This volume examines the analysis that was designed to map the development of the television family and assess its current state and, at the same time, to provide insight into the tangled relationships between fictional and real family life. In order to do this, the investigation examines the evolution of the American family, paying special attention to the postwar family, which is not only used recurrently as a benchmark for assessing the performance of modern families but also constituted television's first generation of families. The investigation also traces the evolution of the popular...

This volume examines television families in the context of family theory and research, and situates TV family analysis in a conceptual framework reflecting the experience of family life. For students and scholars in media studies, family communication and family studies.