A New Era: An Exploratory Analysis of Television in the Past and in the Now
In his infamous 1961 speech, FCC Chairman Newton Minow called television the “Vast Wasteland.” a procession of game shows, comedies about totally unbelievable families, mayhem, violence, gangsters, and cartoons. Since then, television has transformed, for better and for worse, because of media convergence, digitalization, specificity of television as a medium, and ubiquity of surveillance, Today, television is incredibly similar, yet incredibly different from television during Minow’s time. There is no longer a triopoly of networks controlling the entire medium, television is international, and television accessibility has never been better due to the variety of shows and mediums (streaming) to watch television. According to television critic Emily Nussbaum, “as the sixties are to music and the seventies to movies, the aughts [2000s] — which produced the best and worst shows in history — were to TV” (Nussbaum). Mad Men is a representation of new television, where television is something that viewers can “brood over and analyze” (Nussbaum). Dallas is more representative of a previous era, lost in the Cold War and more focused on entertainment and drama. Together, Dallas promos and the Mad Men Carousel scene reflect the shift from network to post-network television, changes in advertising, ratings, and branding, and standards of quality TV over the past few decades.
CBS Dallas promos give insight about the world and culture of television during the network era. The pre-1980s network era was a time when television was controlled by NBC, ABC, and CBS and many shows followed the same formula and style. It was a time when viewers would often “enjoy and then discard” the television shows they watched and just served as entertainment (Nussbaum). For example, in Dallas promos, the advertisers market it as “money buys power and passion breeds conflict” where the draw is that there is a rebellious granddaughter, a son who marries the wrong women, secrets are exposed, and the only question the viewer has is “I wonder what happens next.” It is very basic and speaks to Minow’s “Vast Wasteland” warning, as its premise is dramatic and unrealistic and seeks only to entertain.
The Mad Men carousel clip, produced by AMC, one of the newer networks, reflects a different world and culture of television. It is cinematic, has depth, and tackles real social issues. It focuses on one issue: an advertising guru named Don Draper (Jon Hamm) who wrestles over his broken relationship with his family and the success in his job. It encourages the audience to analyze his situation and has a real emotional connection; it is not just for entertainment. Another idea that the audience can wrestle with is nostalgia. Draper desires his old relationship with his family and parallels that with strong advertising techniques. The entirety of this clip reflects the post-network era change to more variety in the content and deeper analyzable content. AMC is one of the newer networks that focuses less on what the audience wants, and more on the creator’s ability to create quality content (Nelson).
Another notable shift, reflected by these clips, is the changes in advertising, ratings and branding of television shows. One change reflected in these clips is the shift from intrusion-based marketing to initiation — based marketing (Turow). In the Dallas promo clip, the emphasis was much more on reaching out to the viewer and telling them to watch a show and when to do it. In the 2000s, with Mad Men, there was more of a focus on seamless” and “natural” product integrations… that could also be invitations if they were so seamless that people did not recognize them as appeals” (Turow). The Mad Men clip we watched was a subtle, self-reflexive advertisement for Mad Men. Don Draper talks about the nostalgia of the Kodak Carousel, but there is deeper branding of the nostalgia of Mad Men itself. The premise of the show itself was to dive deeper into the culture of the 1960s and address many issues during that time. People who were around that time would gain nostalgia from watching the show and even those who were not around could gain insight and relate. The clip itself is part of the shift to more subtle and “initiation-based marketing” more existent during the 2000s. These clips also dive into the changes in advertising culture in regards to the shift from collectivist to individualist viewership and mass marketing to targeting/branding. In Dallas promos, it generally was marketing to everyone as a whole and was designed to be watched by the whole family together. In contrast, Mad Men was branded more individually. It is designed for people to watch, wrestle over, and draw their own conclusions rather than just following along.
Another important narrative to address is the issue of quality television. Dallas markets itself as enjoyable television, yet not quality television, while Mad Men certainly has the characteristics of quality television. Dallas certainly has some strong production ability, but “production values’ do not necessarily equate with quality television” (Nelson). It very much leans on reality television, lacks depth and complexity, and has too much going to be realistic. It simply does not fall under the criteria of quality television. On the other hand, Mad Men demonstrates the traits of quality television. It is cinematic and professional in its production, yet still has a realness and relatability to it because it takes on several social issues and has great emotional depth and complexity to it. It follows aesthetic distinctions, professional codes, and realist paradigms. However, some demonstrate skepticism to understanding the 2000s era (i.e. Mad Men) as quality television. Some critics believe that “celebrating television’s new golden age of aesthetic quality…[risks] eliding our field’s history of politically and cultural invested scholarship” (Kackman). However, those arguments are debatable because of television’s past history. While it is yet to be determined whether this change to more digitalization and almost overdone television destroys its purpose, there certainly appears to be more initiative regarding addressing social issues and producing clear, realistic shows.
Dallas promos (1978: CBS) and the Carousel pitch clip from Mad Men highlight some of these changes in television. Some of the clearer ones include the change in aesthetic and depth from network era television to post-network era television, the changes in advertising between the two eras, and the standards and differences in quality television of those eras. It is clear that a drastic shift has happened in television culture over the past few decades that have lead to question over whether television is dead. Many critics argue over whether media convergence, digitalization, ubiquity of surveillance, and specificity of television as a medium has made it unwatchable. It remains to be seen whether television will be the “vast wasteland” that Newton Minow foresaw or whether television will continue to change for the better in years to come.
Sources
Kackman, Michael. “Quality Television, Melodrama, and Cultural Complexity.” Flow Journal, 31 Oct. 2008. Accessed 19 Feb. 2018.
Katz, Elihu. “The End of Television?” SAGE, The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science Series ser., vol. 625, Sept. 2009, us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/the-end-of-television/book234723. Accessed 19 Feb. 2018.
Manjoo, Farhad. “Social Media Takes Television Back in Time.” New York Times [New York City], 3 Oct. 2015, www.nytimes.com/2015/10/05/business/media/social-media-takes-television-back-in-time.html. Accessed 19 Feb. 2018.
Nelson, Robin. “Quality Television: The Sopranos is the best television drama ever… in my humble opinion.” SAGE, 1 Mar. 2006, journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.7227/CST.1.1.9. Accessed 19 Feb. 2018.
Nussbaum, Emily. “When TV Became Art.” New York Magazine, 4 Dec. 2009, TV as Art by Emily Nussbaum. Accessed 19 Feb. 2018.
Turow, Joseph. “Rethinking Television in the Digital Age.” Media, Organizations, and Identity, pp. 27–46, link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978–0–230–24839–7_2. Accessed 19 Feb. 2018.
