Every human on Earth has a conscience, they are able to tell what is right from wrong. Lauren Zalaznick a television producer that made the "Bravo" network famous for reality television now claims that television has a conscience.
Zalaznick begins her video telling us most Americans love television, however, some berate it, like her mother who used to call it "the idiot box." Then she introduces her idea that television has a conscience, it reflects our moral, political, social, and emotional need states of our nation. She then tells us she will be talking about the top-10 Nielsen rated shows over the course of 50 years. How do these top-10 Nielsen rated shows affect our social conscience? How does television evolve over time and what does this say about our society? She moves on to talk about the four basic primal human instincts: hunger, sex, power, and the urge to acquire money or material things. As humans we have developed we have the capacity to laugh and cry. We feel pity and awe. We love to be entertained, we love to watch TV which separates us from the rest of the animals. Animals love to play not watch. She next asked questions like: Why has television entertainment evolved in the way it has? Is television literally functioning as our conscience, tempting us and rewarding at the same time? To answer those questions she went back in time to the 1959-1960 television schedule. They surveyed the top-20 Nielsen shows for every 50 years. They talked to 3,000 individuals, almost 3,600 aged 18-70 were asked how they felt emotionally. Did you feel a sense of moral ambiguity? Did you feel outrage? Did you laugh? What did this mean for you?. She then shows us graphs. From 1960-2010, she starts with the inspiration state and the moral ambiguity state. Inspiration is television that uplifts you, moral ambiguity is television in which you don't understand the difference between right and wrong. Inspiration is holding steady then starts to wane, while, moral ambiguity starts to climb and is going up.
She shows another graph with comfort, irreverence, and social commentary. Comfort stays whole, irreverence starts to rise, social commentary is spiking up. When 1969 comes all three are battling it out in our society. " Gunsmoke" and "Gomer Pyle" in 1969 were numbers two and three. Number one was the socially irreverent show "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In." The green spike in 1976 was due to the breakout hit "Smothers Brothers" it allowed viewers to say, "My God, I can comment on how I feel about the Vietnam War, about the presidency, through television." In 1970, comfort is no longer what we watch television for anymore. Social commentary and irreverence rise through the 1970's. The most dominant show in the 1970's was "MAS*H". This is a quick chart now with Fantasy TV Shows which means "make me feel better" and "take me out of my everyday realm." Unemployment is the other one which means a simple Bureau of Labor Department statistic. It starts with every time fantasy rises unemployment spikes. Another chart shows the last 20 years, Humor and Judgement, Humor decreases as Judgement rises. In 2001 Humor succumbs to Judgement, after that Judgement keeps on staying high, while Humor decreases more and more. They wanted Judgement/ Reality TV at that time. She then starts to talk about TV Moms throughout the decades. The 50's had "June Cleever," The 60's had "Lucille Ball," The 70's had "Maude Findlay," The 80's had "Alexis Carrington," The 90's had "Murphy Brown," and This era has "Bree Van de Kamp." Zalaznick thanks the creators of television shows and then thanks the viewers for giving life like the creators, longevity, and power or not.
Television tempts us and it recompenses us. TV models our emotional, political, moral, and social needs of our nation, like Zalaznick said. We as humans have the four primal instincts but more. We love to watch TV and it does separate us from the animal kingdom. I watch a lot of TV, and I feel all those feelings described in the graph. Inspiration with "Parks and Recreation" and moral ambiguity with "The Americans." Humor with "Family Guy" and Fantasy with "Arrow." TV is not an "idiot box" it acts as a conscience with all those feelings described. Television does have a conscience it is good and bad.
Television has a conscience, it can either punish us or reward us. TV makes us feel many complicated emotions: comfort, humor, irreverence, etc. It can be a cause of social commentary as well. I recommend this video to people who know Lauren Zalaznick's work, are interested in creating or doing anything involving TV shows, or just plain love classic TV.
-Faiyaz
Zalaznick begins her video telling us most Americans love television, however, some berate it, like her mother who used to call it "the idiot box." Then she introduces her idea that television has a conscience, it reflects our moral, political, social, and emotional need states of our nation. She then tells us she will be talking about the top-10 Nielsen rated shows over the course of 50 years. How do these top-10 Nielsen rated shows affect our social conscience? How does television evolve over time and what does this say about our society? She moves on to talk about the four basic primal human instincts: hunger, sex, power, and the urge to acquire money or material things. As humans we have developed we have the capacity to laugh and cry. We feel pity and awe. We love to be entertained, we love to watch TV which separates us from the rest of the animals. Animals love to play not watch. She next asked questions like: Why has television entertainment evolved in the way it has? Is television literally functioning as our conscience, tempting us and rewarding at the same time? To answer those questions she went back in time to the 1959-1960 television schedule. They surveyed the top-20 Nielsen shows for every 50 years. They talked to 3,000 individuals, almost 3,600 aged 18-70 were asked how they felt emotionally. Did you feel a sense of moral ambiguity? Did you feel outrage? Did you laugh? What did this mean for you?. She then shows us graphs. From 1960-2010, she starts with the inspiration state and the moral ambiguity state. Inspiration is television that uplifts you, moral ambiguity is television in which you don't understand the difference between right and wrong. Inspiration is holding steady then starts to wane, while, moral ambiguity starts to climb and is going up.
She shows another graph with comfort, irreverence, and social commentary. Comfort stays whole, irreverence starts to rise, social commentary is spiking up. When 1969 comes all three are battling it out in our society. " Gunsmoke" and "Gomer Pyle" in 1969 were numbers two and three. Number one was the socially irreverent show "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In." The green spike in 1976 was due to the breakout hit "Smothers Brothers" it allowed viewers to say, "My God, I can comment on how I feel about the Vietnam War, about the presidency, through television." In 1970, comfort is no longer what we watch television for anymore. Social commentary and irreverence rise through the 1970's. The most dominant show in the 1970's was "MAS*H". This is a quick chart now with Fantasy TV Shows which means "make me feel better" and "take me out of my everyday realm." Unemployment is the other one which means a simple Bureau of Labor Department statistic. It starts with every time fantasy rises unemployment spikes. Another chart shows the last 20 years, Humor and Judgement, Humor decreases as Judgement rises. In 2001 Humor succumbs to Judgement, after that Judgement keeps on staying high, while Humor decreases more and more. They wanted Judgement/ Reality TV at that time. She then starts to talk about TV Moms throughout the decades. The 50's had "June Cleever," The 60's had "Lucille Ball," The 70's had "Maude Findlay," The 80's had "Alexis Carrington," The 90's had "Murphy Brown," and This era has "Bree Van de Kamp." Zalaznick thanks the creators of television shows and then thanks the viewers for giving life like the creators, longevity, and power or not.
Television tempts us and it recompenses us. TV models our emotional, political, moral, and social needs of our nation, like Zalaznick said. We as humans have the four primal instincts but more. We love to watch TV and it does separate us from the animal kingdom. I watch a lot of TV, and I feel all those feelings described in the graph. Inspiration with "Parks and Recreation" and moral ambiguity with "The Americans." Humor with "Family Guy" and Fantasy with "Arrow." TV is not an "idiot box" it acts as a conscience with all those feelings described. Television does have a conscience it is good and bad.
Television has a conscience, it can either punish us or reward us. TV makes us feel many complicated emotions: comfort, humor, irreverence, etc. It can be a cause of social commentary as well. I recommend this video to people who know Lauren Zalaznick's work, are interested in creating or doing anything involving TV shows, or just plain love classic TV.
-Faiyaz