Television primetime genre shows – sitcoms, dramas, and reality programming – have traditionally given their viewers a sense of community by creating a shared viewing experience. This community depended on every fan watching at a scheduled time, missing their show at the risk of a plot spoiler or exclusion from the next day’s conversation. Now, the trend of television shows being posted to dedicated websites is making them available to watch online at any time. Presenting a challenge to the traditional real-time viewing format, this trend has led some early adopters of the online format to predict the end of television (Lotz, 2009) existing independently of a computer screen. If that prediction is true, it would mean a significant shift in the way many individuals receive entertainment, and the way even a casual fan interacts with others in their community. I argue that instead of eradicating television, making television shows available online will strengthen viewer loyalty. By allowing a potential fan to catch up with a show’s past seasons while continuing the community routine of primetime television, this blend of technology creates a symbiotic relationship between traditional and online viewing.
The urge to visualize future television sets as large computer screens, with shows posted directly to a website for consumption at any time (Katz, 2009), is exciting. In fact, a study by the Pew Research Center shows that in 2009, 8% of Americans connected their computer to their television so they could watch online shows on a television screen (Purcell, 2010). But imagining a purely computer-driven viewing platform does not take into account the bonding experience that Americans have created around watching certain television shows...
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...he end of television as a medium. Instead, it presents an opportunity for the shows to reach new and more deeply involved viewer groups. The new online fan base, drawn to television shows because of the communities that form around story lines, may force television to evolve even further, creating a new blend of technology that encompasses online and traditional viewing.
Works Cited
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Lotz, A. (2009). What is U.S. television now? The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 625(01), 49-59.
Purcell, K. (2010). The state of online video. Washington, DC: Pew Internet & American Life Project.
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Many of the technological advancements in entertainment helped people live a much happier and exciting life. The television was wanted by almost every average American family in this decade and overwhelmed millions of baby-boomer children who’s relationship with TV has influenced the United States’ culture and politics. Television
Neil Postman is deeply worried about what technology can do to a culture or, more importantly, what technology can undo in a culture. In the case of television, Postman believes that, by happily surrendering ourselves to it, Americans are losing the ability to conduct and participate in meaningful, rational public discourse and public affairs. Or, to put it another way, TV is undoing public discourse and, as the title of his book Amusing Ourselves to Death suggests, we are willing accomplices.
Tuchman, Gaye. The TV Establishment: Programming for Power and Profit. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, Inc., l971.
...d that television holds on us, Postman give two ideas. The first idea that he gives, he describes it as ridiculous to create programming that demonstrates how “television should be viewed by the people” (161).
One of the mediums by which this cultural shift has continually happened is through television. Not only does culture affect choices made by those in the television industry, but popular series and talk shows, whether intentionally or not, name what culturally acceptable regarding many social issues. Television, TV for short, is referring to the telecommunication medium by which ideas are transmitted into moving pictures. The Television industry will be defined as the group of brains behind the creating process of a television show of any genre. Genres each have their own purpose and effect on the audience; talk shows mean to engage, while sitcoms, drams, mini-series, and television comedies are meant to entertain. Regardless of its intentions, each genre of TV has an affect on the people who internalize what they are watching.
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Postman has valid points when he claims that television and media are destroying the American society. Postman is right to assume that television is manipulating the way Americans think. However, television can provide Americans with both right and wrong morals. Since this book was written in 1985, Postman could not have predicted the influence technology has on the current American population. The theory he applies to television is similar to the theory he probably would have used on modern day media. The dependency we have on media reiterates Postman’s thesis that Americans are losing critical thinking skills and basic human values.
Presently 98% of the households in the United States have one or more televisions in them. What once was regarded as a luxury item has become a staple appliance of the American household. Gone are the days of the three channel black and white programming of the early years; that has been replaced by digital flat screen televisions connected to satellite programming capable of receiving thousands of channels from around the world. Although televisions and television programming today differ from those of the telescreens in Orwell’s 1984, we are beginning to realize that the effects of television viewing may be the same as those of the telescreens.
Television has come a long way since it was first introduced. Originally, it was thought that the masses that watch television enjoyed the more simple shows that would tell you exactly what was going on from start to finish. In Steven Johnson’s article, “Watching TV Makes You Smarter”, Johnson argues that this is actually not the case. In fact, Johnson argues that much more people enjoy shows that involve multi threading, or multiple plots that are all connected.
People have been participating in it for decades and it still has yet to solely create any extreme negative consequences. Binge watching allows people to escape from their world and transport themselves into another. It relieves us of stress, and provides us with aspirations, inspiration, and instant gratification. The practice offers insight into the importance of television as means of communication, and the development of enhanced social connections. Binge viewing can also connect communities, generations, and society as a whole; it doesn’t cause the fragmentation of cultural unification, as some believe. Rather, binge watching unites us all in this newly digitized world and it should be seen as a culturally progressive tool; a tool, which we can use to continue to shape the future of our cultural identity in this space and time today. “Now to just move away from the negative connotations of 'binge ' - maybe 'celebration watching ' would be better” (Giuffre
The internet has become the television industry’s prime competitor. Reality TV has been a staple in American homes since as early as 1948. Current reality shows are edited and usually scripted to add to the dramatics of the show. The internet has opened more media outlets such as YouTube which has become a place for people to create uncut, real-life, video footage. Television has never been raw video straight from the camera which leads to setbacks with viewers for that reason alone. This study will discuss if YouTube has a greater impact on viewers than reality TV cast members.
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