We're excited to announce that "So Long, Dental Plan" Unions, Labor Relations and Class Struggle…As Seen On TV is scheduled to be published in April 2027 by SUNY Press. Pre-orders will begin around X-Mass time.
Unions, Labor Relations and Class Struggle…As Seen On TV
@solongdentalplan.com
Coming April 2027 from SUNY Press. Multi-disciplinary collection exploring how labor unions, union organizing, and strikes and job actions have been portrayed in mainstream, scripted episodic television shows. https://solongdentalplan.com/
"The Boss Needs You..." prints are restocked in all sizes! I have t-shirts, tank tops, and stickers too. willburrows.art/shop Also - I have an 18"x24" copy with a 1/4" tear at the top edge that I'll sell for 25% off. The tear would be completely concealed if you plan to frame it.
Will Burrows 🖖🥖🥀@reforest-kelley.bsky.social · 9mo agoAlso just added: giclée prints of my Star Trek V "Attack and Dethrone God" art (16x20, 11x14, 8x10, 5x7) AND my "The Boss Needs You..." poster is now available in four different sizes (18x24, 15x20, 12x16, 9x12). willburrows.art/shop
Anecdotally, we found that the era of Peak TV (RIP) opened more opportunities for TV creatives to work in plots about unions vs. bosses.
Nina Metz@ninametz.bsky.social · last wk.Knew the numbers were down, didn’t realize by how much It does seem notable (if obvious!) that the output on broadcast TV has remained pretty stable. That’s a function of a finite number of primetime hours and days of the week, but stability is stability!
Me, having just turned in @solongdentalplan.com to @sunypress.bsky.social.
Kermit The Frog Anxious
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Rebecca Colesworthy@rcolesworthy.bsky.social · last mo.you're all going to hate me for saying this but good edited volumes don't just bring different people to say different things but have an argument *ducks*
Advertise your Bluesky account with a Simpsons image
Magistra Cohen (she/her)@magistracohen.bsky.social · 2mo agoAdvertise your Bluesky account with a Simpsons image
Oddly, the little TV book (which will have multiple indexed references to the Mafia, mob, organized crime, etc.) will have TWO indexed references to "Godfather Part II" (but none for the original "Godfather").
This little book about TV shows somehow will have two index entries for Gary Hart. (None mention Monkey Business.)
One author notes that Larry Summers "still rants about collectivist economics on social media and unquestionably wherever he appears in his well-paid private talks." Amended to note that our boy doesn't get out much anymore.
One author referred to an elementary school picture book on Cesar Chavez as a formative influence. Changed to "Delano grape boycott."
I'm doing post-peer review edits on @solongdentalplan.com. Two edits to reflect the passing of a year; one fun, one grim. 1/3
I also told him I thought his book would make a good TV show. This was on my mind b/c Shaun and I met working on So Long Dental Plan (@solongdentalplan.com), the upcoming book he edited about stories about unions in scripted TV. Keep an eye out for it, nerds of labor and TV! 3/3
We talked about the Trump administration's use of deportation to chill its perceived ideological enemies, and how that would sound familiar to Michael J. Obermeier, the union president who was arrested, convicted of lying about his Communist party membership, and deported during the Cold War. 2/3
It was great to interview @shaunrichman.org about We Always Had a Union, his page-turner history of the New York hotel workers' union! 1/3
Shaun Richman@shaunrichman.org · 4mo agoI was interviewed in Jacobin (by @jennyhunter.bsky.social) about "We Always Had a Union." jacobin.com/2026/04/comm...
I can’t wait to read the other contributions! Who doesn’t like tv and labor?
Unions, Labor Relations and Class Struggle…As Seen On TV@solongdentalplan.com · 6mo agoWe got back our first peer reviews of the "SLDP" manuscript. Utterly delighted how much the readers enjoyed it. More to come!
We got back our first peer reviews of the "SLDP" manuscript. Utterly delighted how much the readers enjoyed it. More to come!
Up first is the Arts & Media essay "The Cost of Compliance" by @rachaelvm454.bsky.social which analyzes Apple TV+’s Severance as a critique of how corporate culture strip workers of autonomy and identity while masking exploitation behind the language of purpose and growth. doi.org/10.1215/1547...
I've wanted to do this @draftingthepast.bsky.social segment for a really long time. I approached "We Always Had a Union" as a journalist, trying to solve a murder mystery and, yes, find the FBI's rats while telling the hotelworkers' story. draftingthepast.com/podcast-epis...
Episode 84: Shaun Richman Wants to Know Who the Rats Were
Kate Carpenter interviews labor historian and former union organizer Shaun Richman about his new book We Always Had a Union.
draftingthepast.com
...tell us more
a baby is saying " interesting tell me more " while looking at the camera
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Kevin Reuning@reuning.bsky.social · 8mo agoAbsolutely loving this union episode (even if they said that walkouts were a union right)
50% *off* titles. It would help if I got the most important part right. Here, I'll make up for it with some other cool titles / covers -- all browsable here here here: sunypress.edu/Subjects
icymi @sunypress.bsky.social is having a holiday sale!! 50% titles pub'd from 2020-2026 with code SHDAYS25 through Dec 31. that includes preorders! here's but the smallest smattering of all on offer sunypress.edu/Subjects
Good news, everybody! The completed manuscript for "So Long Dental Plan" has been submitted to the editors at @sunypress.bsky.social. Here are our chapter titles and authors.
I'm working on a book called @solongdentalplan.com. solongdentalplan.com
a group of cartoon characters are standing in a line with homer simpson saying " dental plan lisa needs braces "
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Were SpongeBob & Squidward in a union for their strike? It is your first amendment right to strike or protest against your oppressors. I hope you grow up and realize you have a boot in your mouth.
how the fuck were we watching SpongeBob as kids and not more union minded as a nation?
love this from @jennyhunter.bsky.social! excited to both be contributing to @solongdentalplan.com, a forthcoming book about depictions of unions and class struggle on television! (I had the pleasure of peer reviewing Jenny’s chapter and y’all are in for a treat!)
Sarah Lazare@sarahlazare.bsky.social · 11mo ago"Union representations in popular culture are sparse, mostly very old, and often negative." Yes, very true, especially in Hollywood.
Hey, are you a freelance writer with a fairly comprehensive knowledge of #SouthPark (including the more recent seasons)? I'm searching for someone atm, so if that describes you, please email me at lizmiller at consequence dot net with three links to samples and a little info about yourself. Thanks!
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Alt: a sign that says collect underpants phase 1 phase 2 phase 3 and collect underpants profit
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Did not know there was a strike episode of the "Mary Tyler Moore Show!" Disappointing that nobody proposed a chapter on it. Maybe next book?
Oof. My youth mourns the loss of Hulk Hogan. He’s on the Mt. Rushmore of 1980s pop culture iconography (in between Mr. T and Pee Wee Herman). Unlike Pee Wee, whose memory is pure joy, Terry Bollea was obviously more complicated. @solongdentalplan.com will have a chapter in wrestling.