ABSTRACT
Television was at the center of the American entertainment industry in the 1970s and 1980s. People often planned their evenings and weekends around the schedules of their favorite TV programs. Viewers could often see aspects of their own working lives on their TV screens when they watched shows produced by people like Norman Lear. Gender, race, and class were at the center of narratives in many leading programs. The types of workers portrayed by producers changed from the 1970s to the 1980s, but work and labor remained constant when Americans turned on their TVs and picked up their remotes.
