TV Family Poster/DVD Cover Design

TV Family in MEF Catalog

I just got the new catalog in my office mailbox from the Media Education Foundation. It includes TV Family!

TV Family available for streaming for classrooms (and DVDs soon)

I'm excited that TV Family is now available in a 56-minute educational version for classroom use. It is being distributed by the Media Education Foundation. I'm continuing to work on home distribution, and expect to be able to announce TV distribution soon.

Here's the link to their page: TV Family via Media Education Foundation

And here's the quotes from reviewers:

"Fascinating. If you're an educator looking at the rise of unscripted programming, representations of the family in mass media, or how myths of the American Dream have always been caught up with dominant ideas about gender, class, and race, this is the film for you and your classes!"
- Michael Morgan | Professor of Communication at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst

"Emotionally moving and insightful, this film exposes television's ideological whitewashing of representations of family and domestic life."
- William Yousman | Director of the Media Literacy and Digital Culture Graduate Program at Sacred Heart University

TV Family Trailer

TV Family Trailer: August 18, 2015 from Ethan Thompson on Vimeo.

Sneak Peak: TV Family Animated Sequences

I'm really excited to share a sneak peak at two of the animated sequences in TV Family. These sequences introduce the different thematic segments of the documentary, and there are five of them. They were made by Phillip Niemeyer at Northern-Southern, who (lucky for me) is also a big fan of the graphic design work and art done in the 50s and 60s by William Golden and Ben Shahn. Original music in both is by Carlos Cooper.

The first is "The Family Sought," which investigates how NBC selected the Robertsons as the subject of Story of a Family, and how the program fit in postwar discourse on the family and TV.
The second is "The Real Story," in which the Robertsons discuss how the special distorted and omitted aspects of their lives.

Article in Corpus Christi Paper on TV Family

The Corpus Christi Caller-Times published an article on TV Family and Story of a Family today. The reporter (Erica Quiroz) interviewed me and Carrie Robertson Meyer.

Article in Port Aransas South Jetty

An article about TV Family was published in today's edition of the South Jetty, the newspaper in my hometown of Port Aransas, TX. Unfortunately, it's behind a pay wall for now. Hey, small town newspapers need to get paid!

Here's a photo of the article.