Scratchin' and Survivin': Hustle Economics and the Black Sitcoms of Tandem Productions is a production history and study of Black labor in the Black sitcoms of Tandem Productions; Sanford and Son (1972-1977), Good Times (1974-1979), and The Jeffersons (1975-1985). These sitcoms challenged subjective producer's control of 1970s television. Focusing on these Black sitcoms, Scratchin' and Survivin' engages the intersections of performance, production, politics, and reception to consider how this array of Black sitcoms intervened in both the history of television and in a rearticulation of Black identity in the early 1970s. With close attention to race, socioeconomics, gender, and politics, the sitcoms of Tandem had their own distinct style in depicting Black American life on screen. What is rarely discussed in the history Tandem is the Black artist's (actors, writers, assistants, etc.) and the "hustle economics" they engaged in while becoming television auteurs within a space that wasn't built for them. "Hustle economics" exists as a negotiation of Black labor in front of and behind the screen. Indeed, the production of these sitcoms called for various forms of creative agency and labor resilience that transformed the television industry, and Scratchin' and Survivin' brings attention to the Black artists who were a part of these transformative acts.
Scratchin' and Survivin': Hustle Economics and the Black Sitcoms of Tandem Productions is a production history and study of Black labor in the Black sitcoms of Tandem Productions; Sanford and Son (1972-1977), Good Times (1974-1979), and The Jeffersons (1975-1985). These sitcoms challenged subjective producer's control of 1970s television. Focusing on these Black sitcoms, Scratchin' and Survivin' engages the intersections of performance, production, politics, and reception to consider how this array of Black sitcoms intervened in both the history of television and in a rearticulation of Black identity in the early 1970s. With close attention to race, socioeconomics, gender, and politics, the sitcoms of Tandem had their own distinct style in depicting Black American life on screen. What is rarely discussed in the history Tandem is the Black artist's (actors, writers, assistants, etc.) and the "hustle economics" they engaged in while becoming television auteurs within a space that wasn't built for them. "Hustle economics" exists as a negotiation of Black labor in front of and behind the screen. Indeed, the production of these sitcoms called for various forms of creative agency and labor resilience that transformed the television industry, and Scratchin' and Survivin' brings attention to the Black artists who were a part of these transformative acts.
Introduction: The Hustle
1 Approaching Tandem Productions
2 Sanford and Son
3 Good Times
4 The Jeffersons
Conclusion: A Piece of the Pie
Acknowledgments
Notes
Bibliography
Index
ADRIEN SEBRO is an assistant professor of media studies
at the University of Texas at Austin. He specializes in critical
media studies at the intersections of comedy, gender, and Black
popular culture.
"Adrien Sebro's fascinating and instructive look at these series
will force industry stakeholders to see and pursue them anew."
*editor of Watching While Black: Centering the Television of Black
Audiences*
“This is what the next generation of scholarship on critical black
television and media studies look like—original, probing, curious,
courageous, confident. By taking on complex questions of Black
family life, social class, passing and Black difference, and the
role of Black women, Scratchin’ and Survivin’ reframes the radical
nature of the meanings, impacts, and struggles over representation
and production.”
*author of Cultural Moves: African Americans and the Politics of
Representation*
"In Scratchin’ and Survivin’, Adrien Sebro pays close
attention to and honors the often-invisible labor of Black
culture industries workers. Using the framework of 'hustle
economics,' Sebro uncovers a treasure trove of hidden and archival
transcripts that give voice to Black-cast sitcom stars like Redd
Foxx and Esther Rolle as more than talented actors, but Black
Americans working in Hollywood trying to get, as The
Jeffersons’ theme song says, their 'piece of the
pie'.”
*author of The Generic Closet: Black Gayness and the Black-Cast
Sitcom*
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