Television and the People that Watch It

Hello you people out there reading this.

I know you have been here, Google tells me so.

Disclaimer: To the people who are referred  to in this post, you know who you are, this is not a dig at you in the least, but these are things that I find are unique and make my life more interesting on an almost daily basis, so I wanted to tell everyone about it.

In our flat television watching is actually a spectator sport, it often involves commentary and at times down right abuse of or yelling at the people behaving in stupid ways on the TV. I grew up in a family much like any other, where the members of the family and their friends gather to watch sport, which always involves spirited cheering and yelling as if the people on the TV can actually be influenced by how vocal you are, so this phenomena of interaction with the TV set is not new in the least, but it is always amusing.

Sometimes this commentary is pity for the poor beloved person on some reality show who makes a mistake that will ultimately result in him or her going home (There were a few of these moments during the previously mentioned ‘NZ’s Hottest Home Baker’ nights,) other times it is irritation at the way some television shows pander to humanities lowest common denominators such as toilet humour, politically incorrect jokes or sub-contexts, and  just plain old poor character development in some cases. Adverts often make for some of the more outraged moments of commentary.

None of this is a problem for me mind you, in fact it often makes for some quite interesting debates on society and the world at large which I find not only entertaining, but also often educational. Maybe it would be better if we kept out debates confined to the ad-breaks for the sake of the others in the room actually trying to watch, but then the moment is usually lost.

Admittedly everyone does watch TV like this, to some degree or another, that’s what makes watching TV or movies with other people, so much more entertaining than sitting in a dark room by yourself. There is interaction and reflection on the moments of entertainment that the voices in our heads just never quite provide.

What I wonder, however, is why do people keep watching shows that make them so irritated? and why do people watch TV and expect it to be targeted at an audience which it is not? You don’t read the newspapers and expect Shakespeare ‘esque elegant prose,  ‘newspapers are written for people with the average reading age of a 13 year old’ is the statistic I once heard. Television (and most movies) are the same, aimed at where the money is, the mass-market.

The mass-market want male characters on TV to get uncomfortable when the female characters talk about gynecologists, or dismembered (disembodied?) testicles (as was the basis of some of the discussion during tonight’s watching of an episode of Bones), they want fake laugh tracks in their sit-coms because that makes them seem funnier, they also want unbalanced drama and to vote for the pretty people on reality TV shows because that’s what makes them feel better about themselves.

The laugh track one is an interesting case, a friend of mine who absolutely hates a show I like – ‘The Big Bang Theory’ – posted a clip on facebook of a scene in the show that has been almost completely unedited from the filming, it has had the laugh track removed and is filled with awkward pauses and silence where the laugh track should be which makes it very unfunny and even strange and awkward at times.

This was his point about why the big bang is not a funny show to watch and not worth his time. I on the other hand, have watched this scene in question, and happen to be able to realize that someone has edited the silent gaps to make them even longer and more awkward than they would have been on an edited (as it would have played on the TV) version of the show that has literally only had the laughter removed.

My point is, if you were sitting in the studio watching the show being recorded it wouldn’t be funny to watch because it is not designed to be a stage play, these are not stand-up comedians delivering lines that they themselves find funny. These are actors pretending to be characters, who we are meant to find amusing, often for the very fact that the characters themselves don’t find what they are saying humorous at all, they think it is serious, therefore it is edited in ways which take that into account and allow us time to laugh without missing the next lines.

If you take the ‘social commentary art’ on the Berlin wall, and draw it exactly the same on the front of Parliament Buildings, it would just be seen as graffiti. Any art or artist with the context or make-up removed, can be seen as rubbish or just a normal ugly person. Film and Television is the same, you take the laughter and editing out of sit-coms and they become weird and awkward, you take the ‘middle-class-stereo-typical’ reactions out of characters on a show like ‘Bones’ then it’s not Bones any more, you take the attitude of treating women like objects out of ‘Americas Next Top Model’ and all you have is a bunch of average normal women in average normal clothes trying to be ‘Americas Next Top Intellectual Person’.

All these pilot show ideas are not going to appeal to your average person, and as such none of them will make any advertising money, and never get picked up for syndication.

TV is simply there for entertainment, generally of the lowest form. It is not intended to involve a great deal of thinking, and if it is internationally popular (ie, above ‘cult show’ status), it will never start a revolution. If you do not enjoy your film or television like this, read a book or watch documentaries. I myself try not to watch shows I know I will not enjoy, because it takes the entire purpose out of watching TV (any series of ‘Survivor’ or ‘Eastenders’ and ‘The Bill’ basically fall into this category.)

Well that’s the end of my ramblings for today… Time to go and watch an episode of Trauma. Seeing as you read this far, have a look at the video I was shown of ‘The Big Bang Theory’ without the laughter… Those of you who know the scene will know that this is not what it would seem like if you just literally removed the laughter from what we see on the TV.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjjJzUj2QBo