So when I think of the so called "Golden Age of Television" I tend to think of the old school show M*A*S*H. It was hilariously witty, had heartfelt moments, and always seemed to have a subtle message at the end of every episode. Today you hear a lot of older generations say "Television isn't what it used to be", or "tv today is a bunch of nonsense". I hear it now from my generation with comments like "Disney Channel movies and shows suck compared to what we had", or "I miss the old Nickelodeon". To them I give a splendid FU.
Now while it is true that there are times when television could expand beyond its superficial topics you have to remember the original purpose of it, and that is to give a form of entertainment for someone who is probably just coming home from a long day of work and could care less for having even more complexities thrown at them. I also want to thank the television industry for picking up the slack in this sector actually. While the mainstream shows may be pretty stupid, you can go out and find the shows of "a woman struggling in the workplace", the bad part is that they are not mainstream and you have to dig for them. This however should not be blamed on the industry and rather on society. Why? Because we demand it.
Let's face it, the majority of television viewers is not a college student looking for a more intellectual for of entertainment. Mainstream often has to make itself palatable to the masses in order to survive in a capitalist society. But with the rise of television came the opportunity for the creation of more specialized shows and even networks to feed the hunger of an audience looking for something more than just the average soap opera. So if you think that your show "deserves more attention because it touches a serious topic", or "it goes beyond the normal TV bullshit" then welcome to our society. I feel the same way about Surviving the Cut, Inside Combat Rescue, or even the original British version of The Inbetweeners. So if people want to have better quality and more meaningful entertainment the society as a whole has to demand under our system. Until then, you're going to have to dig for your shows and then share among friends in hopes that they will see the meaning too.
But let me just say that even I don't mind a little of this to take my mind of things:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4lWGGx6g1E
It's definitely shocking to compare the TV hits of the past couple years to what was on the air in the 70s and 80s. Clearly there has been a huge drop in moral standards from "Cheers" to "The Jersey Shore." No doubt this has in some way been driven by the cable networks. Surely there is a correlation between shocked audiences and the number of viewers tuning in each week. The big question now is, how much farther will TV sink? Mind numbing TV certainly has its place, I believe that at some point the public will start to demand a higher quality of mass entertainment. I think that the amount of people turning to higher quality, premium cable channels is proof of this.
ReplyDeleteJose,
ReplyDeleteI agree with your overall premise that TV, generally, is mindless and only serves to cheaply entertain. However, I find that there are certain values that television programs provide the American people that make them "golden."
Cullen Cosco
I agree with you when you talk about how a person coming home from work just wants to relax and watch some TV, people do not want to always look for the deeper meaning or hidden message in a TV show, they just want to be entertained and almost use it as a short escape from reality. When, I watch the "Big Bang Theory", I do not enjoy it because of all the talk regarding physics, I watch and enjoy it because its funny and witty and acts as good escape from the stresses of my day. People need to realize that TV shows are meant to entertain. If people want to watch TV for another reason than that then the can always watch a documentary on PBS.
ReplyDeleteIt does seem that each generation comes up with its own version of "things aren't as good as they used to be." This seems to be especially prominent in the case of shows like Sesame Street and SNL that have crossed multiple generations.
ReplyDeleteBut why do you think that people are speaking of an increase in quality if indeed we cannot expect good quality from TV? It is true that many of these high quality shows are in some rarefied formats or TV shows. But cable is becoming less widespread in part because it became so establishment. It's now almost a medium of the past. Perhaps, then, it is precisely the need to survive and stay relevant that is driving the so-called Golden Age?