Essay/Term paper: Tracking tv programs

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Technology

Tracking TV Programs


Since its invention, television has been an important part of American life and
culture. In our modern society, there are even those who would argue that it
has become an absolute necessity. Recently, many people have been debating
whether or not television content is corrupting our youth and Americans in
general. In spite of this, I believe that the networks do an adequate job of
providing programs that appeal to the different categories of viewing audiences.
In the early evening, one can find a variety of programs that connect with a
large audience spanning children to adults, however as the night progresses the
program content changes in order to target mature audiences only.

When the early evening programming begins at around five o'clock the viewer has
various selections to choose from. It is about this time that many people are
returning home from work, so news programs are a staple of these early time
slots. Following this is a barrage of comedy sitcoms, movies, and dramas, such
as "Home Improvement" and "Melrose Place". Their viewers include children,
families, and single adults. Therefore, these time slots draw larger audiences
than any other.

As the evening dwells on, one can start to see a gradual change in program
content as they begin to lose the younger viewers and start focusing on more
mature audiences. The content becomes more violent and sexually explicit. The
comedy also follows this pattern and becomes more adult oriented, such as HBO's
"Def Comedy Jam". This is also the time of night that those famous infomercials
begin airing. The reason for this is that these are the cheapest time slots to
buy and broadcast on. These hour long commercials usually end out the viewing
day.

In conclusion, it is apparent that television programs are devised to target
specific groups of viewers. The networks set aside the early evening for
children and families, and still provide entertaining programs for mature
viewers in the late evening. To state it in the simplest way possible, when it
comes to evening television programs they go from mild to wild.