Blog 2- Intro to television and Film by Thompson and Mittell

Paul Dudson

Blog 2 – T.V Industry: Industrial practices and structures

This section of the book focused on how industrial practices and rules came into play regarding television show.  I wanted to talk about these three different chapters and how each one hade come under criticism for doing something that wasn’t either allowed, received too many complaints or just tried someting new . The three shows however, have become big hits as a result and it show's just how our society is constantly ever changing.

Modern Family – Product placement

Today more than ever, television shows and films are using product placement in order to gain more financial help. I remember doing a research on this topic and found out that the latest James Bond film cost $300 million to make, but due to the amount of product placement in it, the producers only needed to spend around $40 million.  However producers and investors look at in, audiences are starting to notice it more and more and as a result finding it more irritable and off putting.

Modern Family is one show that did this, especially in one particular episode. This particular episode called “Game Changer” begins with the farther all set to wake up early the following morning so that he could go out and get the latest ipad released. As it’s was his birthday and his wife was happy to know what he actually wanted, she offered to go out for him and buy. Unfortunately, she falls asleep and the ipad’s are sold out by the time she gets to the shops. The wife then sets their kids the task of searching Facebook, chat buzz and bling in order to search for any ipad available. After a series of events, the farther is united with his ipad and the show comes to an end.

Although the show became a hit with audiences originally, a heated debate began to arise regarding the ipad’s centric nature. Two groups were formed: Group one side considered "the ipad integration to be unforgivable and shameless seeking out a profit driven partnership with its production company twentieth Century Fox, ABC and Apple"(P324). Group two found the show to be “realistic and convincing, a savvy creator-fueled storyline that made sense within the shows fictional world” (P325). Comments went back and forth and the creators claimed that there had been no finical product placement involved with apples ipad. This was in the response to a comment claiming the show to have become watered down by branding and selling out.

This was one episode of many where Modern Family had used product placement. The show had an agreement with Toyota for the family cars being used which tallied over 8 minutes of air time, but at the time drew no media attention. Questions were only asked when the ipad episode aired, especially as Apple was a big shareholder in ABC whilst Steve Jobs sat on the board of the parent company, Disney.

The problems television and advertisement companies are fighting against today are that people are now able to skip advertisements whilst watching their shows. This as a result is a waste of money for the product companies who then have to go out and find other ways of getting their products out there. American Pop Idols holds the record for the most product placements used along with many other reality shows. It has now started to creep into show scripts such as, “the office”.

A few months later, a producer for Modern Family, spoke admitting that maybe the show went a little too far during that episode, even though they never received any payment what so ever. The public then claimed the show to be a sellout.

However you look at this chapter, it would be silly to not think that shows like Modern Family are often over using product placements in their shows. This being said, they are just a small show in a world where everyone is doing it to a certain degree. Like I mentioned earlier even the big mega money Movies use product placement to help their budget and as long as it doesn’t become to obvious or repetitive, it can work; you just have to find the balance.

 I always enjoy watching the clip from Wayne’s World where he is talking about product placement. Always bring a smile to my face. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjB6r-HDDI0

NYPD BLUE – Content regulation

I enjoyed reading this chapter this show wanted to push the boundaries of television shows and wasn’t afraid of getting a slap on the wrist in the process. The thing I found most amusing was how much hassle it was just to get a pilot out to the viewers as ABC and the producers kept arguing about controversial issues.

NYPD blue aired on ABC from 1993-2005 pushing the boundaries from the get go. With its profanity and strong adult language, it wasn’t long before protesters, boycotts and letter the FCC were written complaining about this show. It wasn’t until 2008, when the FCC finally decided to fine ABC and NYCD blue for a show that aired some five years earlier.

The episode was called “Nude Awakening” and the incident was a scene lasting no more than 40 seconds. What followed was years of legal battles which eventually resulted in the dismissal of all the fines original posed. This case however, was a substantial win against the FCC and brought forward a call for the rules and regulations to be changed.

