Chapter 7

   So here's a shock: Guess who was the first to come up with the idea of television? If you read the first sentence under "The Development of Film" you already know, but for those of you didn't, "The concept of film goes back as early as Leonardo DaVinci, who theorized in the late 1400's about creating a device that would reproduce reality" (213). What didn't this guy theorize?
   Movies were probably very exciting to people even when there was no sound, however, I am most interested in what people must of thought about the introduction of sound into movies. I couldn't imagine nowadays watching a film and not hearing the actors talk. Even just not being able to hear the music that films use to set the mood. You know, like in a horror movie when the music gets louder and louder and then the killer shows up and everyone screams. "Boosted by the innovation of sound, annual movie attendance in the United States rose from sixty million a week in 1927 to ninety million a week in 1929" (223). With stattistics like that, it's safe to say that implementing sound into movies was a change for the better.
   Whenever you go out to watch a movie, the first thing most people say is "well what are you in the mood for?" Movies come in all different types of genres, comedies like Step Brothers, Happy Gilmore, and The Hangover; Action movies like Die Hard, Kill Bill, and Indiana Jones; and Horror movies like The Ring, Frankenstein, and Nightmare on Elm Street. If you want to see it, Hollywood's got it. All genres have their own underlying themes. Whether it be good vs. evil or rags to riches, the themes usually have just a small difference from each other, but are different none the less. "A western typically features 'good' cowboys battling 'evil' bad guys...Romances present conflicts that are mediated by the ideal of love...Mystery/suspense, usually casts 'the city' as a corrupting place that needs to be covercome by the moral courage of a heroic detective" (225).
   The movie industry is trying its best to stay current, and more importantly, to not end up like the music industry. They know that the music industry was ruined by the internet, so they are trying their best to stay ahead of illegal downloaders. "After witnessing the difficulties illegal file sharing brought on the music labels, the movie industry has more quickly embraced the Internet" (241). With movies being offered through services such as iTunes, Netflix, and Hulu, I feel there is no reason to download movies illegally. If I don't buy or rent the movie I want from the store, then I will just flip to my on demand channels and access movies that way. The movie industry has done a great job of staying ahead. With iTunes unleashing the capability to rent movies for a low price, and Netflix allowing users to instantly watch movies, the movie industry shouldn't have much to worry about. They adapted very well to new technology.

Chapter 5

  Isn't it amazing how far we've come? Among other things, over the last 50 years television has carved its way into our everyday lives. It's amazing to think that with how TV is today, that its only been 40 years since color TV's were becoming a regular in households. "NBC began broadcasting a few shows in color in the mid-1950's, it wasnt until 1966, when the consumer market for color sets had taken off" (150). 1966 was when color TV sets were making their way into homes. Now 44  years later, if you don't have a high definition, 50 inch TV in your house, then your missing out. In my house we have 3 HD televisions, one in the living room, one in my parent's room and one in the basement, which conveniently is where I sleep. Anyway, all I'm saying is if we've done this in 44 years, what else could we do in another 44 years? It's crazy to think about.
  While reading this chapter I found that television programming is a lot more complicated than it seems. We all know that there are basic categories for shows, like comedies, dramas, game shows, and other series. What I did not know was all the different subcategories that those can be grouped in with. I found myself looking through finding a subcategory and playing a classic game of 'guess what show is under this subcategory'. Let me give you an example: When I read through the sketch comedy section, the only thing I could think of was Saturday Night Live. It got a little harder though, like domestic comedy and anthology drama. It seemed kind of dumb to me at first to have to group shows like this, they are just entertaining shows for god's sake, but maybe I was wrong. Different audiences like different programs. So you can't just show programs like Saturday Night Live over and over just because they make some people laugh. It may not appeal to other comedy watchers, so you throw in domestic comedies like The Office or Two and a Half Men. It works out the same way with all other categories as well.
  This chapter also opened my eyes to the behind the scenes kind of stuff. We all know that prime time programming differs from network to network, but this chapter allows us to see that those networks buy their programming from other companies. "Companies, such as Carsey-Werner, license, or "rent," each episode to a network for two broadcasts, one in the fall or winter and one in the spring or summer" (172). I did know that the networks didn't just come up with these ideas completely on their own, but I thought there were writers for that kind of thing. I also learned a bit about this in Broadcasting. There are a number of different writers that come to networks with shows, similar to an audition for a play. They basically present what they have, who their program will reach, and other information similar to that. The company mentioned in the book, Carsey-Werner, wrote shows such as "the Cosby Show, Roseanne, Third Rock from the Sun, and That '70's Show" (171).