What REALLY Killed the Television Star?
Hello All–
I’ve been giving a lot of thought lately to television and why it doesn’t excite me like it used to. Now, out of fairness, I am only one person. Because I don’t have a DVR full of the Top 20 television shows of the week doesn’t necessarily mean that television is dead. However, there are some undeniable realities that need to be acknowledged. There is no show currently on television with the popularity of something like The Cosby Show, The Golden Girls, or even Full House. There are no television characters with the magnetism of Roseanne, Steve Urkle, or Pee-wee Herman.
The 1980s may not have been the apex of television, but when compared to what’s currently on our sets, it certainly seems that way.
There are plenty of shows that have attracted legions of fans in recent years like Lost, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Office, and even American Idol, but it seems like they all lack the national attention that the aforementioned shows posessed in the 1980s. Maybe I’m overly nostalgic, or overly complaining, but I’m sure something has changed.
So what’s to blame? Reality TV or music videos becoming an anamoly on MTV? Flavor Flav or 16 and Pregnant? Is Barney to blame for runing or children’s entertainment or is it Hilary Duff’s bad Hannah Montana wig?
I don’t have the answer, but maybe you do. What do you think? What REALLY killed the television star?
-Caseen
“…there are some undeniable realities that need to be acknowledged. ” yeah that there is a fine line between Real life and TV and that line is made of onion paper. We used to relate to characters Via there emotions, weaknesses, annoying neighbors and even social economic status. But now with all the Flava Flavs and Real world cast member and even you tube it seems like everyones reality goal is to make it on reality TV somehow or they live theirs lives like one.. Agh i ramble .. all im trying to say is i agree and the 80 and 90’s had something right with their TV shows. ummm Just what is missing now? … Families ?
oh yeah and YAY!! im first to comment
i just don’t think you can compare lost to like the cosby show. or buffy to full house. friends was in the nineties and i love friends. that i can comepare to rosanne or urkle and you’re right. totally different but if you look at it for what they’re doing, instead of trying to find the nostalgia of your other favorite shows, you’ll appreciate it in a different way. grey’s anatomy…. dooggie howser!
oh and reality tv just sucks…. period. but that’s my opinion.
just got what that website bar was about.
Maybe the difference is that there are more options on TV now than there were in the 80’s. There is cable television, satellite, and other random networks. For instance today I was surfing through my TV while sick in bed and there was a “reunion” for ‘Millionaire Matchmaker’ and ‘16 and Pregnant’ and a new episode of ‘Sober House with Dr. Drew’, all on Tuesday night. Do I watch these shows religiously? no. Would I want to watch the reunions so I can get a recap of the whole season…sure! But I have to choose. That’s the issue, you have tons of choices. When the ‘The Cosby Show’ and ‘ The Golden Girls’ were on there wasn’t much more going on. In fact, all TV programing ended at around 2am. I would even go as far as saying that things have changed in the past decade, ‘Friends’ has a huge following but it started in the early 90’s. I doubt it grabbed any new followers as the seasons went on, specially in the 2000’s. It is really sad, I will admit, however it is refreshing to know that the DVR can record the ‘16 and Pregnant’ reunion while I watch Patty the Matchmaker tell people the ugly truth about their dating habits.
From The Office of Lagoose and Bellocchio
A few things we would like to discuss….
1, Just a note of clarification: we’re sure when you discussed Hilary Duff’s bad Hannah Montana Wig, you clearly meant Miley Cyrus? Duff played Lizzie McGuire.
2, We highly disagree with television today not being as big as it was in the 80’s. There are shows (albeit some awful reality shows) that still draw large crowds and are discussed at the water cooler. You’ve named some shows that are not only as big as the ones you’ve mentioned, but in fact bigger. For example: with Lost, not only is it big on TV and in magazines, but Marvel Comics ran books for a whole month with hidden Lost Easter Eggs in them, and if you search through KYAK airfare travel, you will notice that you can book the same flight the characters on Lost took from Australia to LA. Today’s TV is, as Iggie said, different and incomparable because the focus has shifted from tight family units in an effort to keep up with modern times; however, this doesn’t make them less important.
3, Sorry, but you lost us on the characters. Of course Urkel, Pee Wee, and Roseanne are nostalgic characters. But we can (and will!) name some characters from television today that are just as memorable, if not more memorable than those you mentioned:
Barney Stinson (How I Met Your Mother)
Hannah Montana (Hannah Montana)
Betty (Ugly Betty)
McDreamy (Grey’s Anatomy)
Carrie/Miranda/Samantha/Charolette (Sex and the City)
Pam and Jim (The Office)
Simon Cowell (American Idol)
Dr House (House, M.D.)
Stewie and Brian Griffen (Family Guy)
Tony Soprano (The Sopranos)
Horatio Cain (CSI Miami)
and unfortunately, Snooki and The Situation.
Are they better? Some are. Some aren’t. But to say TV today doesn’t have characters like the old days is an incorrect assumption.
4, American Idol not getting national attention? More people voted in a non-finalist vote for American Idol than the 2004 Presidential Election.
We don’t think anything killed the television star. All that’s happened is evolution. As the times change, so do the stars. We go from the good family man who’s a doctor to a doctor that wants to kill people. A bizarre man-child who lives in his own world to a child that talks like a man and plots the death of his mother. We believe in the future, many of us will complain, “Where have all the Gil Grissom’s gone?”