Why was this series so much in the line of fire? The show centered on detective Andy Sipowicz, who was a racist, homophobic recovering alcoholic who could never seem to hold a partner down. The show used adult based language such as BITCH, ASSHOLE and DICK HEAD, along with vivid description of body parts never used before on primetime TV. Yes primetime TV, this wasn’t late at night and so was able to be seen by young children or adults who just didn’t want to have to hear and see that type of content.

The show however, wanted to show realism; they felt it important to show the viewing audience, what it is like to be a policeman in NYC. Not just the language but the dilemmas and tragedies which were encountered by those in law enforcement. Either way, the show won countless awards over the years, and it never seemed to lose too many viewer rather than gain more each season.

With the introduction of cable, viewers were able to watch more channels and shows at home. This didn’t go down too well with the three big Networks who began to see show ratings slide in favor of the cable channels. The problem the big three networks had was that the cable companies were allowed to show adult content compared to the strict rules they had to follow themselves. With this something was bound to happen and it did. It was called NYCD blue.

Before it even aired, like I mentioned earlier it was already in controversy whilst also being branded, “most racist show ever”. The directors however did not want to budge on their work; resulting in a year wait before the pilot was aired.

After initially a few warnings from the FCC along with complaints from affiliated companies to ABC, the show decided to show a warning message before every show aired.

So what got the show in hot water? Every actor in NYCD blue has a contact stating that they must get naked if the script requires it. Over the episodes, audiences have grown accustomed to seeing countless male actors partially naked whilst also showing sex scenes that only cover key areas. However, it was a woman getting into the shower on the tenth season that landed NYCD blue and ABC in hot water. The scene lasted 40 seconds and there was 7 seconds of nudity.

After a string of complaints, the FCC finally decided to act and fine ABC and forty-five of its affiliates. The fine for ABC was $1,237,500 plus $27,500 for each affiliate. NYCD Blue decided like always to challenge the FCC. Around this Time the FCC decided to bring out a set of new rules to be followed by the television companies. The thing was, it seemed like more people went against these rules, for example: either swearing while at television awards, or Janet Jackson’s super Bowl slip up.

The FCC had no other choice but to increase fines for shows that broke the rules. As complaints seemed to rise by thousands each year so did the fines being handed out. These fines jumped from $32,000 to $325,000.

When the case went to court, NYCD Blue claimed the nude seen showed the buttocks and that it wasn’t meant in any sexual way and should be viewed as more of awkwardness. The FCC countered saying there were sexual organs, which were associated with sexual arousal. In 2010, the 2nd Supreme Court claimed freedom of speech and the Show was protected by the first amendment. The fines were overturned.

I enjoyed re reading this chapter as I felt NYCD blue was right to test the boundaries and make a show that depicted real life events and situation. Today, there are more shows coming out showing lost of sexual content ( Game of Thrones), which would never of been allowed ten years ago, but as shows like NYPD blue pushed and broke the boundaries, it has enabled other shows to come through. I feel the FCC and people who might complain should focus on other issues. It doesn’t take much effort to turn the channel over or get parental lock.

Entertainment tonight – Tabloid news

I don’t know anyone that doesn’t enjoy watching a bit of “rubbish” on television, as my mum would say. I am often watching MTV news trying to see what the latest gossip is in the world of celebrities. I would often come home from work to see my sister glued to the television watching some sort of celebrity based show. No show based on celebritie news has lasted as long or stayed as consistently profitable as, Entertainment Tonight.

Until the early 1980’s, “first run” syndicated programs were programs that were seen as fillers in-between the main shows. In 1981, Entertainment Tonight aired and continues to do so today.  If you would click through your television channels just before primetime TV began, you would be greeted by Mary Hart, who would be reporting on the latest news from Hollywood. Hart  was a key figur who helped popularize a new mode of celebrity gossip, which included stories of celebrity’s private lives and on set exclusives.

Entertainment Tonight was lucky; they were able to do something that the FCC blocked Hollywood studios from doing. That’s right; the FCC had blocked Studios from entering into the broadcasting side of the industry because they didn’t want the power of telling the news to fall into the hands of just a few. No matter how the studios and big organizations tried their hardest to get into that particular area, they were always kicked back by the FCC.

