MASS 121 - ”Color” TV: A Seminar on Representation

Semester Hours: 3

“Color TV” is a seminar on the new wave of US television shows featuring writers and creators of color - women, men, LGBTQ+ - identifying - who have broken barriers of tokenized representations and become central to the creative process.  In addition to offering a study of complex storylines arising from this shift, students will also explore how show creators contend with strategies of “accommodation” and “mainstreaming” within the economics of commercial television work. Finally, we will examine how subscription-based global streaming networks such as Netflix and Amazon Prime allow access to narratives from diverse creators, countries, and languages.  While the focus of our study is television programs written and produced in the US, we are interested in the interaction between these convergent streams of television storytelling.

Prerequisite(s)/Course Notes:
MASS 001  or permission of instructor.

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Fall 2025

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Spring 2026