Horace Newcomb

Some might avoid this book as its examples are of (at this point in time) fifty-year-old television programs. However, being the age I am, I did grow up with several of the shows mentioned in the text and am a fan of a few of them. So, I decided to take the leap and read this one. I’m glad I took the time. My main takeaway was the descriptions of the structure of television situation comedy shows and what the author called family-based domestic comedy as well as soap operas, TV Westerns, mysteries, and adventure shows. A particularly interesting portion of the book was Chapter 8, where the author talked about the impact of television audience perceptions on sports and news. I found it very apt to today’s political climate. If you’ve heard of Colin Kaepernick or the most current issue in the realm of international soccer, this is your chapter (see also pp.197-198 which covers the 1968 Olympics black power salute).
What are we to make of news items about our sports figures that do not appear on the sports page or in the sports segment of the evening news? Caught in such a media cross fire, fans and players alike are unable to respond consistently. The sports figure becomes a superstar, and as such may be unwilling to sacrifice his private life for the traditional image imbedded in the culture, defined by an almost fictional regard for the heroic position. The fans, on the other hand, are unwilling to see their heroes as anything less than mythic. [pp.195-196]
There are several other points within this work that I have found applicable value in. In particular, on page 21 there is this:
[The unknown psychological effect of the television medium] leads to a continuing fear that a nation possessed of a dreamlike “television mentality” will soon develop. If people begin to judge their “real” world of experience by what they gather from the action of television fiction, we will all be in serious trouble. So goes the argument.
The Faux News phenomena anyone?
I really enjoyed reading about the conventions and formulas of television when it was the dominant cultural art form. I know “art” is a term used somewhat loosely here but the book does well in explaining why television programming is art and why and how it has cultural relevance. The cultural relevancies that this book describes are still good information and seem to expose the root of some of the more corrosive socio-political trends of the last 20 years that we are still dealing with today. Overall, I would recommend this book if anything I mentioned piques your interest. If not, then this one’s not for you.… (más)