ABSTRACT
Each chapter thus far has focused on singular genres. Although the genre practices examined have rarely been "pure" - genre mixing has played a role in each history, such as the incorporation of sitcoms into cartoons with The Flintstones and the blending of crime film and documentary for Dragnet-each chapter has been centered around one specific genre. This might suggest an erroneous (yet commonplace) assumption-generic practices are dependent on distinct, singular generic categories. But genre analysis must be able to account for the common practice of mixing genres, or what is commonly termed "hybridity," to be broadly applicable to how genres operate in television today. This chapter explores issues of generic mixing more directly, especially in the context of postmodernist theory, which often hails the blurring of genres as a paradigmatic element. My approach to mixed genres is more grounded in historical instances than postmodern theory, looking at the particular practices by which genres are culturally blended and the subsequent repercussions for genre scholars, especially concerning cultural politics. To provide a detailed account of mixing genres, I focus on one mode of generic combination-parody-through two specific historical moments of television genre blending tied to the situation comedy: Soap in the late 1970s and The Simpsons in the early 1990s.
