Television

COM 208

The glorious Boob Tube Is Invented, an event that is celebrated in Heaven and on Earth…

• 1927 - 21-year-old Philo Farnsworth transmits the first TV picture electronically by rotating a straight line scratched on a square of painted glass by 90 degrees

How important is television in the lives of Americans?

• How much influence does television have on children? Teenagers? Adults?

• How does television influence American culture, society, etc.?

Take a guess…

• What are the worst TV shows of all time?

Worst Shows of All Time• ･ 50. Barney & Friends (PBS, April 6, 1992ﾐ present)• ･ 49. The Ropers (ABC, March 13, 1979ﾐMay 22, 1980) ･• 48. Bless This House (CBS, September 11, 1995ﾐ January

17, 1996) ･• 47. Rango (ABC, January 13, 1967ﾐ September 1, 1967) ･• 46. Me And The Chimp (CBS, January 13, 1972ﾐMay 18,

1972) ･• 45. A.K.A. Pablo (ABC, March 6, 1984ﾐ April 17, 1984) ･• 44. She's the Sheriff (Syndication, 1987ﾐ 1989) ･• 43. Woops! (FOX, September 27, 1992ﾐ December 6, 1992

) ･ 42. The Flying Nun (ABC, September 7, 1967ﾐ April 3, 1970) ･ 41. The Tom Green Show (MTV, 1999ﾐ 2000) ･

• 40. Makin' It (ABC, February 1, 1979ﾐMarch 19, 1979)

Worst Shows, cont.

• ･ 39. Still the Beaver (Disney Channel, 1985ﾐ 1986) ･• 38. Hell Town (NBC, September 11, 1985ﾐ December 25, 1985) ･• 37. Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell (ABC, September 20,

1975ﾐ January 17, 1976) ･• 36. The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo (NBC, September 18, 1979ﾐ

May 5, 1981) ･• 35. Pink Lady and Jeff (NBC, March 1, 1980ﾐ April 11, 1980) ･• 34. Alexander the Great (ABC, January 26, 1968) ･• 33. Holmes and Yo-Yo (ABC, September 25, 1976ﾐ December 11,

1976) ･• 32. Co-Ed Fever (CBS, February 4, 1979) ･• 31. Homeboys in Outer Space (UPN, August 27, 1996ﾐMay 13,

1997)• ･ 30. Unhappily Ever After (WB, January 11, 1995ﾐMay 2, 1999)

Worst Shows, cont.• ･ 29. The Howard Stern Show#Television shows (E!, June 20, 1994ﾐ present) ･

• 28. Supertrain (NBC, February 7, 1979ﾐ July 28, 1979)• ･ 27. Turn-On (ABC, February 5, 1969) ･• 26. Life with Lucy (ABC, September 20, 1986ﾐ November 15, 1986)• ･ 25. Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire (FOX, February 20,

2000) ･• 24. One of the Boys (NBC, January 23, 1982ﾐ August 20, 1982)• ･ 23. Sammy and Company (Syndication, 1975ﾐ 1977) ･• 22. The Powers of Matthew Star (NBC, September 17, 1982ﾐ April

15, 1983)• ･ 21. Baywatch (NBC/Syndication, September 22, 1989ﾐMay 19,

2001) ･• 20. The Pruitts of Southampton (ABC, September 6, 1966ﾐ April 7,

1967)

Worst Shows, cont.• ･ 19. The PTL Club (Syndication, 1976ﾐ 1987) ･• 18. The Ugliest Girl in Town (ABC, September 26, 1968ﾐ January

30, 1969) ･• 17. Casablanca (NBC, April 10, 1983ﾐ September 3, 1983) ･• 16. The Chevy Chase Show (FOX, September 7, 1993ﾐ October

15, 1993) ･• 15. Manimal (NBC, September 30, 1983ﾐ December 31, 1983) ･• 14. Baby Bob (CBS, March 18, 2002ﾐ present)• ･ 13. Twenty-One (NBC, September 12, 1956ﾐ October 16, 1958) ･• 12. Hello, Larry (NBC, January 26, 1979ﾐ April 30, 1980) ･• 11. The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer (UPN, October 5, 1998ﾐ

October 26, 1998)• ･ 10. Hee Haw Honeys (Syndication, 1978ﾐ 1979)

Worst Shows, cont.• ･ 9. You're in the Picture (CBS, January 20, 1961ﾐ January 27,

1961) ･• 8. Cop Rock (ABC, September 26, 1990ﾐ December 26, 1990) ･• 7. AfterMASH (CBS, September 26, 1983ﾐ December 18, 1984)• ･ 6. Celebrity Boxing (FOX, March 13, 2002ﾐ present)• ･ 5. Hogan's Heroes (CBS, September 17, 1965ﾐ July 4, 1971) ･• 4. The Brady Bunch Hour (January 23, 1977ﾐMay 25, 1977) ･• 3. XFL (NBC, UPN, TNN, February 3, 2001ﾐ April 21, 2001) ･• 2. My Mother the Car (NBC, September 14, 1965ﾐ April 5, 1966) ･• 1. The Jerry Springer Show (Syndication, September 30, 1991ﾐ

present)

100 Best Shows of All Time

• What’s on your list?

