Posted 10:58 PM by Blah blah

Reality TV Alters TV Economics

Reality TV Alters the Way TV Does Business (NY Times).

I find a relationship between the popularity of reality TV, especially with young people, and the popularity of blogging. Think about that!

When Ernie reached an incredible amount of daily new readers through his SurvivorBlog and other Survivor-type web games, you could see a trend in people's interest that affected or resulted from the popularity of both reality TV AND blogging.

The problem with all of those intelligent, well-written, and well-acted shows, which may appeal to higher-income people, is that most people don't have time to follow them and may get confused with their intricacies and subplots. They bring together a huge amount of creative talent, but they are also hugely expensive.

The thing about reality shows like American Idol and Fear Factor is, dumb as they may be, they are cheap to make and easy to digest. Visual junk food for the 30 minutes you have at the end of the day when your brain shuts off. And hey, I LIKE some of them too. I'm not being a snob about this. I appreciate both the West Wings and the Joe Millionaires. And I like trashy stuff like Elimidate, especially since they and The 5th Wheel have the hottest people of all the dating shows.

Wonder how all of this will turn out. Will we end up with a mix of really smart/really dumb shows? The hit really smart shows like ER are prized for their ability to attract high income viewers in that 18-49 year old demographic that TV and ad people crave.

And how about any shows for the 50+ year old crowd? What about all their retiree purchasing power? I think it's stupid to ignore that growing chunk of the population by not having more "old viewer" shows. My mom, for example, doesn't watch any American TV drama or sitcoms, partly because everyone is too young for her to care. She'd rather watch Antiques Roadshow. But then she never buys anything she sees on TV either.

Anyway, I wonder about Tiger Cafe too. I mean since the beginning, I've made this a very intellectual, sophisticated, cheeky blog. But maybe I need more dumbing down. More "kids on Spring Break/party time" kinda posts to attract the younger demographic.

Ah, what the hell. I'll think about it later. I keep thinking like a damned TV executive.