Family in the 21st century on TV
Thanks to all the folks who took the time to send me comments, some widely inventive and some staying with the specs. I think Justin Reedy summed up the situation well -- see below -- and then my comment after him. Barry Wellman _______________________________________________________________________ S.D. Clark Professor of Sociology, FRSC NetLab Director Department of Sociology 725 Spadina Avenue, Room 388 University of Toronto Toronto Canada M5S 2J4 twitter:barrywellman http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman fax:+1-416-978-3963 Updating history: http://chass.utoronto.ca/oldnew/cybertimes.php _______________________________________________________________________ From: Justin Reedy <jsreedy@gmail.com> To: wellman@chass.utoronto.ca Subject: Re: Air-L Digest, Vol 62, Issue 13 Hi Barry, I wonder if someone was suggesting the new incarnation of Beverly Hills 90210? That show is just called "90210" -- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1225901/ BW: I agree, but I can't find it on Canadian TV now. (Global network. Where are you. I would also suggest Friday Night Lights (a real pip of a show!), which features a husband who is a high school football coach, a wife who is a school counselor and administrator, and a daughter who is a student at the same school. I seem to recall them using cell phones to stay in touch, though more often that comes up after school hours, I think. Also, there is a plotline at one point involving one student's dad serving in Iraq, and trying to stay in touch with him via video chat. BW: Good idea. I'd also mention Gossip Girls, which has a few intact families. Hope this helps! -Justin Reedy Doctoral student University of Washington BW: As I've discussed with a few of you, the lack of family shows (with real kids on them, and not almost 20s) and the lack of intact families on major networks [I discount ABC Family because it is marginal and doesn't come to Canada anyway;-)], may reflect changing demographics to some extent. Yet H-W marriages with children are still quite prevalent. BW: What this exchange has led me to meditate on is that there may be a change in marketing that is linked to changes in TV use. Family shows of a while ago were aimed at more-or-less the entire family. But 92010 are not aimed at olde me (@66), children or anything more than 20-30 year olds. I wonder -- and would love evidence -- if TV watching has become more personal TV watching instead of family TV watching -- so shows are narrowcasting their demographics much more. This would be true if each sentient HHold member had their own TV, and if many folks were getting their TV fix thru downloads, podcasts, iPhones, etc. (I know I'm being quasi-redundant here). Anyway, that's my .02, and while I hope for evidence on the last point, I'll move on and keep writing up the rest of the Networked Family chapter. PS: As some have asked. I will not be at the AIR conference, alas. I'll be instead at the Mobile Communications conference at Rutgers at the same time, and also before that at the WIN (networked information) conference at NYU. More than enough traveling and not enough money for more. Thanks for listening. Barry
Hi all Interesting point about the atomised audience - there is however a whole genre of traditional family shows which seems popular still: semi-satirical cartoon universes (the Simpsons of course, and all the current imitators - Family Guy? - whose names elude me). Not sure about tech use in those shows but the Simpsons in any case seems to work at different levels for different audiences / age groups. Mathieu ----- Original Message ----- From: Barry Wellman <wellman@chass.utoronto.ca> Date: Wednesday, September 16, 2009 3:37 am Subject: [Air-L] Family in the 21st century on TV To: aoir list <รง> Cc: jsreedy@gmail.com
Thanks to all the folks who took the time to send me comments, some widely inventive and some staying with the specs.
I think Justin Reedy summed up the situation well -- see below -- and then my comment after him.
Barry Wellman _______________________________________________________________________
S.D. Clark Professor of Sociology, FRSC NetLab Director Department of Sociology 725 Spadina Avenue, Room 388 University of Toronto Toronto Canada M5S 2J4 twitter:barrywellman
http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman fax:+1-416-978-3963 Updating history: http://chass.utoronto.ca/oldnew/cybertimes.php _______________________________________________________________________
From: Justin Reedy <jsreedy@gmail.com> To: wellman@chass.utoronto.ca Subject: Re: Air-L Digest, Vol 62, Issue 13
Hi Barry,
I wonder if someone was suggesting the new incarnation of Beverly Hills 90210? That show is just called "90210" -- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1225901/
BW: I agree, but I can't find it on Canadian TV now. (Global network. Where are you.
I would also suggest Friday Night Lights (a real pip of a show!), which features a husband who is a high school football coach, a wife who is a school counselor and administrator, and a daughter who is a student at the same school. I seem to recall them using cell phones to stay in touch, though more often that comes up after school hours, I think. Also, there is a plotline at one point involving one student's dad serving in Iraq, and trying to stay in touch with him via video chat.
BW: Good idea. I'd also mention Gossip Girls, which has a few intact families.
Hope this helps! -Justin Reedy Doctoral student University of Washington
BW: As I've discussed with a few of you, the lack of family shows (with real kids on them, and not almost 20s) and the lack of intact families on major networks [I discount ABC Family because it is marginal and doesn't come to Canada anyway;-)], may reflect changing demographics to some extent. Yet H-W marriages with children are still quite prevalent. BW: What this exchange has led me to meditate on is that there may be a change in marketing that is linked to changes in TV use.
Family shows of a while ago were aimed at more-or-less the entire family. But 92010 are not aimed at olde me (@66), children or anything more than 20-30 year olds.
I wonder -- and would love evidence -- if TV watching has become more personal TV watching instead of family TV watching -- so shows are narrowcasting their demographics much more. This would be true if each sentient HHold member had their own TV, and if many folks were getting their TV fix thru downloads, podcasts, iPhones, etc. (I know I'm being quasi-redundant here).
Anyway, that's my .02, and while I hope for evidence on the last point,I'll move on and keep writing up the rest of the Networked Family chapter.
PS: As some have asked. I will not be at the AIR conference, alas. I'll be instead at the Mobile Communications conference at Rutgers at the same time, and also before that at the WIN (networked information) conferenceat NYU. More than enough traveling and not enough money for more.
Thanks for listening. Barry
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**** Dr Mathieu O'Neil Adjunct Research Fellow Australian Demographic and Social Research Institute College of Arts and Social Science The Australian National University E-mail: mathieu.oneil@anu.edu.au Tel.: (61 02) 61 25 38 00 Web: http://adsri.anu.edu.au/people/visitors/mathieu.php Mail: Coombs Building, 9 Canberra, ACT 0200 - AUSTRALIA
participants (2)
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Barry Wellman -
Mathieu O'Neil