The Television Project: Some of My Best Friends
As the second installment in The Television Project series, Some of My Best Friends examines anti-Semitism through the lens of television and pop culture. Culled from the over 4,000 holdings of the Jewish Museum’s National Jewish Archive of Broadcasting, the exhibition features clips from programs spanning the last 60 years, works of art, and ephemera and reveals anti-Semitism as a persistent issue in American society of the past and present.
The Television Project: Some of My Best Friends considers prejudicial depictions of Jewish identity across a range of historic and contemporary television media — from the satire and humor of situation comedy, to the gravity of dramas that dissect the origins, motivations, and consequences of anti-Semitism. The curatorial investigation highlights how television and pop culture have explored the subject of anti-Semitism with considerable artistry and sophistication.
“Television has served as a powerful artistic venue for exploring prejudice in its myriad forms,” observes curator Maurice Berger. “The medium’s handling of anti-Semitism been surprisingly broad and diverse. While television’s interest in the subject swelled in the decades following World War II and the Holocaust, the medium continues to tackle the question of prejudice against Jews.”
At the centerpiece of The Television Project: Some of My Best Friends is a compilation video comprised of television clips from programs such as All in the Family, Downton Abbey, Gunsmoke, LA Law, Little House on the Prairie, Mad Men, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and Skokie. The exhibition also includes objects or works of art that reject or are infused with the history of anti-Semitism in the United States.
About the Curator
Maurice Berger is Research Professor and Chief Curator at the Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and Curator of the National Jewish Archive of Broadcasting at the Jewish Museum in New York.
About The Television Project: Highlights from the National Jewish Archive of Broadcasting
Premiering September 25, 2015, The Television Project introduces Jewish Museum visitors to a dynamic part of its collection: the National Jewish Archive of Broadcasting (NJAB), the largest and most comprehensive body of broadcast materials on 20th century Jewish culture in the United States.
The Television Project is series of exhibitions featuring a video compilation of clips from the NJAB, examining issues of Jewish identity and culture as depicted on American television. Segments of this series investigate themes ranging from anti-Semitism, to Jewish advertising, to representations of racial and cultural diversity, all through the lens of American television.
With more than 4,000 holdings, the National Jewish Archive of Broadcasting at the Jewish Museum was established in 1981 to collect, preserve, and exhibit television and radio programs related to the Jewish experience. The programs in the NJAB constitute an important record of how Jews have been portrayed and portray themselves from the 1930s to the present, and how mass media has addressed issues of diversity, ethnicity, and religion.
The Television Project is made possible by The Knapp Family Foundation, the Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation, and the Alfred J. Grunebaum Memorial Fund.
All in the Family (CBS) TV Series, 1971-1979. Clockwise from left: Rob Reiner, Sally Struthers, Carroll O’Connor and Jean Stapleton. © CBS, image provided by Photofest. 1971-1979 Shown clockwise, from left: Rob Reiner, Sally Struthers, Carroll O'Connor, Jean Stapleton
Exhibition highlights
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Superman’s Code for Buddies, 1950. Print advertisement. Collection National Jewish Archive of Broadcasting / The Jewish Museum, New York. On view as part of The Television Project: Some Of My Best Friends.