Chapter 9: TV

So, over the past week of television viewing, I've noticed quite a few things. The first being that I'm a sports fanatic. Every day after lunch, I come home and watch OTL on ESPN. EVERY DAY. Why? Because they keep me up to date on sports news like how Plaxico Burress is probably never going to play football again or what the NFL playoffs are going to look like. So after a good nap that I'm usually in desperate need of, I check what's on TBS and normally, Everybody Loves Raymond or The King of Queens is on. I love these two sitcoms. I normally have work after this so the only night I actually watch ANYTHING on primetime is Thursday night. And I love my Thursday nights! The Office and 30 Rock are always on Thursday nights in our apartment. We even have a few friends over most Thursday nights and order pizza. Sunday nights usually have good movies on TBS or TNT or even CBS so sometimes I'll catch a movie Sunday night.

From this account, I've learned that the larger scale of television is for entertainment. Television is normally an escape for people. That's why news on the big stations like ABC and CBS comprise maybe 3 hours of each day. Of course there is CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News, but they're viewing audience is more specialized than with most stations that try to hit a larger scope. So this is the fulfillment of need, to entertain and make us laugh. Without humorous programming, TV would be pretty bleak and unentertaining.

I think that as of late, television stations have started to imply less stress on appealing to the LCD. Television stations are more interested in getting ratings so they will intentionally push to envelope. Take a look at South Park, one of the most offensive shows on TV. However, it still gets high ratings each week. They know that if they try hard enough to get a laugh out of each and every member of their audience, they will offend someone, but they'll get numbers for it. Take a look The Office too. Most people don't think of the office as an offensive program. But there are some jokes and quips that COULD offend some people. Racial jokes, stereotypes, etc., could offend someone. And The Office is one of the highest rated shows on TV right now. Again, they try to make everyone laugh and get great ratings for it.

I agree that television impacts society the most. When a child does something outlandish that makes it onto the news, the first thing that's blamed by the parents or news is television. They say that the kid observed this behavior on television so they absorbed this behavior. I'm not agreeing or disagreeing with the notion that every bit of offensive behavior kids do is from TV, but I will say that the acknowledgment that this is a possibility shows that television is incredibly influential on our society. People pick up catch phrases from tv, they want to look like someone on tv, they want to use a product that a character on tv does just because that character does. For example, Coke is used in practically every American Idol episode because Simon, Randy, and Paula always have a cup of it right next to them. So yes, television has had the largest impact on our society as far as the media goes.