The Future of Television?
I recently got to attend a symposium that celebrated the work of Fred Silverman. If you're not familiar with that name, he was a head of programming first at CBS, then ABC, then NBC in the 1970s and early 80s. You pretty much have him to thank for such legendary TV shows as All in the Family, M*A*S*H*, Laverne & Shirley, Roots, Love Boat, and Hill Street Blues. A collection of A-list TV execs and producers were all there to pay tribute and to discuss the current state of television.
A lot of people, however, didn't want to talk about where we are but rather where we are headed. A lot of people in the media are rather jittery these days about what things will be like in 5-10 years because of the onrush of new technology and the Internet changing everything. It's already made newspapers go belly-up left and right, and broadcast industry types are scared that they will be the next to go, or that the model that we've known since TV began in the 1940s will be turned completely upside down.
Well, there are some things about what you might call "traditional TV" that can be saved. For one thing, there's the sitcom. The family sitcom kinda got away from us the last several years. After "Married With Children", the template turned into dumbass dad with voluptuous, ditzy wife and disrespectful kids. One notable exception, "8 Simple Rules", was tragically derailed when John Ritter died. After cranking out one too many of these shows, the genre was believed to have run its course. It's pretty sad when you look at the sitcom landscape right now and you have to say that the "model" family sitcom is "According to Jim", just because it's been on for 10 years and honestly, can you think of another one right now?
The attempts to fix this aren't going well, either. "Surviving Suburbia" looks like a good show from the ads; it's Bob Saget being more like stand-up Bob Saget instead of "Full House" Bob Saget. However, I can't really watch the show since it's on Monday nights at 9:30, opposite "Heroes" and "24". Yeah, I could watch it online, but it's the end of the semester, and my time is limited as it is. If we could come up with a return to good family sitcoms, it would probably be well-received. There has to be an anti-"According to Jim" out there somewhere, in the head of some writer or comedian, just waiting to be made into a pilot.
There are other new developments that have changed things, of course, the primary one being the DVR (which may well be the greatest invention in the history of mankind). Because people like me record shows and can't catch up on them for weeks on end, the networks don't know immediately if they have a hit on their hands. What do you do then? I've already had issues with networks canceling shows after just a few weeks because they didn't get the instant buzz they'd hoped for (unless of course the show deserved it... "Bionic Woman", anyone?) As we see ourselves having less and less free time, we catch fewer and fewer shows that we want to see. I already have that problem with movies. And they don't do reruns anymore because the networks figure that if the show is a hit and you miss any of it, you'll buy the whole season on DVD to catch up. But when we're in a recession and nobody has any money to buy said DVDs, what do you do?
And then of course, there's the online situation. We can watch shows online now whenever we want, and in most cases with minimal commercial interruption, which is much appreciated. Even now, however, there are people working on ways to make TV on the Internet even more attractive. One thing that was brought up recently was how we haven't found a way to do Internet on a regular TV. Actually, we did... it was called NetTV and it never really caught on. Too far ahead of its time, perhaps. Anyway, I saw a presentation of an idea to integrate viewer-chosen content into a show. Kind of a "choose your own adventure" kind of thing. Want to follow your favorite character when they leave a scene? Click and you can do it. Now there are tons of Internet companies starting up everyday who want to try to do this sort of thing, but if someone came along who had a viable model, I'd invest in that company in a heartbeat.
So everything is changing, and ultimately what we're heading for is everyone choosing what they want to see and purveyors of mass media being unable to appeal to common tastes anymore. At least, that's the fear. I think there will always be ways for people to come together over things. Hell, look at all the hubbub over Susan Boyle on "Britain's Got Talent". So it is possible for a show to get buzz and viewers. I do agree with Fred Silverman that the people who decide what comes out to the public need to exercise better judgment and perhaps not be so reliant on consultants and such. I can tell you that music radio's decline started around 1980 when stations decided to switch from using music surveys that actually told then what the people wanted to consultants telling them what the people wanted. Same problem with TV. Actually think about what people like to see and give it to them, rather than cranking out more stupid reality shows (which Silverman said he hated... drawing a nice slow-building applause from the assemblage) and the 10th knock-off of something that was original when it first came out but has now been run into the ground.
On the other hand, it may just be that it's like I've been saying for years... there aren't any original ideas left. I hope that's not true...
OK, completely off-topic... this has been a pet peeve of mine and I finally have to get it out there. Why the hell don't they put up signs at construction sites saying what they are building? Especially when you can see it from the highway. I can't imagine how many accidents are caused because someone is driving along, sees a rather large building being put up, stares at it wondering, "Hmmm, I wonder what that's going to be.... AHHHHHHH!" (*CRASH*)
We have no problems putting up billboards on the highway so it's not even like you could say a sign would distract drivers. Not knowing distracts us more. Just give us one less thing to think about while we're illegally talking on our cell phones or texting or eating or putting on makeup or any of the other hundred things we do while driving that makes us dangers to everyone else on the road...
