David Marc teaches at the Annenberg School for Communication, University of Southern California and at the Department of Film and Television, UCLA. He is a frequent contributor to The Village Voice and is the author of Demographic Vistas, Revised Edition (1996), and Bonfire of the Humanities (1995).

"A new edition of David Marc's Comic Visions is grounds for rejoicing. His historical survey of TV comedy remains unrivalled, and new material on the cable era will be more than welcome." Francis Couvares, Amherst College."David Marc's Comic Visions is the outstanding book of its type: social and cultural analysis of the most popular and important comedic forms of television." Chad Gordon, Rice University. "Recommended for all academic and large public libraries; all levels." A. Hirsh, emeritus, Central Conneticut State University.

• Praise for the First Edition. Acknowledgments.Foreword by Ken Tucker.Preface to the Second Edition.1. What's So Funny About America?.2. Waking Up to Television.3. The Making of a Sitcom, 1961.4. Planet Earth to Sitcom, Planet Earth to Sitcom.5. The Sitcom at Literate Peak.6. Demographic Fantasies of the Reagan Era.7. Friends of the Family.Bibliography.Index to Television Comedy Series.General Index.