Entertainment Tonight, was created by Alfred Masini, a former executive, who came up with the idea by studying what was not on the air, which was entertainment news (P302). Masini was able to do his research to see if people would really want to know, the top films of the week, year month; or which celebrity was doing what. The answer was yes. With a few deals thrown around by the big corporations, the show was able to be seen on cable televisions on the same day they were recorded, which was a first.

In its first week ET earned itself the highest rating national newscast. This being said, early reviews were not kind. Comments such as "the hosts are dreadful” and the show's news was “so soft it squishes” (P303). Over the next decade the show would continue to come under criticism, but it still managed to bring in millions of viewers. People soon came to see that show as a way of getting information not necessarily important, but exciting to millions of viewers all around America. “The show wasn’t inaccurate; it just missed the point as ET never had a source for hard news or its journalism” (P304).

Over time the show eventually became so powerful that it was seen as leverage for getting or promoting celebrities on their show. The show however understood that it still needed the celebrities for their own publicity so they did not let it go to their heads too much. The show grew and changed the way it was seen by viewers. The show has grown every year and continues to do so.

Either way you look at it, ET has become very popular and it hasn’t taken long for other companies to jump on the band wagon and copy that celebrity style gossip segment. Now, people see shows like this all the time and will continue for many more years to come. It was a case of one man doing his research inot what wasnt on television that sparked a whole new was of broadcasting news.

Conclusion

From the three blogs I have written about, I have learned a lot about how the content being placed in them can work for or against the show as a result. For example; NYPD blue was constantly receiving complaints, but it still managed to become a massive hit picking up many awards whilst eventually opening the door for other similar shows. They were not afraid to try something new and push the boundaries and came out winning. The same applies for Entertainment Tonight, no one knew how the show would come across to the public as they too were trying something new that hadn’t been done before. In its first week, it blew up and despite criticism has continued to be around thirty plus years. Modern Family however, was knocked back on one particular show by critiques and audience for apparently “selling out” by allowing their show to be taken over by product placements, which viewers saw as off putting and distasteful. Viewers are not stupid and shows have to work on finding that balance otherwise viewers will often tend to leave the showfor another one.

Blog 1 - Intro to Television and film by Thompson and Mittell

Paul Dudson

TV representations: social identity and cultural politics

We live in a world where unfortunately people are stereotyped. Everyone has done it. I often get the jokes about drinking tea and crumpets and speaking as though I am Dick Van Dyke from the film, Mary Poppins. For starters I hate tea and I think the last time I ate crumpets was probably five years ago. I also may not talk with a posh accent like Hugh Grant or Colin Firth, but I am not a cockney Londoner.

I wanted to write about this section of the book “How to watch television” by Thompson and Mittell as they gave great examples of shows that stereotyped and how most would try and reverse it. The three chapters I talked about were 24, The Amazing Race and The Cosby show. Two of these shows went against what people thought, and created a different perspective on looking at certain groups. The remaining show stereotyped the places it went along with the people it encountered and showed.

I have written a general idea of what the chapters talked about in the book, so that readers can get a general idea of what topics were being raised. I found each chapter full of useful information that was an eye opener into the way shows are worked from behingd the scenes and how certain elements can cause such a spanner in the works. 

24

The show “24” is based on a Government team fighting terrorism. Although the show began just before the 9/11 attacks, it only picked up audience viewings after the attacks took place. The show starred Jack Bauer, who with his team of counter terrorists go out and race against time to stop bombs going off whilst also capturing the bad guy.

 In 2004, the show was accused of wrongly stereotyping all Muslims and Arabs as terrorists by the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR). “Repeated association of acts of terrorism with Islam will only serve to increase anti-Muslim prejudice” (P114). To come back from this comment, critics of CAIR claimed that shows like 24 proclaimed pressing matters such as the social and political issues on today’s war on terror. They also claimed that CAIR was only trying to deflect the reality of Muslim terrorism by confining television writer to become politically correct.

