Nervous Laughter

?Hamamoto explores the vast wasteland of television and provides a provocative reading of the social and political significance of a neglected mediated text. Critically analyzing four decades of television situation comedies from The Honeymooners to The Bill Cosby Show, Hamamoto shows how the sitcom reflects, explains, legitimates, and challenges the society in which it is grounded, illumining the power of laughter both to reaffirm and to question existing social structures. Arguing for a more democratic use of the media, Hamamoto advocates a liberal democratic policy, even polemically titling a chapter on the sitcoms of the Reagan '80s as Neoconservative Death Valley Days.' What seems an overemphasis on relevant but forgettable series uike I Married Dora and Gung Ho and an underplaying of the popular All in the Family and Cheers detracts only slightly from this solid and fascinating work. Hamamoto offers a well-researched and refreshingly lucid study, immensely readable for its astute scholarship. Indispensable for students and scholars of television, popular culture, and comedy.?-Choice