Blog #13
The Late, Great Medium
of U.S. Commercial Television
 Working in various capacities in the field of television for 50 years gives one a certain perspective.
Many things have dramatically improved:
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the reliability of the technology
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the ability to switch to any part of the world with a push of a button
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the technical quality, including digital video and 5.1 sound
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the fact that there is almost no place on the planet where you can't receive TV programming
These great advances have been propelled primarily by advertising.
 But, advertising has also become the curse of television -- especially in the United States. Program "success" is now measured in "eyeballs" -- how many people watch, and it has more to do with prurient appeal than any true definition of quality.
 Producer Jerry Bruckheimer, who has had considerable success in producing top TV shows in the U.S. says, 'It is getting harder and harder to underestimate the intelligence of the American public. It now averages well below the previous 6th grade level.'  |
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In my college classes I found many students who believed in the potential and influence of television (or presumably they wouldn't be taking an advanced class), said they "hardly watched TV."
Why?
It's banal and exploitive -- although they tended to use the word "stupid" a lot -- and, "it's nothing but commercials."
Programs like "The Daily Show," and "Boston Legal" were mentioned favorably. But, for the most part, instead of watching regular TV, they spent most of their free time on the Internet -- especially on sites like YouTube and FaceBook.
Some said that at home they used a PVR to record shows they wanted to see. This not only allowed them to watch the shows at their convenience, but to speed through commercials and predictable program segments, making a 60-minute show closer to 45-minutes.
You will note from the 2008 graph below
that cable channels and the Internet continue to increase in popularity
while broadcast TV and the print media continue to decline -- a trend that
has been going on for some time.
Some people say that with product placement, commercial
content in TV is now approaching 50%. To escape this, people who can
afford it are turning to pay channels such as HBO.
Many people are also renting DVDs
of their favorite dramatic series from sources like
Netflix where they can typically watch three or four episodes of a TV series on a single disc, or directly from the Internet, without
commercial interruptions. For a series like
Murder One, where the story was spread out over an
entire season, this can make a major difference. | 