How did the show respond to these claims though? For a start, the show included Arabs and Muslims as the good guys helping the American Government, whilst also showing ethnic, religious and political groups as multi-dimensional to the American audiances. For example, the villains on the 8^th season came from all over the globe such as Russians, Germans, Mexico and other areas of Europe. 24 didn’t stop there though, in 2005, during one of its commercial breaks, a featured lead actor reminded viewers that “the American Muslim community stands firmly beside their fellow Americans in denouncing and resisting all forms of terrorism”. (P115)

The show also stepped up its strategies by:

1.     Included portrayals of Muslim Americans as patriotic or as innocent victims of post 9/11 hate crimes.

2.     Humanizing Arab/Muslim terrorists

3.     Presenting an array of terrorist identities.

The show wanted to show the American public how stereotyping would be seen on television when in season six, a Muslim woman from Pakistan who was brought up in American from a young age and worked for the terrorist group was framed as an innocent victim of a post 9/11 backlash against Arabs and Muslims, when falsely accused of leaking information to terrorists and as a result tortured in interrogation by her colleagues. The show wanted to challenge and bring to the public’s attention how wrong it is to judge people.

      

       The show even went further by casting a family of Muslims in one of its seasons. It soon turns out though that this family has an agenda of destroying a nuclear power plant, killing millions as a result. Before we find this out, we are shown an everyday family having a family discussing. In the following episode, each family members idea's towards terrorism is explored. The farther will kill his family to complete the mission, the mother would reconsider her involvement to protect her son, and their son who was born in American is portrayed as having a sense of humanity that ultimately prevent him from being a terrorist.

In regards to presenting an array of terrorist from different types of backgrounds, 24 depicted more Euro-Americans as a larger network of terrorist. Throughout season two, we are lead to believe that the terrorist being chased are from Arab based countries. We eventually find out that they are being controlled by Euro- Americans aiming to get rich from the Oil in the Middle East.

The show also decided to present the U.S public as multi-cultural. This was done for many reasons, such as the U.S president being African American, whilst his secretary is Asian American. The counter terrorism unit was also diverse with Latinos and African American. All of these facts were taken into account and so the show has leaned, evolved, grown and developed each season into not stereotyping certain individuals, countries or religions, but rather depicting a terrorist as anyone in society.

I thought 24 did a very good job in trying to make up for what critiques claimed were stereotypings in the show. Many shows might not hve budged, but 24's producers were quick to figure out ways in which to show a more realistic way of showing true terrorists rather than showing your stereotypical arab/muslim terrorist.

The Amazing Race

I had to present a PowerPoint on this blog and found it to be an interesting read as it did what I expected a show like that to do. The main thesis behind the game is contestants travel around the world to different countries performing a variety of tasks. Each week they are at different countries and at the end of each episode one group is eliminated. Eventually the winner takes home $1 million. The show as a result has become one of the biggest reality shows in American introducing many Americans to the not so known non- American.

In 2011, 95% of shows on television were set and scripted in America. For the American public shows like The Amazing Race brought something different to the table, bringing in over ten million viewers and episode. The problem is, as many shows in America never show their heros travelling around the world much, the audiance never gets a real idea of what it is like outside of America.

The show has come under criticism for stereotyping individuals and countries in every episode. “The show carries a significant amount of weight in speaking of, for, and about the world at large” (P126). The show is constantly being criticized for portraying locals in certain ways whilst not allowing them to speak to the cameras, mealy being seen, but not heard. The locals quite often only function as backdrops alone. The show isn’t about them at all and it seems that the less the are seen the better.

The show sells itself on being completely reality, even though we all know what that means. The contestants are supposedly put in real life situation with real people from around the world. This is not the case however. In season seven which this chapter gives examples from, the teams are racing to get to some llamas and lead them to a specific location in Peru. Rather than being told this in the Peru airport and sent out without any help to find llamas, they are in fact guided to a specific location in the countryside where specific llamas are awaiting them. They are met by pre hired llama herders and sent on their way to the next area. The producers have therefor pre-determined where they are going, who they are meeting and what as a result will be shown and not shown. To go into more detail they can basically determine what they want to depict from a certain country leaving that country with little or no way of speaking for itself .

