Magic Windows and the Serious Life: Rituals and Community in Early American Local Television

This historical study addresses the social impact of early local television by examining the ritual aspects of its now-extinct entertainment programming genres. The study assimilates several theories of ritual and collective memory to explain how this programming shaped the daily lives of television viewers in postwar America. It examines both the nature and form of this programming and how viewers remember it, largely via Internet-based tribute venues. This perspective helps better explain how such programming created a sense of community among technologically determined viewing audiences, and why it continues to structure the collective and individual memories of former viewers.