Lauren Zalaznick's Ambiguity Shows

It is no secret that the television has now become a staple device in the average American home. The history of the television has evolved tremendously compared to when television sets were first introduced to the public in the early 1940’s. Over the last sixty years, they are slimmer, produce sharp images, and come in various makes and models. Not only can these physical contributions be noted, television programs often correlate to what is going on in the outside world. Lauren Zalaznick, television executive, argues that television has a conscious and its popular programs reflect similar characteristics of the American society. In Zalaznick’s brilliant TED Talk debut, she gives many points as to her belief that popular television programs …show more content…
She claims “…I actually believe that television directly reflects the moral, political, social and emotional need states of our nation -- that television is how we actually disseminate our entire value system” (Zalaznick 0:58). She conducted a study from the years 1950 through 2010 and studied different popular television genres and how the public reacted to them over time. For the first data chart, she compared inspirational shows and morally ambiguous shows. Inspirational shows are towering over morally ambiguous shows in the beginning but suddenly, inspirational shows begin to decline and morally ambiguous shows begin to rise. Zalaznick explains this data reflects the events of racial riots, the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Bobby Kennedy, and Martin Luther King Jr, the Civil Rights Movement, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the Vietnam War. Moral ambiguity then soars away, but inspiration tries to recover but fails due to the events of the outbreak of AIDS, Chernobyl, etc. Next, Zalaznick compares comfort, social commentary, and irreverence. Comfort is superior, followed by social commentary, then irreverence. This data chart begins in 1960 and by the time 1967 appears, irreverence surpasses social commentary and is right below comfort. As time continued, people no longer watched television for comfort. Television shows were becoming popular …show more content…
Not only is the steady decline obvious in kid shows, but reality shows have their own faults. I’ve noticed the rise of reality television and also the many forms in comes in. There is, however, one common theme among reality television and that is dramatization. Once viewers experienced the outrageous drama found in reality television, it only leaves them wanting more. Today, almost all reality shows are popular and highly advertised. Reality television ranges from judgement shows, to shows that help others, for example, the show Catfish is where two guys attempt to help average people, who have fallen in love with another person online. This show is very popular because every episode is different. Also, one of the guys has personally gone through this experience in which he met a girl online and they fell in love. When it time for them to meet, the girl he met was different from the girl he fell in love with online. In short, the girl lied to him, and because of this experience, it has resulted in this show which helps others meet the people they have met or fallen in love with online, finally meet in person. Compared to other reality television shows, this particular show leaves its audience with tips of how not to be deceived online and how to protect your personal information. Like previously mentioned, this show leaves the audience with a