A lot of people, however, didn't want to talk about where we are but rather where we are headed. A lot of people in the media are rather jittery these days about what things will be like in 5-10 years because of the onrush of new technology and the Internet changing everything. It's already made newspapers go belly-up left and right, and broadcast industry types are scared that they will be the next to go, or that the model that we've known since TV began in the 1940s will be turned completely upside down.
Well, there are some things about what you might call "traditional TV" that can be saved. For one thing, there's the sitcom. The family sitcom kinda got away from us the last several years. After "Married With Children", the template turned into dumbass dad with voluptuous, ditzy wife and disrespectful kids. One notable exception, "8 Simple Rules", was tragically derailed when John Ritter died. After cranking out one too many of these shows, the genre was believed to have run its course. It's pretty sad when you look at the sitcom landscape right now and you have to say that the "model" family sitcom is "According to Jim", just because it's been on for 10 years and honestly, can you think of another one right now?
The attempts to fix this aren't going well, either. "Surviving Suburbia" looks like a good show from the ads; it's Bob Saget being more like stand-up Bob Saget instead of "Full House" Bob Saget. However, I can't really watch the show since it's on Monday nights at 9:30, opposite "Heroes" and "24". Yeah, I could watch it online, but it's the end of the semester, and my time is limited as it is. If we could come up with a return to good family sitcoms, it would probably be well-received. There has to be an anti-"According to Jim" out there somewhere, in the head of some writer or comedian, just waiting to be made into a pilot.
There are other new developments that have changed things, of course, the primary one being the DVR (which may well be the greatest invention in the history of mankind). Because people like me record shows and can't catch up on them for weeks on end, the networks don't know immediately if they have a hit on their hands. What do you do then? I've already had issues with networks canceling shows after just a few weeks because they didn't get the instant buzz they'd hoped for (unless of course the show deserved it... "Bionic Woman", anyone?) As we see ourselves having less and less free time, we catch fewer and fewer shows that we want to see. I already have that problem with movies. And they don't do reruns anymore because the networks figure that if the show is a hit and you miss any of it, you'll buy the whole season on DVD to catch up. But when we're in a recession and nobody has any money to buy said DVDs, what do you do?
And then of course, there's the online situation. We can watch shows online now whenever we want, and in most cases with minimal commercial interruption, which is much appreciated. Even now, however, there are people working on ways to make TV on the Internet even more attractive. One thing that was brought up recently was how we haven't found a way to do Internet on a regular TV. Actually, we did... it was called NetTV and it never really caught on. Too far ahead of its time, perhaps. Anyway, I saw a presentation of an idea to integrate viewer-chosen content into a show. Kind of a "choose your own adventure" kind of thing. Want to follow your favorite character when they leave a scene? Click and you can do it. Now there are tons of Internet companies starting up everyday who want to try to do this sort of thing, but if someone came along who had a viable model, I'd invest in that company in a heartbeat.
So everything is changing, and ultimately what we're heading for is everyone choosing what they want to see and purveyors of mass media being unable to appeal to common tastes anymore. At least, that's the fear. I think there will always be ways for people to come together over things. Hell, look at all the hubbub over Susan Boyle on "Britain's Got Talent". So it is possible for a show to get buzz and viewers. I do agree with Fred Silverman that the people who decide what comes out to the public need to exercise better judgment and perhaps not be so reliant on consultants and such. I can tell you that music radio's decline started around 1980 when stations decided to switch from using music surveys that actually told then what the people wanted to consultants telling them what the people wanted. Same problem with TV. Actually think about what people like to see and give it to them, rather than cranking out more stupid reality shows (which Silverman said he hated... drawing a nice slow-building applause from the assemblage) and the 10th knock-off of something that was original when it first came out but has now been run into the ground.
On the other hand, it may just be that it's like I've been saying for years... there aren't any original ideas left. I hope that's not true...
OK, completely off-topic... this has been a pet peeve of mine and I finally have to get it out there. Why the hell don't they put up signs at construction sites saying what they are building? Especially when you can see it from the highway. I can't imagine how many accidents are caused because someone is driving along, sees a rather large building being put up, stares at it wondering, "Hmmm, I wonder what that's going to be.... AHHHHHHH!" (*CRASH*)
We have no problems putting up billboards on the highway so it's not even like you could say a sign would distract drivers. Not knowing distracts us more. Just give us one less thing to think about while we're illegally talking on our cell phones or texting or eating or putting on makeup or any of the other hundred things we do while driving that makes us dangers to everyone else on the road...
Labels: television
posted by Dave | 11:40 AM
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