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Television

MEDIA, POWER AND CULTURE

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Your favorite shows

• Breaking Bad (AMC)

• Orange is the New Black (Netflix)

• Parks & Recreation (NBC)

• American Horror Story (FX)

• Doctor Who (PBS)

• Friday Night Lights (NBC)

• Game of Thrones (HBO)

• Grey’s Anatomy (ABC)

• One Tree Hill (WB)

• Stranger Things (Netflix)

• The Office (NBC)

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Your favorite shows

• The Vampire Diaries (CW)

• Broad City (Comedy Central)

• Dexter (Showtime)

• Friends (NBC)

• Gossip Girl (CW)

• House of Cards (Netflix)

• Jane the Virgin (CW)

• Person of Interest (CBS)

• Scandal (ABC)

• That ‘70s Show (ABC)

• The Flash (CW)

• The Fosters (Freeform)

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Your favorite shows

• 5 out of 23 shared titles are comedies

• 9/23 are on cable or streaming

• CW has as many in top 23 (3) as ABC

• 6/8 Big Three shows are no longer on air

• 70 different titles

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Death of sitcoms

• “Family” sitcoms survive as, well, family

viewing

• Cable sitcoms find niche audiences as cult

shows

• Comedies lack urgency and continuity

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Families

• What shows did you watch as a family?

• About how much time did you spend per

week watching shows as a family?

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Rise of cable originals

• HBO, 1997: Oz

• Showtime, 1982: A New Day in Eden (1997:

Stargate SG-1)

• Syfy, 1997: Mystery Science Theater 3000

• USA, 1994: Duckman (1997: La Femme

Nikita)

• Disney, 1984: Still the Beaver (1998: The

Famous Jett Jackson)

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Rise of cable originals

• FX, 1999: Son of the Beach (2002: The

Shield)

• Original cable shows 2002: 30



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Cable

• How many of you had cable TV at home?

• How many of you have watched cable-

original shows (not NBC, ABC, CBS, Fox,

CW, or streaming such as Netflix)?

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Rise of streaming originals

• Original streaming shows 2009: 1



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Streaming

• 85% of you had used Netflix in previous

month (77%, regular TV)

• 29% had used Hulu

• 20% Amazon Prime

• 45% other streaming video

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Netflix

• Stand up if you used Netflix in last month

• Sit down if you borrowed someone else’s

password

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Households with cable

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Netflix growth

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The CW

• Behaves like a cable channel

• Target audience: (mostly white) women

18-34

• The young women who grew up on

Disney’s girl-power shows

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CW

• How many of you watch Crazy Ex-

Girlfriend, Jane the Virgin, No Tomorrow,

Supergirl, Frequency, Vampire Diaries?

• How many of you watch Arrow, Legends of

Tomorrow, Supernatural, The Flash?

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Decline of broadcast networks

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Most watched single shows

• M*A*S*H, 1983: 47%

• Ed Sullivan, 1964: 41%

• Ed Sullivan, 1964: 39%

• Super Bowl, 1982: 38%

• Dallas, 1980: 38%

• Cheers, 1993: 37%

• Super Bowl, 1987: 37%

• Super Bowl, 1996: 37%

• Super Bowl, 2015: 36%

• Super Bowl, 2011: 36%

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Most watched non-sports

• M*A*S*H, 1983

• Ed Sullivan, 1964


• Dallas, 1980

• Cheers, 1993


• Roots, 1977

• The Day After, 1983

• Roots, 1977

• Roots, 1977

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Network declines (2012-13)

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Top shows 2015

• NFL (NBC) 22

• Big Bang Theory (CBS) 20.6

• NCIS (CBS) 20.5

• Walking Dead (AMC) 18.9

• NFL (CBS) 17.7

• Empire (Fox) 16.2

• NCIS: New Orleans (CBS) 16.1

• Blue Bloods (CBS) 14.6

• Dancing w/ the Stars (ABC) 13.7

• X-Files (Fox) 13.6

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Top shows 2010

• American Idol (Fox) 24

• Football (NBC) 20

• American Idol (Fox) 22

• The Voice (NBC) 14

• Modern Family (ABC) 12

• Dancing w/ the Stars (ABC) 12

• Big Bang Theory (CBS) 13

• Grey’s Anatomy (ABC) 11

• Survivor (CBS) 11

• NCIS (CBS) 11

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Top shows 1998

• ER (NBC) 17.8

• Friends (NBC) 15.7

• Frasier (NBC) 15.6

• NFL (ABC) 14.9

• Veronica’s Closet (NBC) 13.7

• Jesse (NBC) 13.7

• 60 Minutes (CBS) 13.2

• Touched by an Angel (CBS) 13.1

• Movie (CBS) 12

• Home Improvement (ABC) 11

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Top shows 1980

• Dallas (CBS) 35

• Dukes of Hazzard (CBS) 27

• 60 Minutes (CBS) 27

• M*A*S*H (CBS) 26

• Love Boat (ABC) 24

• Jeffersons (CBS) 24

• Alice (CBS) 23

• House Calls (CBS) 22

• Three’s Company (ABC) 22

• Little House on the Prairie (NBC) 22

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Top shows 1970

• Marcus Welby (ABC) 30

• Flip Wilson (NBC) 28

• Here’s Lucy (CBS) 26

• Ironside (NBC) 26

• Gunsmoke (CBS) 26

• Movie (ABC) 25

• Hawaii Five-O (CBS) 25

• Medical Center (CBS) 25

• Bonanza (NBC) 23

• FBI (ABC) 23

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Top shows 1960

• Gunsmoke (CBS) 37

• Wagon Train (NBC) 34

• Have Gun – Will Travel (CBS) 31

• Andy Griffith (CBS) 28

• Real McCoys (ABC) 28

• Rawhide (CBS) 27

• Candid Camera (CBS) 27

• Untouchables (ABC) 27

• The Price is Right (NBC) 27

• Jack Benny (CBS) 26

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Top shows 1950

• Texaco Star Theatre (NBC) 62

• Fireside Theatre (NBC) 53

• Philco TV Playhouse (NBC) 45

• Your Show of Shows (NBC) 43

• Colgate Comedy Hour (NBC) 42

• Gillette Cavalcade of Sports (NBC) 41

• Lone Ranger (ABC) 41

• Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts (CBS) 41

• Hopalong Cassidy (NBC) 40

• Mama (CBS) 40

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Declining viewing

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TV redefined

• In 2015, 13-24 year olds watched 11.3

hours a week of online video from

YouTube et al

• In the same year, they watched 10.8 hours

of Netflix et al

• In the same year, they watched 8.3 hours

of scheduled TV

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Binge watching

• 1980s: TV stations begin showing

marathons

• 1990s: Cable, DVDs

• 2013: Netflix begins releasing series all at

once

• 2014: 84% of 18-24 year olds binge; 37%

of 68+

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Bingeing

• How many of you have binge-watched (at

least two episodes back-to-back) in the

last month?

• How many of you who did, watched

alone?

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Common experiences

• What do you think is the most commonly

watched TV series among your peers?

Education

Television I