her friend says that the date should bring any sort of wine to the

date because she will drink it.

Caroline and the Paper Chase: No food

V. 30-Rock

Kidney Now: No eating

MILF Island: Pete gets stuck in a vending machine reaching for a snack called

‘Soy Joy.’ In a joke about the cartoon Cathy, Liz is shown in front of a box of

chocolates shouting ‘chocolate, chocolate, chocolate.’ In a conversation about a

birth defect of her foot, she explains that she may have eaten her twin. At the end,

she is shown eating a hand-held piece of pizza while packing up her bag before

leaving the office.

Murphy Brown Lied To Us: In one scene in Jack’s office, Jack is drinking coffee.

In a coffee shop, Liz is shown drinking ice tea. Right at the end, Liz’s boyfriend

says he’s going to make a stew.

College: Liz orders a bar tab for the crew, but the alcoholics can’t take advantage of it. She orders ice cream for the crew but it’s a letdown because the lactose intolerant crew can’t eat it.

Cougars: No eating

Succession: Liz is having a business lunch – no food on the table, just drinks.

Jenna gets very drunk.

Jack The Writer: no eating or food

Ludachristmas: Getting ready for a big Xmas party, Frank is shown pushing a huge cart of alcohol. Jack is loading up a tray of pastries to send to his mother, which the visiting stripper coughs on. Liz’s parents bring Jack a huge carton of flavored popcorn. Jack’s mother mocks the menu in the Appleby’s style restaurant. Liz says she’s going to have ‘the onion tower for two for one.’ Liz’s parents are drinking martini’s and Liz’s mom gets a bit drunk. Liz is sprinkling something on her baked potato. Liz’s mom warns her son to ‘go easy on the fried food.’

Alexis Goodlooking and the Case of the Missing Whiskey: Liz is wrapped in a blanket by Frank’s mother and a big tray is plopped on her chest and a piece of cheese stuffed into her mouth. Liz comments on the ingredients of the pasta which she seems to be stuffing in her mouth. This has weird stereotyping of

Italian food – Frank’s mother shows up with a rooster and says that she’s going to make Liz chicken soup. She asks, ‘where can I kill this?’

Game Over: No food, no eating

I Do Do: This episode is about three weddings – lots of drinking, but no eating.

Today you are a Man: Frank is eating a sandwich which contains something he’s allergic to. Jack and Liz are negotiating her contract in an ice cream shop. Liz is showing eating the ice cream. Liz and Jack are in his office – she pours him a whiskey, which she holds for a minute w/o sipping and then passes on to Kenneth.

Emmanuelle Goes to Dino Land: Liz visits an old boyfriend who serves her coffee

(it spills because he has claws, having lost his hands). Jack and his girlfriend are home after a big Indian meals and she is shown sipping a Guinness. Jenna and

Liz are at a party drinking a glass of wine.

Floyd: Liz and her old boyfriend are in a restaurant where she encourages him to have the fish hoping he’ll get sick as she has in the past. Instead he gets drunk because the sauce has alcohol in it and he’s a recovering alcoholic.

Stone Mountain: Liz and Jack are in the South, where they stop for drive-through food which makes her violently ill. You don’t see what she’s eaten.

Reunion: Liz is embarrassed when Kenneth asks her about her bulk order of ice cream. Drinking at a reception, but no food or eating.

The One With The Cast of Night Court: Jack’s insane girlfriend is in his house, dressed as a sexy waitress serving him a tray of what looks like a roast beef dinner

– she hurls it away as they lunge passionately at each other. A banquet - no food is evident but you can hear the clinking of cutlery.

Unwindulax: Jack and Liz discuss attending a fundraiser and how much expensive shrimp she can eat. Later she’s wolfing down huge shrimp.

Cleveland: A brunch in a restaurant with Liz, Jenna and Jack’s girlfriend. They have nice plates of food, Liz raises a fork to her mouth but doesn’t actually eat.

They’re drinking wine - Jenna gets really drunk. In another scene, Liz is eating in a circular revolving restaurant (this is a joke about how old fashioned Cleveland is) – Liz has what looks like chicken tenders and she takes a big bite at the end of the scene.

Operation Righteous Cowboy Lightening: No eating.

Christmas Special: no food

Sun Tea: Frank is making sun tea but some of the jars are jars he’s peeing in

(‘some are sun tea, and some were sun tea.’ To shock her above floor neighbor to move so that she can buy his apartment, Liz pees in a jar (not shown, but kind of disgusting nonetheless).

Brooklyn Without Limits: Jonathan brings an elaborate tea set on a tray for Jack.

Jenna organizes a reception for critics to see Tracy’s film – Kenneth is laid out on the table with wasabi in his mouth and sushi spread out over his chest. Jack holds a reception for a political candidate he’s backing who’s uncouth and weird (‘wow,

I haven’t seen this many suits since my trial,’ he comments). There are trays of nice looking canapes and he stuffs a few in his pockets before being hustled out by Jack. Liz changes into unflattering jeans but is happy because she found a bag of discontinued chocolate candy.

Leap Day: Tracy and others are in a Benihani restaurant because he has a huge gift card to spend (he orders their best wine and the guy says, ‘that will be $12’).

In the next scene, they sitting around the Benihani food too full to continue. In

the next scene in the restaurant, homeless people are chowing down. This is by

far the worst episode of this show.

Seinfeld Vision: A new season – Jenna spent the summer performing Mystic Pizza

– she tears off her make-up bib to reveal that she’s gained a lot of weight. Jack

says she has to lose 30 pounds or gain 60 – anything else, has no place in

television. Jenna comes in to the writer’s room and they shame her by yelling in

horror. In the last scene, having had a bad day, Liz is sitting in her new wedding

dress eating a Ham sandwich, which Jack takes off her. She refers to the dress as

a $4,000 Ham napkin.

