broadcast isn't the same, but what does that mean?

i just read marc peyser's new newsweek article, where he argues that "TV today [and by his argument, society] has lost almost all its taste for social commentary." however, i think the one caveat he allows - cable - may defeat his whole argument.

peyser claims that at TV's inception it was promoted nothing but mainstream values, but as it evolved and tested boundaries it became a powerful vehicle for social critique. he then claims (without conjecture as to why) that TV has since devolved back to its original entertaining-but-not-critical form, where he cites shows such as CSI and grey's anatomy, and even 24.

i'll argue that society hasn't lost its desire for irony and satire but that due to constraints alone its vehicle has shifted from broadcast to more individualistic avenues such as subscriber TV and the internet. old forms of satire such as M*A*S*H (which is awesome, by the way) and even married with children, if i dare call that social commentary, are just that- they're old. our desensitized polity wants social commentary that still speaks to the same kinds of issues but in a new and edgy way (think sex and the city or southpark). the only way to do that is to go above and beyond what's been done before, to shock.

however, as family guy's first-attempt cancellation indicates (or howard stern's difficulties, if we want to also talk about radio), that kind of thing is just not permitted in traditional broadcast. this doesn't mean we don't get it; thankfully, somehow (though it defies logic), the invention of paid entertainment and the internet create a different set of censorship rules. we can actually get the kind of social commentary we want, we just have to pay for it. (this excludes a certain sector of society from getting satire, which is similar to the problem of banning medicines as i've argued before, and is a subject for an entirely different post)

without any evidence, i'd even be willing to at least propose that we've, if anything, grown more desirous of it if the number of satirical shows on today were compared historically and controlling for number of stations, shows etc. (and if desire and # shows are equated as peyser does). if only i had a million research careers...

Labels: social