TV Content Regulations

1573 Words4 Pages

Society today tends to fixate on and gravitate to television shows. Certain people even believe some of the families depicted on these shows are what a normal family should be. There are two types of television networks, broadcast and cable. Broadcast television stations are the channels that air for free, while cable you pay a subscription for. While television is a great platform for various issues and ideas, I believe that most broadcast television stations’ depictions do not accurately represent families are or what they go through. For example, while soap operas tend to be exceedingly sensational and over the top, most comedies gloss over the terrible things that may befall a family. Gritty crime shows and other dramas try to portray families more accurately, but still must follow certain rules. For this reason, dramas still tend to be unrealistic. The recent rise of popular cable television programs highlight key content regulations that contribute heavily to inaccurate family portrayals and ultimately, the broadcast networks’ decline. I believe these regulations on content are outdated.

The differences between the broadcast and cable television network shows illustrate one of the massive complications for content regulation. Shows such as Sons of Anarchy, Dexter, The Sopranos and Weeds, can thrive because it is not bound to the same standards and practices of broadcast networks. Professor Robert Thompson, the founding director of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture at Syracuse University, said “If you look at the overall landscape and go to the best stuff out there, and let’s take the last five years or so, just what FX, AMC, HBO and Showtime have been doing […] these shows are so much better than anythi...

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Federal Communications Commision. "Program Content Regulations." Federal

Communications Commission (FCC) Home Page. (2012): CamelCat

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"Full Cast and Crew for Sons of Anarchy." IMDb. Amazon, 2008. Web. 27 Jan. 2012.

Greenblatt, Alan. “Television's Future.” CQ Researcher, Vol. 17 (2007, February 16): 145-168.

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Thompson, Robert. "As the TV World Turns." Interview. The Mark News. The Mark (21 June

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