Six Hours Of Television :: essays research papers

Six Hours of TelevisionIn looking at modern television schedule thither are hundreds of suggeststo choose from. pickax six hours of television to analyze from the prospectiveof an anthropologist is by no means easy. It is easy however, to talk aboutwhat our nation looks like to others who have never been here. Everyone isgorgeous, lives happily, and overcomes every last(predicate) problems, unless more on that later.Four hours of the programming I chose is perhaps the most ordinary programmingthis year, consistently topping the Nielsen ratings. For the remaining twohours of programming I decided to look at two police drama shows, one that wasbrand new this season and one not brand new, but still going strong.For the two hours of police dramas, I looked at programs with differentangles. NYPD BLUE is the story of police detectives, and HIGH consequent was anew show that looked at the view of policing from the beat. HIGH INCIDENTrepresented one of the first t.v. shows to come fr om the SKG works of StevenSpielberg. However, just like Spielbergs previous AMAZING STORIES, HIGHINCIDENT has already ceased to air. This could still change though, with thenext season. Of the remaining four hours, three are on television everyThursday night, and include the tremendously popular FRIENDS, the SINGLE GUY,the hits SEINFELD and CAROLINE IN THE CITY, and the most popular show this year,ER. For the remaining hour I choose to look at THE TONIGHT SHOW, with Jay Leno.Between these shows there are numerous similarities and many differences. All ofthese shows can be directly compared with each other, having virtually of the samequalities. Looking at these shows in the perspective of an anthropologist somedisquieting trends emerge. I will present the information as if an outsider,from another nation, were watching American shows, and thinkd what he/she wasseeing to be true of what goes on in America.Perhaps more realistic than the other shows, NYPD BLUE, and HIGH INCIDENTrep resent the closest what life is really like. To a foreigner seeing theseshows, they would probably believe that America is a blood bath of crime and illwill towards other people. While this isnt true the whole nation over, thereare many cities like those portrayed in these two shows. Like the other shows Iwill discuss, these two have casts made up of predominately Caucasian males andfemales. Other nationalities, such(prenominal) as Asian, Afro-American, and Latino aresprinkled in just enough to make sure the shows are politically correct. To an