Comic Visions of the City: New York and the Television Sitcom Available to Purchase

The following, with a bit of editing, is a talk I gave at the American Studies Association convention in a session entitled “New York Naked: The City and Commercial Culture.” My subject, the portrayal of New York City on television sitcoms, intersects with two other important themes in the history of the medium: the rise and decline of ethnic humor and television depictions of gender.