Thursday, November 8, 2012

Comm 352 Blog 7: Reading Rainbow as an App

I think when it comes to the news article, I get the feeling the internet is the future for cancelled program such as "Reading Rainbow" and such. This isn't just for shows that are on PBS, I'm talking about the Big Four Networks (FOX, NBC, ABC, and CBS) as well. Because of the need for a certain number in ratings networks tend to be very trigger happy with killing their shows often before the shows have a real chance to establish an audience. A very recent example of this happening is the show "Arrested Development". It aired in the mid-2000s from 2003 until 2006 and was ultimately cancelled by the FOX Network for low ratings in spite of its fanbase. The result is that the show is now being revived on Netflix as a series and will ultimately lead to a feature fillm. I'm not the first say but I ultimately think the internet as it currently is will not go away. I don't really see an end to this, in fact I see all of this as just the beginning of television programming going to the web rather than television. You especially read articles these days about how school districts are giving I-Pad computers to children, shows like the Reading Rainbow and such would be easily accesible to any child and with the older generation starting to fade out, and younger more tech savvy people of the upcoming generation being born, you are practically guaranteed to see this more and more. I actually envision a future where television as we know it would no longer exist and there will be a system where networks and programming packages are in the form of applications that you can download and watch programming at any time with the "set times" only being when the show is available for downloading. The way they will determine ratings will not be with the Nielson Rating System but rather the number of views and downloads each show receives. I don't see this happening to a full extent for at least another 30-40 years however. It is a shame to envision a future without television but at the same time, I feel that this could ultimately be the best thing to happen in programming as far too often TV shows are simply cancelled due to low ratings when they are really good critically and do have a small fanbase. I say this as a fan of the TV Show "Titus", a great show cancelled by FOX in 2002 for a combination of low ratings (created by Network sabotage) and suggestive content. In the idea I thought of, things will cancellation may ultimately end up being a thing of the past.