Wednesday, September 18, 2019
Problem Television Programs :: essays research papers
     Problem Programs Robert MacNeil began his article the, â€Å"The Trouble With Television,†with the overwhelming statistic that the average television viewer squanders one thousand hours per year watching television programming (MacNeil). One thousand hours is a tremendous amount of time squandered watching programs with unchallenging content, this time could be better spent earning a college degree or perhaps earning various languages (MacNeil). I concur with MacNeil that television does â€Å"discourage concentration and applied effort†for the reason that viewers spend an excessive amount of time watching unsophisticated and undemanding programming rather then engaging in activities that will further develop the viewer’s critical thinking. In MacNeil’s article he asserts that viewers waste an excessive amount of tome watching television that is brief and unchallenging. He also adds that programmers deliberately create brief and rousing programs in hopes of achieving the goal of exposing viewers to their advertisements so that a profitable outcome can be reached. MacNeil informs his readers that approximately thirty million adults are functionally illiterate in America, meaning that thirty million adults are unable to read past the fifth grade level. He does not go as far as to say that television is to blame for this outcome, but he does                                                   Cascarano 2 believe that television contributes significantly to the misfortune. MacNeil also insinuates that viewers are attracted to simple and quick resolutions for many of today’s complex problems in these one half hour shows. Complex problems and quick, easy solutions are often found in these ine half hour comedy sitcoms such as Home Improvement. In a recent episode eighteen year old Brad (the eldest son) confronted his parents about his plans to marry his girlfriend of two months. Brad was convinced that he and his girlfriend wer in live and that was all that they needed to survive. Jill (Brad’s mother) turned to Wilson (their neighbor) for advice. He gives a simple resolution to a complicated problem: reverse psychology. Within a matter of four minutes the problem had vanquished, the young couple would wait until they had both completed four-year at a commendable university. Although quite witty, this simplistic one half hour comical sitcom is not challenging and it does not develop the viewer’s critical thinking because it does not break down the problem and explain a sophisticated and real resolution. Real resolutions are not given in these types of short sitcoms because real resolutions are lengthy and do not keep viewers watching.
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