With the advent of DVR and the internet, it's already been postulated that TV is no longer the shared cultural experience it once was.
My question, however, concerns not even macro-level "culture," but micro-level "family." Has television watching become a solitary experience? It used to be that most families had one or sometimes two TVs in the house, and presumably watched the primetime network television shows together. It would seem as if there are probably fewer and fewer families that actually do this, regardless of if it's network or even cable television. As there are now entire channels geared toward specific interests, the mass market (again, on the macro "culture" level) would seem to have disappeared. But has the micro "family" level also fallen by the wayside?
There was an article in the most recent Time magazine about how Jay Leno's new show is being positioned as the savior of network TV in general and NBC in specific. Kind of a non-splintered, back to basics, cheaply-produced, and with something for everyone type of program. You know, like they used to have back in the 50s and 60s. In my mind, this is a huge gamble. Sure, the shows are cheaper to produce than hour-long dramas that proliferate that timeslot elsewhere. But ad revenues are gonna be WAY down, more than likely. And really, in this day and age, who but the older/elderly would have any interest in this type of programming? And those age brackets are NOT the target demographic for advertisers. Retirees, generally speaking, have fixed incomes, without a ton of disposable income. How do they really think this is gonna work?
But that's kind of an aside. Really, I'm just interested in knowing if anyone that watches TV does so in the presence of others, or if it's a solitary pastime.
My question, however, concerns not even macro-level "culture," but micro-level "family." Has television watching become a solitary experience? It used to be that most families had one or sometimes two TVs in the house, and presumably watched the primetime network television shows together. It would seem as if there are probably fewer and fewer families that actually do this, regardless of if it's network or even cable television. As there are now entire channels geared toward specific interests, the mass market (again, on the macro "culture" level) would seem to have disappeared. But has the micro "family" level also fallen by the wayside?
There was an article in the most recent Time magazine about how Jay Leno's new show is being positioned as the savior of network TV in general and NBC in specific. Kind of a non-splintered, back to basics, cheaply-produced, and with something for everyone type of program. You know, like they used to have back in the 50s and 60s. In my mind, this is a huge gamble. Sure, the shows are cheaper to produce than hour-long dramas that proliferate that timeslot elsewhere. But ad revenues are gonna be WAY down, more than likely. And really, in this day and age, who but the older/elderly would have any interest in this type of programming? And those age brackets are NOT the target demographic for advertisers. Retirees, generally speaking, have fixed incomes, without a ton of disposable income. How do they really think this is gonna work?
But that's kind of an aside. Really, I'm just interested in knowing if anyone that watches TV does so in the presence of others, or if it's a solitary pastime.
Comment