Ralph, Fred, Archie, and Homer - Richard Butsch, pg 575-585

Recap: This article talks about how the major broadcaster were the dominant force in television programming and when dealing with advertising. All of the shows that dealt with family had nice middle class families or even upper class family settings. A large selection of the shows had the father being a lawyer. Hardly any lower, working middle class families were presented in shows. After the slow decline of viewership to cable and other media, the 1990’s presented a situation of which the big 4 had not be in before. They started to take more risks to direct shows towards the younger crowd, 18 – 34 year olds. Middle class families began appearing with quite a lot of regularity. Even to the point of featuring dysfunctional families. Bringing all the way down to the blue collar level.

Comment: What really gets me is how what we watch is totally regulated by what advertisers are willing to spend money on. So it comes down to who gets the money and where does it come from. The broadcast channels feature the sitcoms and almost direct how the populace will eventually act towards who ever it is they have portrayed. I think this is where our society picks up it’s biases towards the blue collar worker nowadays. Back in the early years of television it was more they were trying to portray the life that everyone wanted. Here is our little house with the white picket fence with the perfect father and happy mother taking care of the two or three kids.