Does TV Bring You Pictures of the World Outside or Does it Create a Hyperreality in Your Head

Mass Comm Assignments
FOR THIS WEEK'S BLOGGING EFFORT:
For the weblog entry due for this week, look up the Nielsen ratings on one of your favorite prime time network television shows. If you don’t like any network shows chose something that one of your friends watches. How many television households watched that program in the recent week and how’s it compare to other shows in its timeslot. How does your show do when it comes to ratings versus share? What do you think would happen to the ratings if you move the show to a different time night and time period? What kind of competition would it face? How do you think the ratings would change and why?

Links you can use to find out prime time ratings:

• Zap2It- Offers you a selection of weekly network and cable choices. You can even get the ratings for syndicated programming like Jeopardy and Wheel of Forutne or for sports programs.
• TV Insider
• Neilsen Media Research (THIS IS THE OFFICIAL SITE OF NEILSEN, but the company only posts the top 10 network shows).
• USA Today

Global Village or the Illusion of a Global Village?
For your weblog entry/essay due April 10, consider what we have discussed when it comes to mass communication and media effects theories. Revisit what Hanson wrote about television serving as a window on the world when he referenced Joshua Meyrowitz’s book, No Sense of Place.

Does television expose use to a diversity of people from all sorts of places with different lifestyles from your own? Or has TV replaced reality with “simulacra” as Baudrillard wrote? Revisit Chapter 9 from Hanson, particularly the section on “Bringing the World into our Homes,” then watch a complete evening of prime time television from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. Note any situations you are exposed to that you would not have normally experienced without television. Write a 500-700 essay/blog entry summarizing your findings and frame what you experienced under Meyrowitz or in context of Baudrillard—and even all the way back to Lippman.

Again, here's what is requred of this assignment:

• 500-700 Word Essay
• Summarize a night of watching a night of prime time television (8-11 p.m.)
• Note situations you are exposed to that you would not normally experience.
• Frame your essay of where you situate your opinion between Meyrowitz and Baudrillard (read Baudrillard’s obituary from the L.A. Times—note the connection with the Matrix films) and connect to other theories we’ve discussed or take it back to Lippman.

Mass Comm- The Group Defines Documentary

The Mass Comm class now has a working definition of "documentary" based on the seven group definitions generated.

A documentary is a non-fiction narrative on film or video designed to persuade, inform or entertain a target audience about a theme or subject. The narrative explores the subject matter through an examination of facts presented through documents, interviews and artifacts. Documentaries are sometimes balanced by exploring a wide range of viewpoints, but they are also subjective promoting the world view of the producers or participants. A documentary can confront, support or counter the perspective of the audience with documentation suited to communicate via the medium it is presented.

Grading Criteria for Documentary Projects

•

• •Pre-production documents

• •Proposal/Timeline/Releases

• •Production values

• •Quality of audio, video, storytelling. Effective use of video, photographs, artifacts, demonstration, editing, graphics, etc.

• •Marketing/Promotions

• •Posters/Web/Radio/News/Posting Project Online

• •Overall Impact With Audience (Instructor)

• •Does it tell a story?
• •Does it flow & make sense?
• •Do characters move from the simple to the complex?
• •Does the project meet the definition?

• •Peer Reviews 20%

Pirates 3: CAN HYPE STILL BRING GLORY AT THE BOX OFFICE

What will bring people back to the movie theaters?
Franchise films? Hype? Event marketing of pop culture? Cross promotions? Larger than life movies? Could Pirates 3 be the last BIG movie that brings out the mass? Consider what Slate Magazine's Hollywood Economist/Columnist Edward Jay Epstein discussed in his take on the theory of the broken box office window in a piece called the "Hollywood Death Spiral".

Comedy & Racism

Can you laugh and address racism at the same time? Acceptable TV attempts to do that in a reality show parody called "My Black Friend." Comedians from Richard Pryor, Chris Rock to Dave Chappelle have milked racism for laughs and money.

NPR posted a series of reports about Comedy and Race in America in 2002.


Comedy & Race in America
Dec. 9-11, 2002 -- Race is a subject that Americans often approach with trepidation, because of the potential minefield of misunderstandings or hurt feelings. Nearly two generations after the end of legally sanctioned segregation in America, talking about race remains a thorny issue. In this three-part series, NPR's Michele Norris speaks with three comedians who have generated some controversy because of their brutally honest takes on race relations in America.