The Golden Girls, Designing Women, Living Single, Sex and the City, Girlfriends, Cashmere Mafia and Hot in Cleveland stand out as some of America's favorite television series. Their lovable ""female foursome"" characters engage in witty banter as they challenge American stereotypes about sex, love, family, work and community.

Theses sitcoms and comedy-dramas live on as cable TV re-runs and through online fan communities, demonstrating mass appeal across generations of women and men. Connecting fan commentary with analysis by television scholars, this collection of new essays explores the development of these series from the 1980s on, with a focus on the role of fan cultures in ""reproducing"" these popular American shows.