UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, IRVINE Queering and Qualifying the Wasteland: Network Television, Awards Discourse, and Gay Legitimation in Primetime from 1971-1995 DISSERTATION submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in Visual Studies by Benjamin Kruger-Robbins Dissertation Committee: Associate Professor Victoria E. Johnson, Chair Associate Professor Allison Perlman Professor Jennifer Terry © 2019 Benjamin Kruger-Robbins TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF FIGURES iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS v CURRICULUM VITAE vi ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION x INTRODUCTION: GAY UPLIFT FROM THE TELEVISION WASTELAND 1 Taste Cultures and Media Pedagogy 3 Historicizing Quality TV 16 Chapter Summaries 25 CHAPTER 1: AWARDS DISCOURSE AND HISTORIES OF QUALIFICATION 33 The Emmys and Industrial Standards 34 The Golden Globes: Misfit Journalists and Queer Selections 48 The Peabody’s Academic Shifts 57 Conclusion: GLAAD, From Watchdog to Lapdog 66 CHAPTER 2: SUPERIOR PRODUCTIONS ON SENSITIVE TOPICS – ELEVATING 70 1970S GAY PROGRAMMING Mainstreaming Homosexuality in Early 1970s Urban Spheres 72 Dawn of 1970s “Relevance” Programming: Affirming Urban 76 Attitudes on CBS ABC’s Queer Interventions: Courting Prestige and Outrage 95 in the Early 1970s Stuck in the Middle with You: NBC’s Incorporation of 110 “Everyday” Gay Storylines CHAPTER 3: QUALITY TRANSFORMATIONS, THE AIDS EPIDEMIC, 116 AND GAY TELEVISION IDENTITY INTO THE REAGAN ERA Healing Through Quality TV: AIDS, Public Pedagogy, and NBC’s Quality Rebranding 118 ABC’s Cultivation and Managing of Camp in the 1980s 128 CBS’s 1980s Cultural Decline and “Normalized” Gay Portrayal 143 CONCLUSION: DISAVOWING THE WASTELAND 158 BIBLIOGRAPHY 164 ii LIST OF FIGURES Page Figure 1 Variety, “And the Winner is…CBS” 62 Figure 2 All in the Family, “Judging Books by Covers” 89 Figure 3 Hawaii Five-O, “V for Vashon: The Patriarchy” 89 Figure 4 Marcus Welby, M.D., “The Outrage” 109 Figure 5 Jane Wyman in The Bold Ones: The New Doctors, “Discovery at 113 Fourteen” Figure 6 Ronny Howard in The Bold Ones: The New Doctors, “Discovery at 113 Fourteen” Figure 7 St. Elsewhere, “AIDS and Comfort” 123 Figure 8 Hotel, “Scapegoats” 143 Figure 9 Trapper John, M.D., “Friends and Lovers” 149 Figure 10 Gene Francis and Howard Griffin in Murder, She Wrote, “Birds of a 155 Feather” Figure 11 Angela Lansbury in Murder, She Wrote, “Birds of a Feather” 156 iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First and foremost, I would like to thank my overwhelmingly dedicated, supportive, and insightful committee members, Victoria E. Johnson, Allison Perlman, and Jennifer Terry, for their continued generosity and engaged mentorship. They have made this writing a revelatory journey and enriched the project at every stage with incisive suggestions, questions, and revisions. Special thanks are due to Victoria E. Johnson for patiently helping to shape the dissertation’s focus and structure through innumerable meetings and drafts. Truly, I could not ask for a more uplifting academic team. This writing and research benefitted immeasurably from the contributions of faculty, colleagues, and friends at UCI. My two additional prospectus committee members, Braxton Soderman and Fatimah Tobing-Rony, worked with me extensively during seminars and the prospectus process to hone the dissertation’s key arguments and interventions. I also want to thank my incredible graduate cohort, Finley Freibert, Tavleen Kaur, Matt Knutson, and Louise Sider for their kindness and camaraderie throughout my tenure as a Ph.D. student. Finley, in particular, regularly workshopped chapters with me and directed my attention to sources that I otherwise would not have considered. Additional appreciation goes to all of the archivists, librarians, and staff who lent their time and expertise to this research, including Mazie Bowen at the University of Georgia, Ned Comstock at USC, J.C. Johnson at Boston University, and Michael C. Oliveira at the ONE. Lastly, my everlasting gratitude to my parents, Jill Robbins and Frank Kruger- Robbins, for their unwavering love and encouragement. And, of course, to my source of strength and inspiration, Nathan Guillory – you mean the world to me. iv CURRICULUM VITAE EDUCATION Ph.D. Visual Studies with Graduate Feminist Emphasis, University of California, Irvine, 2019 Dissertation: Queering and Qualifying the Wasteland: Network Television, Awards Discourse, and Gay Legitimation in Primetime from 1971-1995 Committee: Victoria E. Johnson (Chair), Allison Perlman, Jennifer Terry M.A. Radio-Television-Film with Portfolio in Women’s and Gender Studies, University of Texas at Austin, 2014 Thesis: Something’s Happening on ABC: Queerly Reevaluating Twin Peaks and My So-Called Life Committee: Mary Beltrán (Supervisor), Mary Celeste Kearney (Second Reader) B.S. Radio-Television-Film with Highest Honors, University of Texas at Austin, 2011 ACADEMIC PUBLICATIONS Chapters in Edited Anthologies • “The Owls are Not What They Seem: Retaking Queer Meaning in Twin Peaks.” The Politics of Twin Peaks. Eds. Amanda DiPaolo and Jamie Gillies. Lanham, MD: Lexington, 2019. 