In the article “Ralph, Fred, Archie, Homer, and the King of Queens”, Richard Butsch gives an explanation to the reason why network and cable television reproduce the same character dynamics in different shows, and the difficulties of unique shows with niche audiences to last more than a few seasons. Unfortunately most major television networks aren’t looking to create truly unique and good television series that represents a particular scope of American culture somewhat accurately. Having said that, there are a lot more shows on television that do their best to showcase reality within a script then there used to be, but we rarely find them on network television. At the end of the day the goal is to have as many people watching your channel as possible, so the advertisers will be happy.
The big networks do this by taking few risks and repeating what they know has worked in the past. The best example of this is CBS’s hit series CSI. This show became so popular that it started to cause jurors to require more physical evidence in actual court cases.
After the booming success of CSI two years later CBS put a new hat on it and called it CSI: Miami.
Two years after the continued success of CSI and CSI: Miami CBS decided to completely change everything and create a truly unique show called CSI: New York.
CBS isn’t the only network to repeat shows, but it is one of the worst offenders that still manage to pull it off. They decided to add NCIS to their arsenal of crime drama’s in 2003. It’s slightly different from CSI, but follows the same format. (A body is found, characters investigate, comical relief subplots to make the character’s more “lovable”, they bring in the wrong guy, They bring in the right guy but they don’t know it’s the right guy, characters continue to investigate, the right guy is caught.) Of course CBS now follows NCIS with another great original, NCIS: LA.As long as ratings remain the most important factor to television networks, we are unlikely to see much change in the type of programing they produce. While there are some good successful shows (The Office, Big Bang Theory, and How I Met Your Mother) very few unique and original series will make it to network television, and even fewer will last. (Freaks and Geeks, Arrested Development, Community, etc.)
I agree, CBS keeps creating the same shows so that they can have multiple seasons running around the same time to prevent a loss in profit at any given time. To create a new show one just needs to get a new set and a new cast. People watch these shows and each episode because each one is original but at the same time the same as the last episode. People will ask them self's "what scenario will they think of next?". Another reason these repeat shows do so well is because anyone can sit down an pick a random episode and be able to follow what is going on with out having to see the entire season. Good observation I had never really noticed how many of these shows they have produced.
ReplyDeleteCBS producer are doing what is best for their market productivity nation wide, they focus on the reality off criminal cases and create the such hit series called Crime Sene Investigation. Then they expand their network series by changing the setting of this drama. Their main focus is to show the audience, the real crime scenes taking place in our nation. The expansion and the same concepts help the viewers stay close to the series and learn new strategies by the variety of cases that people face in real life.
ReplyDeleteConsidering CSI: is my all time favorite show on this planet, I feel strongly about this. Personally, I think CBS had a fabulous idea with all the CSI:'s and NCIS's. Shows like CSI: dumb down an interesting topic such as murder, and solving it, and allows the viewer feel like a little CSI: helping solve a crime. In reality, however, heinous murder crimes are less than glamourous, the CSI:'s that solve them do not live in million-plus homes and they will never solve a crime in 24 hours, but, it makes America think that it can and will happen. People are more influenced than they realize when it comes to television, they believe that if the evidence isn't there, like on CSI:, NCIS etc, it didn't happen. When in reality, many times in a murder case the evidence isn't physical. Point is, its entertaining, its a fictional take on a very real issue that lets people think they have the inside scoop, when really, they don't, and they should be taking whats on their screen with a grain of salt.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree that these original series tend toward not being so original. I see that it would be difficult to find something that hasn't been done before. But, to make it the same show just in a different city? A little too redundant if you ask me.
ReplyDeleteYou can't blame these companies for wanting to make money. However, when it comes to the topic of portrayl of women, men,races, and sexual orientation in the media, I would like to see some more true to life scenarios.
The sad part about CIS is that when it comes to the law there are times when circumstantial evidence is required to prove a case. Circumstantial evidence includes things like where a person was during the crime, who witnessed them where, what were they doing after the event (for instance: Why didn't Casey Anthony call the police about her daughter? Why was Casey Anthony partying for 30 days while her daugther was missing, instead of calling the police?) These things are considered circumstantial and are considered extremely important, so much so that they are considered the same as "real" evidence.
Shows like Law and Order and CIS are causing problems, not fixing them.