This week we started talking about television and how it has changed a lot of media and how we see it. Television has changed in many ways since it has first started. One thing that was said in the book is that television is a delivery device for consumerism. Many people watch television to learn about things happening in the world or just for entertainment. We often see shows made and people become interested in them because they are good at pertaining to a certain audience. It was also said that television can be an advertising medium. Many people advertise their products or business on television. This can help with the company and its promotion. It all comes back to it being this device for consumerism though. If someone is interested in something they see on television they will probably go look for it. The same goes for shows on tv, if someone likes a show they will continue watching it.

We also watched a documentary on Rod Serling. Rod Serling was a great writer who wrote and created the Twilight Zone. Many people know about the Twilight Zone and how it changed the way some people looked or watched television. Rod Serling started off with writing very controversial content for the Twilight Zone. Much of it was horror and different than the normal. It was unsure if people would like it but people started to latch on and love the show. The Twilight Zone went out of the box for what was typically seen on television. Rod Serling also liked to write about his life and what he experienced before writing. One episode he did was based off his life in Binghamton. The episode was called Walking Distance and the main character goes back in time and talks about how he tells him younger self to enjoy his life now. He also did episodes and wrote for other things based off when he was in the army. He took his own life experiences to help relate to other people, therefore drawing more people in. Rod Serling changed television and how people started to write and draw in an audience.

We also watched an episode of the Seventies. In this we learned about how the 70s were a time of change for television. Many important things happened such as the growth of Saturday Night Live. It introduced us to many influential people in television and eventually went to movies. We also learned about family hour and how there were shows that the government wanted played at certain times. Stations ended up going to court with them as it is not possible to say what a station has to show. HBO also got big during this period too because of the Ali vs Frazier fight which was aired.