Class Notes, October 30; TeLeViSiOn: What's the big deal?

What is so interesting about this medium of communication?

- Advertisements
- The way that we view things
- Becoming more interactive through things like reality television (American Idol), the news (polls), educational shows for children (Sesame Street), educational shows for adults (History Channel)
- Digital television helps to keep up with changing times (versus internet)
- Have ability to be flexible with On Demand, Recording, Ti-Vo (multi-model)
- Literacy (different types?)
1. Media
- Can use television for classrooms and teachers

Advertisements:

-Driving force behind television
-People want viewers to watch their show, so they pull in as much advertisement as they think is necessary to appeal to their viewers
-Seek to pull viewers into what is being advertised and get them to go out and obtain/use that product
-Has had a lot of years to develop
-Attention span of children
- How often do ad's premier? (Often become more frequent towards the end of a show)
-Cliffhanger's: commerical comes right before the pivotal part of the show and then when the show returns from the commerical break, all that's left is essentially the show credits
- Object: Don't lose viewers during the commercial breaks (unique characters?)
- Doesn't impose restrictions on shows; doesn't require the scale of time that a movie wants
-Lends itself to more casual entertainment, casual= viewer doesn't have to invest a whole lot of time
-Idea of rising action>conflict>downfall
-Sitcom: made for those situations where you just come home, sit down, and just veg out with something to laugh about