What We’re Watching: Sitcoms and Civics

Greetings from The Paley Center for Media’s Education Department!

Welcome to the latest installment of “What We’re Watching.” Twice a month the education department reaches out to the community with tips and ideas for consuming media with kids by highlighting different themes that connect to two selected programs, one for younger viewers and one for older viewers, each with related activities and resources.

Watching media alongside your kids is a perfect jumping-off point to making media literacy a part of your everyday lives. Familiarizing yourself with the basics is a great first step. You can view our first newsletter about media literacy best practices archived here. We also recommend the National Association for Media Literacy Education’s Parents Guide—it’s a terrific introduction!

‌What We're Watching: Sitcoms and Civics

Our American government is often depicted as an institution that serves best by staying out of our affairs. Interactions between people and government can be framed as meddling, inconvenient or inconsequential. We pay too many taxes for subpar public services, we sit on juries that disrupt family and work routines, we elect representatives more focused on winning elections than the needs of their constituents. Is it any wonder that civic engagement is low; adults avoid it, and children barely understand how government impacts their lives. But must it be this way? Might participation in civic responsibilities increase if we feel the impact of our collective action? Could knowledge of our civil rights encourage our ability to act and instill confidence in our democracy because we know what to do when we witness injustice. As teachers engage students in the critically important subject of civics education, we share two situation comedies that use satire to illustrate core principles of what it means to be an American.

This Week's Recommendations for Younger Viewers

The Simpsons: “Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish” (1990)
Recommended for Grades 4+
Available on Disney+

This classic animated show, the longest running American sitcom in history—memorialized with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and winner of numerous Emmy and Peabody awards—has also become an incidental teacher to millions of viewers to our American way of government. From electoral politics to our Constitutionally protected freedoms, The Simpsons has used farce, parody, slapstick, and other comedic styles to both mock and teach the inner workings of our complex and nebulous government. In this episode from the first season, Montgomery Burns, wealthy owner of the Springfield Power Plant, runs for governor to impact environmental regulation. After Bart Simpson catches a three-eyed fish and investigative reports blame the power plant, inspectors issue dire warnings to Burns to bring the plant up to code or it will be shut down. Homer Simpson encounters his distraught boss, Burns, crying in the parking lot. Homer offers words of inspiration, reminding the plutocratic power plant mogul that he is rich enough to run for governor and decide what is safe and what is not. What follows is a smart, acerbic and hilarious spoof of our American electoral system where photo-ops, catchy slogans, lectern promises, and other campaign events offer compelling performance with little information on the record, platform, or legislative experience of the candidates. At times the show cuts too close to home. Eerily close. As voters, or soon-to-be voters, we must stay vigilant and aware that democracy is a practice and a process, not a product. Stay engaged, participate, and make sure you know what’s on your dinner plate.

Viewing Questions

What are some of the ways that the nuclear power plant is affecting Springfield?
Why is Montgomery Burns, the owner of the nuclear power plant, sad? And what does Homer say to make him feel better?
What does Burns do to save his nuclear power plant?
Who are some of the people Burns hires to be on his political campaign staff? Based on their “names,” what do you think their job duties are?
What does Burns do during the campaign to win votes? What does his opponent, the incumbent Mary Bailey and Marge Simpson, who is campaigning for Bailey, do to win votes?
What happens at the staged dinner where Burns comes to the Simpsons’ home as part of a media event?
Although this cartoon is satirical, what parts of it do you think realistically depict how our American electoral system operates?

Additional Resources

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This Week's Recommendations for Older Viewers

All in the Family: “Edith has Jury Duty” (1971)
Recommended for Grades 7+
Available for Free on Tubi

Before The Simpsons shook up the prime-time viewing experience in the late 1980s, the Bunkers had blazed a trail in the early 1970s that lit up television with a scorching realism, audacity, and candor that transformed television forever after. Seizing on topics involving deep social tensions, racism, homophobia, sexism, abortion, and the Vietnam War, All in the Family was a powerful space where these tensions could be deliberated within the protected comfort of comedy. In this episode from the first season, Edith, the simple yet knowing wife of Archie, has been selected to be on the jury for a highly publicized murder case. Excited and honored to carry out this critically important civic duty, Edith disregards Archie’s distress over his wife being sequestered and therefore unable to cook his meals every day. Although she takes her vows of marriage seriously, she also recognizes the importance of a trial by a jury of one’s peers. In a comedic spin that echoes classic courtroom dramas like 12 Angry Men, Edith is the lone holdout in a capital crime case. Her belief in the rule of law, that we must find defendants guilty “beyond a reasonable doubt” are initially ridiculed but then redeemed in a telling narrative that mirrors our absurdist reality.

Viewing Questions

How does Edith feel about being selected to serve on a jury?
How does her daughter Gloria and son-in-law Mike feel about their mother serving on a jury?
How does Archie feel about Edith, his wife, serving on a jury?
When the family discusses capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, how does each member feel about it? Do any of their reasons for or against capital punishment make sense to you? Why or why not?
Edith’s fellow juror and hotel roommate believes the defendant, a Puerto Rican man, is guilty because eyewitnesses, other Puerto Ricans in the neighborhood say they saw him. However, after Edith comments on how earnest his pleads of innocence are and the juror responds you cannot trust him because they are all “born liars,” Edith asks if they’re all born liars, how can you believe the neighbors? What is the explanation that an entire group can be liars, but these select witnesses are credible? Does it make sense? Why or why not?
What are other words to explain the meaning of guilty “beyond a reasonable doubt?”
What might be some creative ways to prepare students for serving on a jury when they are eligible?

Additional Resources

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