Need for Reality TV on Television Programming

As a network, CBS has largely catered to an older demographic in terms of the type of programming created for our audiences. This is evident from the shows on our primetime schedule such as â€Å"How I Met Your Mother†, â€Å"NCIS: Los Angeles†, â€Å"The Big Bang Theory†, and the remake of â€Å"Hawaii Five-0†, all of which contain scenes and references to popular culture reminiscent of older generations as compared to other networks that have generally focused on producing shows that have catered to a much younger demographic through shows such as â€Å"Master Chef†, â€Å"Family Guy† and â€Å"G4TV†.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Need for Reality TV on Television Programming specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More What must be understood is that a network cannot create a program lineup that can appeal to all audiences since each audience demographic has different ta stes, interests, likes, dislikes etc. Further more, what must be understood is that each and every single day networks wage a figurative â€Å"war† against each other with ratings per program determining the number of advertisers we can get which directly affects our profitability. Based on this, the following program line up has been chosen for Tuesday, June 14th as the opening â€Å"shot† of the week in our network’s continued efforts to win the ratings â€Å"war†. 8:00pm: Two and a Half Men 8:30pm: Two and a Half Men 9:00pm: How I Met Your Mother 9:30pm: Big Bang TheoryAdvertising Looking for report on communications media? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More 10:00pm: Mike and Molly 10:30pm: Hawaii Five-O 11:00pm: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation The reason why this particular program flow has been chosen is simple, good comedy, drama and action sells, this is a concept that networks are aware of and incorporate such aspects into their channel lineups. It must be noted though that one of the current trends in broadcasting has been the creation of various reality T.V. shows which apparently audiences love. Shows like Survivor, the Amazing Race and various other reality based T.V shows often reach millions of views within a single program segment. What must be understood though is that as of late there has been an oversaturation of reality based TV programming in various networks to the point that the resulting audience feedback has been a slowly declining attention curve (Papacharissi Mendelson, 355 – 60). It must be noted that during their initial inception such shows were considered unique since they were â€Å"unscripted† in the sense that they provided a more â€Å"real† feeling to audiences (Papacharissi Mendelson, 355 – 60). The result was a sudden boom for networks in the ratings war who possessed reality based TV shows that better connected w ith audiences (Nabi, 373). While audiences still have interest in reality based programming the fact remains that the proliferate inundation to audiences of this particular type of programming has in effect lessened the amount of overall interest since reality TV no longer seems â€Å"unique† since nearly every network has their own version in one way or another (Ouellette, 66). The reason why I mention this is the fact that one of our network competitors, Fox, has chosen Tuesday to broadcast a string of reality based TV shows with an initial hour segment beginning at 8 o’clock of â€Å"Masterchef†.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Need for Reality TV on Television Programming specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Similarly another network, NBC, has chosen to broadcast at the same time â€Å"America’s Got Talent†. At this point out network can either choose to go head to head with b oth networks in trying to acquire a portion of the reality TV market or we can play to our strengths and chosen demographic. For me, I believe it is a better option to play to our strengths instead of trying to incorporate a wider audience demographic into our network. While it may be true that reality TV sells, traditional comedy, action and drama has proven itself time and again as a viable means of getting the desired ratings a network is attempting to achieve. Another factor to take into consideration is the fact that shows such as Two and Half Men, How I Met Your Mother and Big Bang Theory have developed a substantial TV following due to the various sketches and scenes and that appeal to our older generation demographic. As such showing them one after the other would in effect increase the possibility of people staying on a particular channel in order to catch the next series that comes up. It must also be noted that the reason why shows such as Hawaii five-0 and CSI have been relegated to the 10pm timeslot is due to their rather â€Å"violent† nature which doesn’t suit younger audiences. If you have any questions or suggestions regarding this particular lineup for Tuesday I am free at all times. Works Cited Nabi, Robin L. â€Å"Determining Dimensions of Reality: A Concept Mapping of the Reality TV Landscape.† Journal of Broadcasting Electronic Media 51.2 (2007): 371-390. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. Ouellette, Laurie. â€Å"Reality TV Gives Back: On the Civic Functions of Reality Entertainment.† Journal of Popular Film Television 38.2 (2010): 66-71. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. Papacharissi, Zizi, and Andrew L. Mendelson. â€Å"An Exploratory Study of Reality Appeal:Uses and Gratifications of Reality TV Shows.† Journal of Broadcasting   Electronic Media 51.2 (2007): 355-370. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 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