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).