5 Big Ideas About Television

Television - a form of entertainment I could honestly not live without. When I think about the shows I watch not being in existence, I actually get really upset. I look forward to watching a set number of shows each week and am extremely thankful for the invention of DVR. I loved reading this section of chapter 6 and learning all about television in its beginning. Here are what I feel to be the 5 big ideas:

1. Similar to the film industry, the television industry has its top competitors/networks. What originally started out as the Big Three soon developed into the Big Four. These networks are still ones we hear of today - NBC (National Broadcasting Corporation), ABC (American Broadcasting System), CBS (Columbia Broadcasting System), and FOX (Fox Broadcasting Company). These four networks have faced competition amongst themselves as well as with emerging cable and satellite stations over the years.

2. I always knew ratings were incredibly important to the success or failure of a television show, I just never knew there was a system created to measure them. The Nielsen Ratings system is used to measure audience sizes; there is a specific way of going about generating of these ratings, but to be completely honest, the whole thing kind of confused me.
Also, coinciding with ratings is sweep week. They are the first weeks of November, March, May, and July. Audience viewership during these weeks is crucial in determining the future of a television series; it is one of the biggest deciding factors in their fate.

3. I may not be the biggest sports fan out there, but it was interesting to read about how it all began. I could not believe that the first events covered on television were boxing and wrestling matches! Also that a baseball game between Columbia and Princeton in 1939 was the first televised sports event! It is crazy to see how sports programming has evolved over the years! These events attract insanely large audiences; people look forward to watching sporting events on their television screens!

4. I must admit, I am a sucker for reality television. The semi-drama and overall entertainment draws me in; it is like my guilty pleasure. The fact that the thought of creating such a genre was developed by a British producer, and in 1996 no less, completely baffled me. I never knew that Survivor was the first reality series (it developed out of Charlie Parsons' 1996 idea).

5. The future of television is one that is completely unknown. With the focus shifting towards the Internet, no one knows what will become of it. This chapter tells us that while NBC is attempting to add the Internet into their focus, CBS is confident that the shows they have on the air will be successful no matter what. I look forward to what will become of television as the years go on. I, for one, am fully devoted to it and don't see myself moving towards viewing over the Internet as a full-time thing. Occasionally, I will watch a show online, but there is something about watching it on the larger screen that makes the storyline all the more powerful.