In its times, “Brian’s Song” was the most iconic made-for-TV movie. ABC strategically placed its premier, utilizing the concept of “flow” to cross-over their normal, stereotypical male Monday Night Football audience, towards the broad audience they were striving for their prime-time football games. Doing this allowed Monday Night Football to become a “consensual space”, thanks to the high viewing rates of the connecting film. These ideas worked with the themes of the movie to construct a positive vision towards the NFL. Raymond Williams’ concept of flow is demonstrated through the way ABC strategically premiered the movie “Brian’s Song”. “Flow” is defined by Raymond Williams as, “the idea that TV is a continual strip of connecting programs
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This movie was about football players, but there was more to it than that. Being a movie about football would attract the normal male viewers of ABC’s Monday Night Football, but it was smart because it was not a movie that would attract just those men. The main themes in “Brian’s Song” involved love, friendship, and racial harmony. These are themes found mostly in stereotypical women movies, so they too would watch this “football movie”. This was unlike characteristics men see while watching football. In the New York Times, John O’Connor wrote that, “While football is being pounded with allegations about racism, drugs, and being unethical, Brian’s Song focuses on friendship and harmony,” (O’Connor, 1972). This illustrates that ABC showcased this movie to cause people to think about football and the NFL more positively, then tuning in to watching Monday Night Football. If normally women wouldn’t watch football, or football movies, they would actually watch Brian’s Song because of these themes, developing flow along with “consensual space”. “Consensual space” was also developed through the themes building the bridge to crossover viewership towards football games. Professor Vogan wrote in an article titled, “Monday Night Football and the Racial Roots of the Network TV Event” that, “ABC parlayed Monday Night Football’s widespread popularity into prime time TV events beyond sports
This movie was about football players, but there was more to it than that. Being a movie about football would attract the normal male viewers of ABC’s Monday Night Football, but it was smart because it was not a movie that would attract just those men. The main themes in “Brian’s Song” involved love, friendship, and racial harmony. These are themes found mostly in stereotypical women movies, so they too would watch this “football movie”. This was unlike characteristics men see while watching football. In the New York Times, John O’Connor wrote that, “While football is being pounded with allegations about racism, drugs, and being unethical, Brian’s Song focuses on friendship and harmony,” (O’Connor, 1972). This illustrates that ABC showcased this movie to cause people to think about football and the NFL more positively, then tuning in to watching Monday Night Football. If normally women wouldn’t watch football, or football movies, they would actually watch Brian’s Song because of these themes, developing flow along with “consensual space”. “Consensual space” was also developed through the themes building the bridge to crossover viewership towards football games. Professor Vogan wrote in an article titled, “Monday Night Football and the Racial Roots of the Network TV Event” that, “ABC parlayed Monday Night Football’s widespread popularity into prime time TV events beyond sports