White Mountain Puzzles (made in America)

The hot days of summer, combined with COVID lockdown, well, I’m analyzing everything! A fond memory of parenting is afternoons with A/C, assembling jigsaw puzzles with daughter Alison. We’d binge-watching CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.

About 10 years ago, we bought White Mountain’s TV History 1000 piece puzzle at a thrift store. I have learned a lot about representation in media from producing Advanced TV Herstory.

A Skewed Look at TV History

TV history depicted on the puzzle leaned hard on white and male. I emailed White Mountain Puzzle Company about its 2005 problematic design. Should they decide to reissue it, perhaps they could do better.

Actors of color represented about 10% of the images. Sadly, the percentages would have been higher if they had been a bit more selective in the series that featured white actors. In ranking TV History, even in 2005, Magnum P.I., Hawaii 5-0 and Columbo really don’t stand out. 

Since COVID isolation orders exhausted their supply, I encouraged them to use this time to redesign the theme and even offered to assist. And yes, I threw away a perfectly good puzzle because everyone deserves better. Stay tuned.

Reading & Watching

Having completed all the episodes of Mrs. America on FX/Hulu, I advise you to watch it in sync with someone. There’s a lot to digest, beyond feminist and political. You’ll see a 70s & 80s look at persuasion, marketing and approaches to women’s leadership. And there’s a lot to learn about icons Bella Abzug, Betty Friedan and Shirley Chisholm. As I completed the series, I pulled from my shelf Gloria Steinem’s 1983 Outrageous Acts & Everyday Rebellions. It’s a great companion piece, as is the PBS Great Performances telecast of Christine Lahti as Gloria Steinem in Gloria: A Life.

Not long after I watched Mrs. America, I interviewed April Smith, who served as a resource to the production team. Click here to listen: Mrs. America & TV’s Dimensional Storytelling