Recent Paley Center interns continue their meditation on the state of media. Once again, the players are:
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
8) Who are the important tastemakers to you? Whose opinions do you rely on in deciding what to watch?
Ilana: I take my cues from TV critics in newspapers and magazines. Favorites include: The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Variety, and The Hollywood Reporter.
Steven: I will sniff around various newspaper and online sources for reviews to get a sense of what is good or not. Even if a show is critically acclaimed, I usually still tend to hold off though until family or friends watch shows and recommend them to me.
Diantha: I wouldn't say I listen to anyone's opinion in particular. If I hear enough positive things about a show from critics and fandom alike, I'll try a show. If someone tells me a show is good on a particular issue (race for example), I will usually consider it. Also, I watch most pilots when they first air, so I usually figure out I like something without having to be told.
Craig: My friends, The Atlantic, and Twitter.
9) In the early days of television families gathered around the screen and spent time watching together. Do you ever watch television together with your whole family or even other members of your family?
Meghan: It's very rare for my whole family to get together and watch TV. We all got into Game of Thrones this past season, so we watched that together. Though my mom would usually leave the room midepisode because she couldn't take "all the blood, killing and sex".
Steven: When 24 was on TV, I would watch it live with my mom and we would tape it (yes, with a VCR), and then rewatch it with my father the next night. My mom and I would also watch Modern Family during its first season; however, like most shows, I wound up missing a few episodes and never went back. My parents still watch television together; I will occasionally join them, but it has not been for any specific show in recent years.
Diantha: I did when I was a child but not lately. Though my father and I like to watch makeover shows together from time to time.
Jeremy: When I was younger, I had many family shows. Now it can go years before finding one, and they have a history of not lasting long. We're glad to have found Under the Dome currently.
10) What kind of relationship do you have with TV shows? Are you monogamous and committed or do you tend to fool around with multiple shows, picking them up and putting them down when you choose to?
Meghan: I'm quite a floozy when it comes to TV shows. I don't have much of a type. I'll pick ya up and put ya down when I choose. Beware.
Diantha: I am a polyamorous serial dater in several intense long-term relationships. I'm willing to try almost any show once, but I have no issue with dropping them if they don't really grab me (casual dates). Some shows I can only watch full seasons at a time (seasonal flings). Some shows I watch when I remember they exist (booty calls). Some shows I was devoted to but they just became less interesting over time or the showrunner got too big a head (semi-friendly exes). There are some shows I love so much I will recommend them to every stranger on the street and watch every episode fifty times and buy the T-shirts (husbands).
Jeremy: I have a few favorite shows, but when I discover a new show that I like, I can be on it for a while. I may consider myself a "serial monogamist."
11) Do you prefer to watch TV shows as their air or to DVR them or to watch them online later?
Meghan: Online later. I can never catch my shows live, but that might be because I don't have a TV.
Ilana: I'd rather watch online than live. If that means waiting an extra day or week, I don't mind. I'd rather watch on my own schedule than be on someone else's, and have to sit through commercials.
Steven: I don't have a DVR but I very rarely catch shows as they air. I usually have to catch an encore showing on TV after the initial airdate or go online. I find that I have a hard time structuring my life around the TV guide.
Diantha: I prefer to watch online, because a) I am in a foreign country and waiting is not in my nature, and b) that way I can schedule TV around my day, not my day around TV.
Jeremy: I prefer to DVR them to avoid commercials and watch on my own schedule but to generally keep the frequency at which I watch the show as it was originally intended.
12) Do you ever still watch DVDs?
Meghan: Yes, my collection of the Buffy series is something I revisit often.
Ilana: I'll watch a DVD, but I won't buy one.
Diantha: I'll buy DVDs for shows I really love, but only if the extras are good.
Jeremy: Yes. Generally boxed sets of television seasons. I am also interested in behind-the-scenes material.
13) Ten or twenty years from now, when you have children of your own, what do you think their television viewing experience will be like?
Meghan: My guesses are that traditional TV will be gone and my brats will be watching TV on some sort of floating device that can follow them everywhere, which will drive a wedge in our relationship. It will be like how I ignore my parents today, just slightly heightened.
Diantha: For one they'll have me as a mom so they'll have great taste. They'll probably have more "interactive" TV, which will be networks/distributors/studios trying to get audiences to engage in a world with an increasing short attention span. It will be unnecessary but it will happen. There will also be less scheduled TV and the system will be more Netflix-style on demand, which is good. Shows will be both better and worse and somehow the exact same. Hopefully there will be more diversity and equal representation, but I doubt it. In twenty years laugh tracks will have made their third comeback. The method may change but the content will be the same. My children will read books.
14) What are your most trusted news sources?
Meghan: I try to read some newspaper articles every day, mostly from The Bergen Record and The New York Times. I follow news outlets on Twitter like newspapers and TV channels because they link you to articles. But if there's an issue I'm interested in, I'll do research from different outlets trying to come to some sort of clarity on the issue.
Steven: I do not trust the news on TV. I have a few blogs that I like to peruse as well as some aggregate sites that gather articles from around the web, but I very rarely tune into CNN, Fox, or MSNBC (on TV or online), unless I am looking for something extremely specific. I believe the twenty-four-hour-news cycle is detrimental to the news process and leads to hyperbole and extreme bias. Personally, I feel that Twitter is easily the most accurate source for up-to-date news stories. ... Twitter is also the most objective.
Diantha: There is no such thing as definitive truth, so that's not something I go looking for. I get my news from various news websites (HuffPo, New York Times, etc), as well as from people I follow on Twitter and Tumblr. I especially like to read what people have to say about certain pieces of news on Tumblr because they're often quick investigators, critical thinkers, and there's a diverse range of people on there. Reddit is also often a place where I first read about things. In general when I read about an event I try to read different perspectives from different sources. Also The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, where I usually first hear about American politicians being caricatures of real people.
Jeremy: As an unabashed liberal/progressive, my news selection comes from admittedly slanted sources, sometimes online material such as The Young Turks and The David Pakman show. In terms of slanted television, Real Time with Bill Maher and The Daily Show, albeit using the term "news show" loosely, provide me with news and information from an entertaining perspective.
15) What five shows—past or present—would you bring to a desert island?
Ilana: Mad Men, Friday Night Lights, The West Wing, The Carol Burnett Show, Saturday Night Live
Steven: Seinfeld, 24, Firefly, The Sopranos, and Game of Thrones... I think. Breaking Bad and The Office are a close six and seven.
Craig: Lost, Breaking Bad, The Sopranos, Game of Thrones, Seinfeld
Meghan: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Arrested Development, Veronica Mars, Six Feet Under, Seinfeld
Diantha: Battlestar Galactica (the reimagined series, because of superior Starbuck), Gilmore Girls, Doctor Who (classic and new), Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Parks and Recreation (because I need one show that won't make me cry every other episode)
16) The best show of all time is ....
Ilana: Mad Men is not just a TV show but an immersive experience—watching it makes us feel as if we're back in the 1960s, working at an agency with our friends and foes.
Steven: The Sopranos, due to its ground-breaking characters and themes, its superb acting and writing, and sheer scope.
Craig: Breaking Bad, because it never disappoints. It's a show that creates new expectations for plot, visual aesthetics, action, and character development. The suspense is poetic.
Diantha: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, because it contains the perfect mix of Whedon magic (funny, scary, depressing, surprising, heartfelt), with great character development, amazing female characters, very few episodes not worthy of rewatch, and the best musical episode of any show ever.
Meghan: Buffy the Vampire Slayer because Joss Whedon was able to combine fantasy and real life through using demons as metaphors for relatable fears that people still have today.