• A - F ･24･60 Minutes･The Abbott and Costello Show･ABC's Wide World of Sports･Alfred Hitchcock Presents･All in the Family･An American Family･American Idol･Arrested Development･Battlestar Galactica･The Beavis and Butt-Head Show･The Bob Newhart Show･Brideshead Revisited･Buffalo Bill･Buffy the Vampire Slayer･The Carol Burnett Show･The CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite･A Charlie Brown Christmas･Cheers･The Cosby Show･The Daily Show･Dallas･The Day After･Deadwood･The Dick Van Dyke Show･Dragnet･The Ed Sullivan Show･The Ernie Kovacs Show･Felicity･Freaks and Geeks･The French Chef･FriendsG - M ･General Hospital･ The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show ･Gilmore Girls ･Gunsmoke ･ Hill Street Blues ･ Homicide: Life on the Street ･The Honeymooners ･ I, Claudius ･ I Love Lucy ･ King of the Hill ･ The Larry Sanders Show ･ Late Night with David Letterman (NBC) ･ Leave It to Beaver ･

• Lost･Married... With Children･Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman･The Mary Tyler Moore Show･M*A*S*H･The Monkees･Monty Python's Flying Circus･Moonlighting･MTV 1981-1992･My So-Called Life･Mystery Science Theater 3000N - S ･The Odd Couple･The Office [American]･The Office [British]･The Oprah Winfrey Show･Pee Wee's Playhouse･Playhouse 90･The Price Is Right･Prime Suspect･The Prisoner･The Real World･Rocky and His Friends･Roots･Roseanne･Sanford and Son･Saturday Night Live･Second City Television･See It Now･Seinfeld･Sesame Street･Sex and the City･The Shield･The Simpsons･The Singing Detective･Six Feet Under･Soap･The Sopranos･South Park･SpongeBob SquarePants･SportsCenter･Star Trek･St. Elsewhere･The Super Bowl (and the Ads)･SurvivorT - Z ･Taxi･The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson･The Twilight Zone･Twin Peaks･The West Wing･What's My Line?･WKRP in Cincinnati･The Wire･Wiseguy･The X-Files･Your Show of Shows

There are boatloads of bucks in TV

These were among the top earners from June 2006 to June 2007, according to Forbes:

• Oprah Winfrey - $260 million• Jerry Seinfeld - $60 million• Simon Cowell - $45 million• David Letterman - $40 million• Jay Leno - $32 million• Donald Trump - $32 million• Tyra Banks - $18 million• Ryan Seacrest - $14 million• Barbara Walters - $12 million

• What is the driving force behind television?

Money

• Top 100 TV advertisers spend more than $15 billion per year

• Is commercial TV good for society? Is it good for us?

How to add 12 years to your life• The average American spends more than four hours watching TV

• That’s 28 hours/week or 1,256 hours/year

• That’s 60 days or two months

• Keep it up for 72 years and you’ll spend 12 years in front of the tube during your lifetime

• Source: Donella Meadows

Influence of television is pervasive

• No. of people in average American household: 2.55• No. of televisions in average American household: 2.73• Half of American homes have at least three TVs• In 1975, only 11 percent of homes had three TVs or more• The television is on for well over eight hours per day in the

average American home. That is an hour more than a decade ago.

• The average American watches 4 hours and 35 minutes of television each day

• Young people ages 12-17 have increased their television viewing by 3 percent over the past year

Source: Nielson 2006

We can’t turn it offPercent of Americans who regularly watch TV

while eating dinner: 66.Total hours of TV watched annually by

Americans: 250 billion.Value of that time at $5 per hour: $1.25 trillion.

(In five years it would pay off the national debt.)

Number of books checked out of public libraries in the U.S. every day: 3 million.

Number of videos rented every day: 6 million.Amount Americans spend each year in late fees

for failing to return videos on time: $3 billion.Percent of Americans who say they watch too

much TV: 49.

It’s addictive• Hours per year the average American child spends

in school:900.• Hours per year the average American child watches

television: 1500.• Number of murders the average child sees on TV

before finishing elementary school: 8000.• Percent of Americans who believe TV violence

encourages real-life violence: 79.

Does TV makes us dumb? Dumber?

• “Television. The drug of a nation. Breeding ignorance and feeding radiation. TV -- where image takes place over wisdom. Where soundbite politics are served through the fast-food culture. Sugarsweet sitcoms that leave us with a bad aftertaste. The place where the pursuit of happiness has become the pursuit of trivia. Where imagination is sucked out of children by a cathode ray nipple.”

- The Disposable Heroes of Hypocrisy rap group

More sex, more violence, more foul language

Great, where do I sign up?

How far is too far?

That mother _bleep&^^)(*&%$##bleep@#!!!!

The family hour…• In 180 hours of programming there were:• 815 uses of foul language• 677 sexual scenes or references• 754 instances of violence

Source: Parents Television Council

You are what you eat - and see• Scores on the Scholastic Achievement Tests -- the SATs that

determine which of our high-school seniors go to college -- have been going down so steadily that the College Board has shifted the scale. Now you can get a higher score with fewer right answers.

• Only one out of five U.S. students can write a logical, well-developed essay.

• "Mediocrity is the norm and quality is the exception," says one teacher.

• Every study shows a direct correlation between poor intellectual performance and frequent television-watching. No surprise.

Source: Donella Meadows

No wonder some call it an ‘idiot box.’