September is a melancholic time here because most of our summer interns head back to college (sad for us, at least). This year I asked my interns to leave something behind—their thoughts and opinions about the media they consume, and their visions for the future. Here are the players:
Ilana Berman, senior, Boston University, studying history and film/television
Read Berman's "Breaking Bad: A Short History of Drugs (On TV)"
Jeremy Einbinder, junior, Rowan University in New Jersey, studying radio-film-television
Read Einbinder's "Nick ‘90s: All That, and More"
Steve Filippi, senior, studying film at Ramapo College of New Jersey
Read Filippi's "24 Moments that Defined Jack Bauer"
Meghan Radespiel, senior, Ramapo, studying marketing and communications
Craig Solomon, freshly graduated from Eugene Lang College at the New School with a degree in screen and media studies
Read Solomon's "Nick ‘90s: All That, and More"
Diantha Vliet, recent Columbia University grad, MA in film studies, who has returned home to the Netherlands, at least for now
1) What does the term "television" imply to you? Is something like House of Cards, which has never aired on cable or broadcast TV, still television?
Meghan: Television is always changing for me. If you asked me ten years ago, television was me sitting Indian-style in front of my block of a television and watching Gilmore Girls. Today, I'm mostly in a fetal-position on my bed watching Orange Is the New Black. So I would consider shows that have never aired on a cable channel, like House of Cards and Orange Is the New Black, television. I think of it as an offspring of television and the Internet. (FYI, OITNB will be doing a panel at the Paley Center in NY on 10/2- Ed.)
Craig: Television has consistently meant the same thing to me throughout the duration of my life. It is a medium meant for programming that is designed from an anthological perspective with a condensed and minimalistic way of delivering plot through each individual episode. House of Cards is most certainly considered television in my mind.
Diantha: Television has not, for me, been about the physical box for a long time. It is more about watching something in a serialized/episodic format with relatively long episodes (over 15-20 minutes), so Netflix shows count as television for me. Any serialized online program below that would be a web series.
2) What defines your generation as TV viewers?
Ilana: Viewers of our generation demand content that's both instantaneous and sharable.
Jeremy: Something that is unique to our generation is the ability to watch television on the Internet and have our opinions instantly known to the world through social media.
Steven: The Internet plays a huge role in my generation's intake of television. Social media, YouTube, and online sites such as Hulu and Netflix have much more of an impact on us in regard to what shows to watch or how we watch them than television itself. Binge viewing has made it quite difficult for many people to watch TV "live," as waiting weeks and months between episodes and seasons seems unbearable compared with clicking "Next Episode" on Netflix.
Diantha: My generation has both benefited from and been disadvantaged by the rise of social media, which has made direct contact with networks and producers and actors easy. This contact is great because it gives fans a chance to be heard, but it has also made us somewhat entitled. I might say something about how reality TV has influenced my generation, but I think that is vastly overestimated.
Craig: A continued interest in ironic hate watching, amazing content that will keep you begging for more like a starving puppy, and of course obsessing over Netflix.
3) How do you view TV differently from your parents?
Craig: I care more about it. They watch it more to escape reality. TV enhances my scope of knowledge and calls for me to look to the past for inspiration.
Steven: My parents watch a lot of network cop shows such as Criminal Minds, Castle, and Rizzoli and Isles. They make it a major point of their day to watch their shows on television, or online if they are a day or two late. I tend to ignore my TV set; I use it when I have to, usually for movies or sports. I very rarely use it to watch TV shows on a set schedule. Most of my TV viewing is watching older shows that have aired already, or catching up on past seasons of shows that are currently on TV.
Diantha: Other than the obvious online-community-related differences, I view TV in a much more critical light than my parents, both in terms of storytelling and in terms of TV as a socio-cultural construct. My parents enjoy TV because it is entertainment; for me it really is a large part of my life and I see it as having a real impact on society.
4) How has social media affected the way you watch TV?Meghan: Social media has made TV interactive. For Twitter, you can personally tweet about the show or send messages to actors and writers of the show. On Tumblr, you can post GIFs, videos and images from your favorite shows. These social media sites allow you to find people who like the same shows as you and give you the chance to engage in a discussion. I'm never one to live tweet a show unless I'm joking around, but a lot of comedians have been live-tweeting The Bachelorette, which is usually hysterical.
