Final Research Project: Faith (and Faithlessness) in Contemporary Television

Often, much of what we know about a faith comes via the media. In fact, it is often a television series that gives us our first glimpse into a particular belief system. Those representations might vary from accurate and objective to stereotypical and biased, even offensive. Still, these depictions often help establish defining characteristics of a belief system. For your final project, you will examine the representation of faith (or lack of faith) in an American television series from the last 20 years. The goals are to illustrate the ways in which a specific belief system is portrayed and to analyze that portrayal's impact on the general perception of those beliefs.

In 12 slides, you must:

• Part 1: A clear thesis, arguing how this belief system (faith-based or non-faith-based) is portrayed in a specific television program
• Part 2: The media's historical representation of this particular belief system (e.g. Judaism, Mormonism)
• Part 3: This program's representation of that belief system via specific characters, plot lines, themes, etc.—focus on a minimum of three episodes 
• Part 4: Present a contrasting view of this belief system via a secondary television program (no more than two episodes) to compare and contrasted with your primary source
• Part 5: A conclusion that illustrates an understanding of this intersection of faith and media
• Part 6: Works Cited slide

The primary focus of your presentation should be on one of the following television shows; your secondary source may also come from this list:

1. 30 Rock (NBC)
2. The Americans (FX)
3. American Horror Story (FX)
4. The Americans (FX)
   
5. Battlestar Galactica (2004 remake; Syfy)
6. The Big Bang Theory (CBS)
7. Big Love (HBO)
8. Black-ish (ABC)
9. Blue Bloods (CBS) 
10. The Bold Type (Freeform)
11. Bones (FOX) 
12. The Borgias (Showtime) 
13. Broad City (Comedy Central) 
14. Brooklyn Nine-Nine (FOX, NBC)
15. Buffy the Vampire Slayer (The WB, UPN)
16. Caprica (Syfy)
    
17. Carnivale (HBO)
18. Catastrophe (Amazon)
19. Charmed (The WB, The CW) 
20. Curb Your Enthusiasm (HBO) 
21. Daredevil (Netflix)
22. Dexter (Showtime) 
23. Empire (FOX) 
24. The Exorcist (FOX)
25. Family Guy (FOX)
26. Game of Thrones (HBO)
27. Gilmore Girls (The WB, Netflix)
28. Glee (FOX)
29. The Good Place (NBC)
30. The Good Wife (CBS)
31. Grey's Anatomy (ABC) 
32. The Handmaid's Tale (Hulu)
33. House (FOX)
34. House of Cards (Netflix)
35. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (FX) 
36. Jane the Virgin (The CW)
37. Joan of Arcadia (CBS)
    
38. Justified (FX)
39. King of the Hill (FOX)
40. The Leftovers (HBO)
41. Living Biblically (CBS)
    
42. Lost (ABC)
43. Lucifer (FOX) 
44. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Amazon)
45. New Girl (FOX)
46. The O.C. (FOX) 
47. Orange is the New Black (Netflix)
48. Oz (HBO)
49. The Office (NBC)
50. The Path (Amazon) 
51. Parks and Recreation (NBC)
52. Preacher (AMC)
53. Rectify (SundanceTV)
54. Rome (HBO)
55. Seventh Heaven (The WB)
56. The Simpsons (FOX)
57. Sex and the City (HBO)
    
58. Six Feet Under (HBO)
59. The Sopranos (HBO)
60. South Park (Comedy Central)
61. Star Trek: Discovery (CBS All Access)
62. Star Wars: The Clone Wars (Cartoon Network)
63. Supernatural (The CW) 
64. Superstore (NBC)
65. Touched By An Angel (CBS)
    
66. True Blood (HBO) 
67. True Detective (HBO)
68. The Tudors (Showtime)
69. Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (Netflix)
70. The Walking Dead (AMC)
71. Will & Grace (NBC)
72. The X-Files (FOX)
73. The Young Pope (HBO) 

Project timeline:

Week 13: Thu 4.18- RESEARCH PROJECT OUTLINE (BRING 2 HARD COPIES)

Week 14: Thu 4.25- RESEARCH PROJECT (DRAFT 1—BRING ELECTRONIC VERSION)

Week 15: Thu 5.2- RESEARCH PROJECT (DRAFT 2—BRING ELECTRONIC VERSION)

Week 16: Thu 5.9- RESEARCH PROJECT (FINAL DRAFT—EMAIL BY 5 P.M.)