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In defense of the taste of the masses

7 comments on In defense of the taste of the masses

In defense of the taste of the masses

: I was a TV critic during broadcast TV’s — and American pop culture’s — true golden age, when television was filled with good shows and those shows were also the most popular, proving — against all popular snarking — that Americans, the masses, do have good taste.

TV has changed but that doesn’t mean we’ve lost our taste.

Kurt Andersen wrote/spoke about this on Studio 360 this week.

Television in the 90s was defined by smart, well-written prime-time network sitcoms like Roseanne, Murphy Brown, Seinfeld and, of course, The Simpsons.

But in the 90s the best shows were also by and large the most highly rated shows. That had never happened before. And mainstream TV was arguably superior to mainstream motion pictures. That had never happened before either.

Looking at the Nielsen top 10 in the 90s actually used to made me feel a little better about my fellow Americans. Western civilization wasn’t necessarily in decline.

But that golden age, like all golden ages, was too good to last. In 1999, among the top shows were still ER, Frasier, Friends, 60 Minutes and The X-Files. But then within just a couple of seasons, the highest-rated programs were mostly,

7 responses to “In defense of the taste of the masses”

  1. sbw Avatar
    sbw

    One thing about being in the Middle Ages is that you don’t have people saying “Hey! We’re in the Middle Ages!”
    [Pause. Reflect.] I suppose this comment could apply equally to the thread above on indecency.

  2. Gabe Avatar
    Gabe

    One quibble Jeff:
    Most “folks who analyze weblogs on the basis of the power law” routinely cite the collective importance of smaller blogs. In fact, the power law is a useful device for understanding “the whole”.
    Perhaps you mean, say, “folks who analyze weblogs on the basis of sitemeter rankings”.

  3. Dann Avatar
    Dann

    But you can’t judge our taste as a culture based on what is shown just on broadcast TV anymore.

    That seems to have been the trend for the last 30 years. Cable has effectively destroyed the idea of TV being represetative of our collective culture.
    Regards,

  4. freddie poo Avatar
    freddie poo

    Yup. And some 40 years ago I father would go out to play or have fun and never went without a hat and a tie and a white shirt. And women did not drive. And phones were often party lines…all things change. And you complainers get older and relish “the good old days when there were standards.” And of yes: music made sense back then too…Slution? don’t watch TV and read a classic instead. Don’t use bad language (unless you are VP) and avoid those who do. And stop whining. –notes for an old guy

  5. Thom Avatar
    Thom

    I wonder for how many peopel broadcasting is no longer the default. I moved into a new neighborhood about 8 months ago. I spend a fair amount of time watching television, and I know which channels are HGTV, Nickelodeon (I and II), Disney, (two kids) TLC, HBO, Comedy Central, the cable new channels, CSPAN, BBC America, Discovery, and a few others. But I realized this weekend that I haven’t watched the local broadcast networks enough to remember which channels they are carried on.

  6. kevin Avatar
    kevin

    seems to me that the demographics are changing. boomers arent buying the adverts, so the ad men go to differt media to sell their wares,leaving tv to the fringe markets,which drives the programing to fit that new niche. surviver,nascar,fox sport surfing, bmx, motocross, are delivering the demographic, and a specific audience at that. tv will continue to try to identify these markets and cater to them with shows directed specificly to their tastes. plenty of channels to go around.

  7. ninja stu Avatar
    ninja stu

    Actually, SportsCenter is the true “when-there’s-nothing-better-on choice.”