Those were the days? Dimensions of nostalgia in media coverage of the Norman Lear reboots

Abstract

ABSTRACT A narrative analysis was performed on a group of print and online news stories, along with accompanying pictures and videos, from the lead-up to and reviews of the reboots of Norman Lear’s revered series All in the Family, The Jeffersons, and Good Times. Coverage of the reboots furnished a compelling opportunity for media critics, reporters, and the audience to engage in nostalgia for the significance of Lear’s work. The narrative that emerges from coverage of the specials asks the reader to believe that the only character not experiencing nostalgia for Norman Lear’s shows is Norman Lear. The impact of his shows has been reduced to a list of social issues and resigned acknowledgment that those issues persist. The critics’ experience of nostalgia became a central narrative theme. Their narrative toggles between insight and fetishism as viewers are directed to go off on their own nostalgic journey. Where the audience might have been provoked or made more aware by Lear’s shows, the narrative instructs us to watch them now to be comforted as the nation is tested.