117-141. Electronic Publications • “Straight Men Can’t Camp: The Politics of ‘Too Gay’ in Behind the Candelabra.” Flow, 18.03 (2013). Web. http://flowtv.org/2013/07/behind-the-candelabra/ Book Reviews • Review of The New Gay for Pay: The Sexual Politics of American Television Production by Julia Himberg. Sexualities (forthcoming, 2019). INVITED TALKS • “Queering and Qualifying the Television Wasteland: Thoughts on Archival Practice,” University of Wyoming, 2018 • “Teen Soaps in Primetime: 1990s Network Branding and Youth Programming,” California State University, Northridge, Dr. Frances Gateward, 2016 v ACADEMIC AWARDS AND GRANTS • American Heritage Center Research Grant, University of Wyoming, 2018 • Humanities Commons Research Grant, School of the Humanities, UCI, 2018 • Society for Cinema and Media Studies, Media Industries Scholarly Interest Group Conference Travel Grant, 2018 • Film and Media Studies Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award, School of the Humanities, UCI, 2017 • Gerard Endowed Award in Visual Studies, School of the Humanities, UCI, 2015 • School of the Humanities Graduate Student Research & Travel Award, UCI, 2015 • University of Texas Distinguished Scholar, 2011 SELECTED CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS • Society for Cinema and Media Studies, Seattle, WA, 2019 – “Healing through Quality TV: AIDS Public Pedagogy, Awards Discourse, and NBC’s 1980s Rebranding” • Society for Cinema and Media Studies, Toronto, Canada, 2018 – “What Would You Do If I Sang Out of Tune?: Queer Sonics of Winnie Holzman’s ABC Shows” • Console-ing Passions, Greenville, NC, 2017 – “Gutsy Attitude: ABC’s Gendered Marketing of Prestige Television” • Society for Cinema and Media Studies, Chicago, IL, 2017 – ‘Holy Fruit Salad, Batman!’: Unmasking Queer Conceits of ABC’s Late-1960s Branding” • Console-ing Passions, South Bend, IN, 2016 – “Bursting Free: The Sexual Biopolitics of The Boy in the Plastic Bubble” • Society for Cinema and Media Studies, Atlanta, GA, 2016 – “I Don’t Want to be a Brady: Queerly Selling The Fosters on ABC Family/Freeform” • Console-ing Passions, Dublin, Ireland, 2015 – “Singing in the Closet: Queer Erasure and Emergence on American Idol” • Film and History Conference, Madison, WI, 2015 – “Running Amok in Familyland: Seth MacFarlane’s Problematic Queerness” • Console-ing Passions, Columbia, MO, 2014 – “ABC’s Queer Failures: Reconsidering Twin Peaks and My So-Called Life Through Press and Fandom” • Society for Cinema and Media Studies, Seattle, WA, 2014 – “ABC’s Queer Failures: Twin Peaks and My So-Called Life” • Queer Affect/Queer Archives Symposium, Austin, TX, 2013 – “Archiving Porn and Murder in Paul Schrader’s Auto Focus” • Women’s and Gender Studies Conference, Austin, TX, 2013 – “Film ‘Censorship’ and the Politics of Disease in Todd Haynes’ Horror Trilogy” • Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association National Conference, Washington D.C., 2013 – “The Owls are Not What They Seem: Reevaluating Authorship, Identity, and Politics in Twin Peaks” vi TEACHING EXPERIENCE University of California, Irvine Instructor • Writing 39B: Critical Reading and Rhetoric on Disney Dystopias, 2019 • Writing 39B: Critical Reading and Rhetoric on Disney Dystopias, 2018 • Film and Media Studies 85B: Broadcast Media History and Analysis, 2018 • Film and Media Studies 85B: Broadcast Media History and Analysis, 2017 Teaching Assistant • Medical Humanities 3: Art and Medicine, Dr. Lyle Massey, 2018 • Film and Media Studies 85A: Introduction to Film and Visual Analysis, Dr. Catherine Liu, 2018 • Film and Media Studies 85A: Introduction to Film and Visual Analysis, Dr. Glen Mimura, 2017 • Film and Media Studies 85C: New Media and Digital Technologies, Dr. Braxton Soderman, 2017 • Film and Media Studies 85B: Broadcast Media History and Analysis, Dr. Allison Perlman, 2017 • Film and Media Studies 85A: Introduction to Film and Visual Analysis, Dr. Felicidad “Bliss” Cua Lim, 2016 • Film and Media Studies 85A: Introduction to Film and Visual Analysis, Dr. Racquel Gonzales, 2016 • Film and Media Studies 101B: History of Film-The Sound Era I, Dr. Lucas Hilderbrand, 2016 • Film and Media Studies 101A: History of Film-The Silent Era, Dr. Aglaya Glebova, 2016 • Film and Media Studies 101C: History of Film-The Sound Era II, Dr. Catherine Benamou, 2015 Guest Lecturer • “Alternative Narrative and Mulholland Drive,” 2018, Dr. Catherine Liu • “Postwar Westerns: Recovering and Mythologizing the American Frontier,” 2016,