Steven: I occasionally "live-tweet" late-night talk shows, and definitely participated in the Twitter-sphere during the 2012 presidential debates. As for television shows, I have live-tweeted The Walking Dead before, but that was only because I am not a fan of the show. Generally, I tend to avoid posting about shows that are currently on television, because I would hate to accidentally spoil these shows for other people. Recently, I watched The Sopranos in its entirety and "live-tweeted" (would this still be called live-tweeting, or would watching an older show that is no longer on TV be "dead-tweeting?") many times about the show's characters, acting, music, cinematography, and locations (which are all close to my house). I also tweet about Firefly whenever I rewatch the series. Twitter is the perfect place to vent when a show provides you with such a bittersweet mix of utter joy and downright misery. As for Facebook and Tumblr, they are spoiler havens and must be avoided at all costs.
Diantha: For me a large part of the appeal of episodic storytelling is the possibilities for community building. I have been part of fandoms since I was about fourteen, and have seen the HQ of fandom go from message boards to LiveJournal to places like Tumblr. I've never really watched TV without this, so they come hand in hand. Tumblr especially has upped the fandom ante as it is as much a place for mass hysteria as it is for well thought out meta-analysis. I do not, however, live tweet. It's just distracting. I'm trying to watch a show here.
Craig: It only encourages the network of people who share your common interests. I personally do not live tweet shows, but rather look forward to reactions from fellow audience members.
5) What has TV done right or wrong in the last ten years?
Meghan: Wrong: The Bachelor. Right: Burning Love.
Steven: Television has rightly embraced the hour-long drama with its darker themes, even darker protagonists, and extremely cinematic feel. However, television has, at the same time, fully embraced the reality show.
Diantha: In recent years there have been some truly amazing shows, with amazing writing and casting and all that good stuff. There have also been some groundbreaking shows in terms of race, gender, and LGBTQ issues (The Fosters on ABC Family is a standout on all those fronts this season). On the other hand, network TV, like most other media, has become more and more driven by ad revenue. That kind of attitude leads to "accessibility" being valued over quality. That leads to amazing shows being canceled prematurely (see: Firefly, Pushing Daisies, Terriers), though I think the rise in social media has allowed fans to be more visible and thus more prized by ad companies, which might turn the tide (see: Arrested Development on Netflix, the Veronica Mars movie).
6) How do you define the TV hero? What qualities must she or he have?
Ilana: Today's TV heroes are more often than not anti-heroes. Characters like Walter White of Breaking Bad or Don Draper of Mad Men, in my opinion, are especially captivating in how they challenge our perception of right and wrong.
Steven: The TV hero used to be gallant and noble and unafraid to lose his shirt if it meant doing the right thing (yes, I'm looking at you, Captain Kirk). Nowadays, the "hero" isn't really a hero at all. We live in a messed up world and what better way to blur the lines between fiction and reality than have Tony Soprano, Walter White, Vic Mackey, and Jack Bauer as heroes that we're "supposed" to root for and relate to?
Diantha: Balance. That's all you need. Heroes don't exist ... The "hero" of a show needs only to be relatable, and for that you need flaws that balance out moral fiber and lovable qualities. It helps if you get Joss Whedon to write them.
Jeremy: Relatable, flawed, endearing. Either socially ignorant or socially savvy to the point of manipulation yet with intimacy issues that make him or her somewhat endearing. Any quality that makes the viewer root for him or her to "win."
Craig: Jack Shepard and John Locke of ABC's Lost were the antithesis of one another, but both had admiral, moral qualities and gave people something to believe in. However, they were also severely flawed, and that made them more human and relatable. The counter question I ask is, "How would the television audience of the 1960s-1980s react to people rooting for an obese mobster who commits murder and infidelity regularly or a drug lord named Heisenberg?"
7) What shows if any do you think speak specifically to your generation, and why?
Meghan: I hate to use this as an example because I know some will roll their eyes, but I think the first season of Girls speaks to a lot of women around my age. These four women are in this weird limbo period of their lives trying to not only figure themselves out, but also things like relationships and careers. Though the show is overdramatized sometimes, the core is relatable, and I think that's the magic to it.
Diantha: There is no singular, unified way to experience a generation, so there is no single show that would appeal to all of us. And if anyone answers, "But what about Girls?!" I will judge them harshly, because even Lena Dunham can't pretend that show is representative of anyone's life but hers (and perhaps other privileged white girls like her).