Television has been a revelation in America’s history. Irrespective of their ages, class, sex, or location, American lives seem to be influenced by the screen. Music and movie producers get huge profits in return and this clearly explains why the artists and the actors live lavish lives. Their lives seem to be the most decorated in the world thanks to their huge followers who do not mind buying the new release. No wonder television appears to play a great role in shaping American culture. This paper will attempt to discuss how Americans pick their TV show, the elements they look for when choosing a show, and how it reflects on sex and age groups (its influence on American culture).
The United States of America plays a major role in building its entertainment industry. The heavy investment in the industry has brought about a resounding response from the citizens; it has even reached a point of addiction. Statistics show that over 99% aged 8-18 years have televisions and 77% of them have them in their Bedrooms (Kaiser Family Foundation 15). With the improvement of technology, some people watch television online.
Integration of technology has also made it easies to watch television on phones and I-pods. This has generally retained the overall population that watches television. Among the series mainly watched is The O.C. which is the top show for 12-17-year-olds (parentstv 1), Desperate Housewives and Friends mainly watched by adults. Due to their unique appeal to various age- groups, they have great followings.
One of the Series frequently watched by teens in the United States is the O.C (Orange County), a drama, comedy show aired on Fox Network. The show portrays the general high school students’ and college students’ life on West Coast. The name (O.C.) Orange County comes from the filming location. The main characters include Sandy Cohen, Kristen Cohen, Ryan Atwood, Seth Cohen, Julie Cooper, and Summer Roberts. Sandy Cohen is a lawyer and former social defender who brings Ryan home; Kristen Cohen is Sandy’s and a daughter to Jimmy Cooper, who heads a real estate company. Cooper’s husband, Ryan Atwood is a troubled outsider from Chino.
After Sandy rescues him from the court, Ryan lives at Sandy’s house and becomes friends with Seth. He later gets into a relationship with Marissa. Seth Cohen is a son to Sandy and Kristen and later becomes Summer’s boyfriend; Julie Cooper divorces Marissa’s dad and marries Kristen’s Father, Jimmy Cooper. Summer is one of the four main teen characters and loves Seth. Her best friend is Marissa.
Most of the audiences of this show are teenagers because the content is based on high school life. Also, it has plenty of teenagers’ language and slang which most teenagers understand and love to use. This show therefore uniquely appeals to the teenager, and influence their behaviors since most of the events revolve around their lives. Children tend to learn new things faster and therefore whatever they watch at this age is crucial in their development, it follows that the shows will reflect on the daily happenings in American youths. In this show, the characters are portrayed as very energetic, romantic, and wealthy because those elements are the most attractive to the set of viewers.
This truly reflects on American culture since most teens are actively involved in relationships, focused on wealth, and very active at this stage. The television shows only fuel their desires to take part in such activities and this justifies why they seldom miss a single episode. The influence has gone beyond the borders to other parts of the world where the teens keep tabs with the latest release. In this way, the outside world has learned American culture through Television shows.
Another favorite TV show in The United States is Desperate Housewives. It was screened first on ABC in 2004 and created by Marc Cherry (IMDb Inc. 1).
This TV show portrays different lives in four housewives: Lynette Scavo is a stressful housewife because she has two troublesome twin boys who always cause trouble with neighbors; Gabrielle Solis is married to a rich man, but she has to do part-time modeling after her husband turns bankrupt; Edie Britt is a perfectionist, the others think she is a great mother who lives in great wealth, but things turn on her when she gets divorced and has to deal with troublesome son, Andrew, who constantly get to fights at school; Susan Mayer is a single mother who always likes to find love and has a daughter just like her mom. Susan leaves her daughter to make every single decision.
Desperate Housewives is popular because it portrays the problems families face in America. As is the statistics of increasingly single families and continuous divorce, desperate housewives depict a true picture of American culture and allow the audience to judge their decisions based on the events that occur on the show. Most viewers are single mothers, with children and face the same problems showcased in the show. It appeals to the adult population who face many of the problems cited and reflects on their culture. The show also illustrates how the American housewives balance their life between family, work, and their social life.
The other TV show that has been on the TV screen for 11 years with 10 seasons is Friends. Produced by Kevin S. Bright, Marta Kauffman, and David Crane, Friends is centered on the lives of a group of three men and three women who are all in their twenties and live in Greenwich Village, New York City. The first season lasted from 1994 to 1995. The main characters in the show are Rachel Green, Monica Geller, Phoebe Buffay, Joey Tribbiani, Chandler Bing, and Ross Geller. Sometimes the characters’ apartments, and their daily experiences.
Other times the filming is done in a café. At one stage almost every American has watch Friends since it reflects on life after college, and just during the first of jobs. Most friends are notably close in their age gaps. Although other age groups seem to watch this show in large numbers, most viewers tend to be in their twenties too, which can give a clue of the realities involved and hence the culture of graduates in the United States. Despite the slight disparity, Friends appeals to every age group. Teenagers will look forward to starting their lives like the characters in the show as the old watch and reflect on how they did theirs. What distinguishes Friends from O.C. is the filming location, while O.C. is on the west coast, Friends is done on the east coast (IMDb Inc. 1).
Conclusion
The Television shows America’s varied culture. Different shows give diverse cultures at different ages. But the most notable practices are divorce, romance, and lifestyle which seem to change with exposure to media. Television gives a view of the different backgrounds and varied cultures in America. It, therefore, stands out as one of the most influential in cultivating a people’s culture. But parental care should take to guard the interest of the children for a better future.
Works Cited
IMDb,Inc.“DesperateHousewives”. 2004. Web.
IMDb Inc. “Friends”. September 1994. Web.
Kaiser Family Foundation. GENERATION M2: Media in the lives of 8- to 18-year-olds. 2010. Web.
TheParentTelevisionCouncil.“FactsandTVStatistics.”1995. Web.
Reflection
The paper was well documented; in fact save for a few mistakes mainly in citation and format since it was a research paper. The idea was well sought. The theme was well contained in the draft and any reader would easily understand the thesis. In text citation was not well documented since this is an MLA paper. Interestingly the paper was able to bring out a study on three classifications of viewers, the teens, adults and both in a viewing platform. The choice of the series as examples was direct and the focus was well highlighted. The paper was able to highlight the age group, location and enthusiasm with regards to the viewers. It was a generally an intelligent writing with creative attribution.
Some of the weaknesses of the paper were the introduction which was not well brought out; the questions at the beginning would have been made into thesis in sentence form, so as to lead the writer to the context and theme of the paper. In text citation was not correct especially in citing a website. An example is Wikipedia which is not a strong research tool since anyone can edit it. A few grammatical errors, but this can be corrected with experience. In summary, the paper had a strong message, and would convey it to any reader. Any reader could read and understand the essay i.e., the essay was user friendly. The paper could also be improved by creating a separate title page.
Every step comes with time and experience; write more research papers in different styles utilizing your creativity for better results. Learning is a process that never ends, I learnt an in depth view of American culture and their influence on other nations. The paper was very interactive.