The Collection: In the opening scene, Jack is drinking a scotch in his office.

There’s an interesting joke about Jenna’s weight gain about her receiving mail

from prisons and an ad for perfume sold in a grocery store (Enorme). No food,

except a minor character is seen eating a sandwich.

VI. The Mindy Project

In The Club: Little to no food the entire episode. Mindy and Coworkers go to club

and drink a lot of alcohol. Mindy’s friend spent 300 dollars on a bottle of vodka

and was determined to drink it. Mindy and friends were eating a pizza on the way

home after a night of drinking

Bro Club For Dudes: In the beginning of the episode, Mindy says she is taking

Danny’s sandwich that has been in the fridge for a month. During role playing in

a work game, a coworker referred to Mindy as a “piece of bacon”. Game is called

“wings and stings” and Mindy hates their games***. Mindy calls a meeting to improve the office, they joke that she is getting a froyo machine. Coworkers take

Mindy’s renovation and want to add a grill to it. Walking into the break room

Mindy was eating a granola bar.

{All in the first five minutes}

Danny told Mindy to take a coworker to lunch and he said “You can’t talk as much with your mouth full”. Goes to the “USA Girl Café” and expresses they have the best chicken tenders. Mindy gets a pink cake with a sparkler at the restaurant. Mindy goes to buy alcohol, comes back and says they do not have

Mojitos and they only had beer. Mindy skipped on a dinner date with her partner to do something with coworkers

Triathalon: Mindy says that dangling pancakes on a fishing pole in front of her would sufficient motivation to get her to do sit-ups. Mindy is drinking Sangria during the day at the park. Mindy has a picnic at the park (could not make out the food). Mindy says she imagines being a piece of pizza being chased by a fat man to run faster. Mindy goes to get a food truck for lunch and tells the man he is not using enough cheese on the pizza, she says she eats there every day she is ordering four slices of pizza. Mindy must drink wine when bringing people into her apartment. Sets out what appears to be cookies

Magic Morgan: Mindy is depressed and is ordering takeout food due to a breakup, cries when she can’t meet the delivery minimum; eating to cope with a breakup. Mindy is eating a granola bar in the break room at work. Mindy is

listening to sad music and binge drinking wine while going through photos of the relationship that just ended. Coworker that comes over brings “comfort foods”.

Mindy has her apartment covered in food containers from pizza shops and other food places. Mindy is coerced into a dinner date to refrain from paying a coworker for sexual harassment charges. Mindy is at dinner in a fancy restaurant, has a glass of wine and water, never showed what she ordered

Stanford: Mindy goes out to dinner with the teacher of her fellowship and her boyfriend, gets water to drink, Mindy got cheesecake. Mindy orders 11 cheeseburgers after her boyfriend leaves to go back to New York after a fight

Fertility Bites: Mindy is starting her own business in this episode and pregnant*** Food seems sacrificed. Mindy grabs bacon and leaves on the way out the door. Mindy is eating a plate of fruit in the break room. Mindys boyfriend offers to make a salad for her as she is getting upset with him

Two to One: Mindy is out to lunch with friends and is eating French fries and drinking wine

Friend says she should move to Europe because of good food

Best Man: Mindy is taking her partner to meet her parents, asks to bring her family a bottle of wine

No food this episode

Dannys Friend: Mindy receives a pie but does not eat it. Mindy receives a cake but does not eat it. Mindy went to an ice cream store for a date, was not pictured consuming ice cream, was just discussed in the episode

Jeremy and Anna’s Meryl Streep Costume Party: Mindy asked a stranger onto a lunch date, but only after her next patient. On lunch date, Mindy appears to be eating a taco bowl. Mindy advises date that she is on medications for an infection and will drink at a party later and potentially get strange

Leo Castellano is my Son: Mindy is told by partner that she can not eat junk food while breastfeeding. Mindy has to leave the house to get her junk food and get back before the partner returns. Mindy makes a comment about wiping barbecue sauce on the baby. Mindy is surrounded by junk food the first chance she got.

Mindy fights with husband and wants to go get a drink. Mindy walks away form drinking *before drinking* due to guilt of leaving baby at home

Pretty Man: Mindy is out to lunch with friends and is sipping on a tea. Mindy is at a party for her bosses new apartment and is drinking wine. Mindys boss makes a comment about her leaving wine in his shower

Theres No Crying In Softball: Mindy is eating a muffin for breakfast. Mindy has to compare running to protecting a churro from a seagull to understand for a softball game

What to Expect when You’re Expanding: Mindy is having her husband make paninis and requests for another to go with the one he is making. Mindy is eating something, can not discern food but it is a large portion. Mindy eats a pizza in her office

Road Trip: N/A This episode was about Dr. Castellano and a road trip, Mindy only had two minutes in it

Lahiri Family Values: Mindy alludes to pot making people fat and lazy. Mindy says that “juicy burgers” are possibly a key part to a business. Mindy went to a business interview with her brother and cohort from a business, got coffee

May Divorce be With You: Mindy makes a comment about not being able to let herself go with how short she was married. Took the cake and said she would not share with anybody. Mindy ate her brothers engagement cake and ate the ring with it

Leland Breakfast is the Miracle Worker: Mindy found out her boyfriend was stepping out and was on the floor eating candy

The Girl Next Door: Mindy keeps eating takeout food with Danny as he seems to be courting her. Mindy offers to make dinner for someone, then asks if he liked bologna sandwiches as if she cannot cook. Mindy cooked dinner from jars of food and proceeded to burn it