On another episode set in South Africa, the tasks are described as common and traditional. The challenge is called “Tunnels and Tribes”, which basically introduces South African to the audiance as cavemen, or primitive tribal elders who demand those most stereotypical belongings such as necklaces, drums, pipes and bowls. “Whether the nation is presented as traditional, simple, and rural, or as commercially vibrant, modernized and urban comes down entirely to the producers”.(P129)

When the episode has finally finished and everyone has gone home, the footage is put in the editors hands that basically have the task of what to put in and what not to put in. They are usually guided by the producers. The contestant might interact with the locals a lot but the viewers at home are left with restricted or directed visions. Non Americans are not the focus, they are not allowed to speak much and if they do, it’s minimal and to the point. Its only depictions of architectural building are those that have been influences by American cultures showing the modernization of American culture influencing other countries.

To conclude The Great Race, the show does not for me, shows any country in a positive light but instead sets out to belittle people, stereotype, and lift American above others. The problem  for eople who see this show as wrong is that this show is watched by millions of people, and so as long as the show is making money, the shows will keep appearing on television.

The Cosby show

I used to watch The Cosby show when I was younger, I can’t remember any of the episodes in detail, but I knew I enjoyed watching it. I grew up watching the fresh Prince of Bel Air, and feel that The Cosby show started that style of show.

The show was around a wealthy, upper middle class family who went about their daily lives. The show wanted to set the record straight to the people at home that there were many wrongful black representations out there and wanted to show a true reality, such as the mother being a lawyer and the husband a doctor, who both had five children together.

The show came around time when African Americans were being portrayed in a negative light. For many year Politicians had been arguing over what was the cause of such a slump to the country and it seemed that the African Americans were having to take the blame which they felt was wrong and unjustly. Bill Cosby, the comedian brought in for the show based his jokes on such issues but instead of using his show as a way of hating on white people, he in turn tried to make light of the situations. When he originally signed for The Cosby Show he made sure he was the executive producer, a role that no other African American had attained thus far. With this role, he was able to hire actors and shape the storylines.

With his hands on the steering wheel, Bill Cosby addressed issues such as blackness, but opted to keep his own personal opinions out of it. This show was a first of its kind. Previously, shows depicted African American (A.A) as “working class, single – parent, and often poor” (P139). 

Bill Cosby would come up with the ideas for the show and put it to his script writers who would then go off and write him a script. Cosby then hired Alvin Poussaint, an A.A psychiatrist from Harvard University to review each script for psychological consistency, racial authenticity and freedom from unintended insults.

As a result the viewers saw an “upstanding, independent, hardworking family contrasting the numerous perceptions of welfare families who were said to be draining the American economy” (P140). The show decided to ignore the race of the family and show storylines that white Americans could accept and more importantly, empathize with.

As each episode air, it addresses life in a normal house hold, looking after children, how Cliff will react to his daughter dating a new guy; basically the norms that most families face. They are also set with meanings usually involved such as the meaning of working hard and putting ieffort into everything.

The show became a success and was granted many more seasons. With its success though, questions kept being brought up to Bill Cosby such as should he use his show to deal with issues such as blacks struggling twice as much as whites. Bill's response was simply “no”. He didn’t want the show as a platform for a dialogue of race.  Bill was not willing to back down and kept his views that The Cosby show would be unwilling to challenge the conservatives of race, suggesting that one’s status is solely the matter of the individual and not of the system.

The show went on for many more years until its final episode around the time of the L.A riots in 1992. However, Bill Cosby was a influence for many more shows to appear such as the Simpson who also shows a middle class family.  Bill refused to be brought into political or race issues as he so easily could have with the power he had. Instead he took an important step to spread positivity and break down the barrier or stereotyping black families in America.

Conclusion

Reading these three chapters was very interesting into how each show acted towards stereotyping. For example, “24” after being accused of stereotyping Arabs and Muslims went about changing people ideas of what a terrorist really is and depict them from all over the world. “The Great Race”, did nothing but stereotype countries and individuals, leaving the viewers with nothing but a one minded way of viewing that country. “The Cosby show” however, had the chance to raise political issues out in the real world, but decided to not go down that path, but more so change people stereotypes by showing that A.A are just like your everyday white person who can live in a nice area and have good jobs.

As you can see stereotyping goes on all around us on a daily basis and it won’t change for a very long time. We must all change our way of thinking and the way we treat our society otherwise we will never move forward properly.