This document discusses various topics related to television shows and media consumption. It provides viewing statistics for popular shows, examines why certain genres and shows become popular, explores the portrayal of racial groups in media, and analyzes trends in the television industry including the decline of some shows and the rise of genres like superhero shows. Responses consider factors like changing censorship rules, social media promotion, character development, and audience preferences over time.

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Television II
MEDIA, POWER AND CULTURE

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Your shows
• Stranger Things (22)
• American Horror Story (16)
• Grey’s Anatomy (16)
• Orange is the New Black (15)
• The Office (15)
• The Walking Dead (12)

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Your shows
• Game of Thrones (8)
• Friends (7)
• Parks & Recreation (7)
• Breaking Bad (6)
• Empire (6)
• How I Met Your Mother (6)
• Scandal (6)

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Your shows
• The Big Bang Theory (5)
• Family Guy (4)
• Luke Cage (4)
• Criminal Minds (3)
• Daredevil (3)
• Gossip Girl (3)
• How to Get Away with Murder (3)
• One Tree Hill (3)
• Power (3)
• Pretty Little Liars (3)
• The Voice (3)

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Your shows
• Arrow (2)
• Dexter (2)
• Doctor Who (2)
• Flash (2)
• Gotham (2)
• House of Cars (2)
• Mad Men (2)
• Once Upon a Time (2)
• Rick & Morty (2)
• Steven Universe (2)
• Law & Order SVU (2)
• Vampire Diaries (2)

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Your shows
• Arrested Development
• BoJack Horseman
• The Boondocks
• Broad City
• Catfish
• Cops
• Dancing with the Stars
• Downton Abbey
• Drugs Inc.
• Eric Andre
• Friday Night Lights
• Full House
• Gilmore Girls
• Hawaii Five-O
• It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia
• Jane the Virgin
• Keeping up with the Kardashians
• Martin
• Cleveland Indians
• Modern Family
• Mr. Robot
• Narcos
• Naruto
• NCIS
• New Girl
• Peaky Blinders
• Person of Interest
• Portlandia
• Project Runway
• Quantico
• Shameless
• Sherlock
• Sons of Anarchy
• That ‘70s Show
• The Get Down
• The Wire
• This Is Us
• Two Broke Girls
• Westworld

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Boo!
• Why do we watch scary shows such as
American Horror Story?
• Why do we watch violent shows such as
Game of Thrones?
• Why do we watch dark shows such as
Breaking Bad?
• Is moral ambiguity a new trend?

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Boo!
• “Adrenaline rush”
• Relief (stone in the shoe)
• Roller coasters
• Escape from the ordinary

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Moral ambiguity
• Increases uncertainty
• Increase tension and conflict
• A “happy ending” isn’t necessarily happy
for everyone
• Adventurous advertisers or none at all
• End of codes

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Miscellany
• Does the FCC regulate shows on Netflix?
• No: The FCC controls only broadcast, not
cable or internet programming.

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Why that show?
• Do popular shows get that way because of
a bandwagon effect?
• Do the type of shows that are popular
reflect societal or cultural changes?

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Why that show?
• Old days: Least common denominator
• Today: Cult to mass (access, social media)
• Dramas: Quality, novelty, escape
• Comedies: Relatability, actors, mood
• Access has changed more than taste

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Miscellany
• How do production studios get money
from Netflix?
• Licensing deals for video are generally not
per-play, but a set fee for a specific
contract length.
• Studios want more – access to Netflix’s
deep database of user preferences.

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Black-ish
• Why is Empire a “black” show, but Grey’s
Anatomy isn’t a “white” show?
• How do white viewers react to “black”
shows such as Empire talking about police
brutality, etc.?
• What about racial stereotypes in Orange is
the New Black, Jane the Virgin, Empire,
Scandal?

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Black-ish
• Mean, median and mode
• Reversal of societal expectations about
demographics
• Rejection of stereotypical roles
• African-Americans as the last in the line
• Deliberate targeting

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Black-ish
• Self-selection of audience
• Not that kind of hate-watching
• The risk of false understanding
• Empire: 66% African-American (U.S.
population: 13%)
• Orange: Backstories backfire
• Scandal: 37% African-American

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Black-ish
• Jane the Virgin: Unexpected complexity
• Can a minority writer create a stereotyped
character?
• Is it still a stereotype if it exists in real life
and is portrayed realistically?
• Aren’t all TV characters stereotypes?

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Miscellany
• How often do people repeat binge-watch
the same shows over and over?
• Great question. Be the first to find an
answer and I’ll give you 25 points of extra
credit.

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Decline and fall
• Why does a show hook you on a realistic
concept, then jump the shark?
• Why did you stop watching Grey’s
Anatomy?

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Decline and fall
• Running out of ideas
• Paper cut-out characters
• “Situation” comedies
• Reversion to the norm
• Repetition
• Lack of exit strategy

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Decline and fall
• Soap opera
• Unlikeable characters
• Unrelatable characters
• Ratcheted repetition
• Characters don’t drive the plot

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Miscellany
• Why is Friends still popular?
• Likeable characters
• Character-driven comedy
• Familiar but developing characters
• Relatable age group
• More central characters than fringe ones
• No kids, no Olivers, no major tension breaks

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Up in the sky!
• What sparked the rise of superhero
shows?
• Why do concepts that seem to involve
action include character relationships?

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Up in the sky!
• “Superman,” nostalgia and special effects
• Waves of interest (vampires, zombies,
mummies)
• Copycats
• Smart executives

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Up in the sky!
• Budgetary restraints
• The lessened pull of the cliffhanger
• Story complexity
• The comic-book stigma
• Copycats

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Miscellany
• Why can shows get away with rough
language and sex jokes when society is
“politically correct”?
• The end of family viewing
• A society in silos
• Commercial and artistic pressure
• The “F-word” comedy factor

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Stranger Things
• It does well without much advertising. Is
this a lasting trend?

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Stranger Things
• Free publicity
• Word of mouth
• In the club
• Domination … for how long?