Local TV an Art Form? Or No.
Is locally-produced television more or less than it’s cracked up to be? Neil Postman in his work, “Amusing Ourselves to Death,” claims that television offers entertainment value and not much else. He identifies TV as a communication platform that offers a variety of types of information, and one that requires very few skills to comprehend. He also describes the purpose of television to be “largely aimed at emotional gratification.”
While the basic tenets of Postman’s claims are easily digestible, television as a medium is a much more sophisticated modality than he seems to purport.
In my home, TV is popular for its ability to entertain, provide information, and for the ease and convenience with which it can be consumed. Favorite shows at our house include “Good Luck Charlie,” “Twilight Zone,” “Orange is the New Black,” and “Saturday Night Live.” Though the majority of TV viewing is spent on news.
Postman claims that “technology becomes a medium as it employs a particular symbolic code, as it finds its place in a particular social setting, as it insinuates itself into economic and political contexts.” Now Postman’s ideology is getting somewhere. While there is indeed a demand made of television to provide entertainment, television is an industry that generates so much more.
Local and community television captures local culture and offers opportunities for communities to display various skill sets. In Utah, the local Community Education Channel (CECTV) partnered with the live-streaming television service provider, Southern Utah LIVE Television Network, to produce a handful of local television productions. Leading the pack in terms of popularity and marketability was a little gem of a show, “Southern Utah Chef.”
Each episode was written to be — yes — entertaining. Also, episodes showcased skills of southern Utah’s highest rated chefs and restaurants including Painted Pony, George’s Corner, Benja Thai & Sushi, Red Rock Grill, and premier dining locations in the area’s tourist hub, Springdale, Utah, at the entrance to Zion National Park.
Show host, Ms. K, was a dynamic and fun local personality, and she was entertaining. Bantering playfully with chefs as they cook, she also provides a connection to viewers at home and in the studio audience. The show was taped before a live studio audience and all episodes are available for streaming on the local community television streaming site. The show captures community culture and offers a cook-at-home demonstration and recipe for viewers interested in trying the chef’s favorites.
Additionally, audience members were invited to sample the chef’s works after the taping of the show. Each episode required a great deal of community collaboration, script writing, directing and editing. Again, while it was designed to be entertaining, the show was also educational and informative. Just as much of television is.
Southern Utah Chef audience members enjoy sampling
recipes prepared by Benja following the taping of an
episode of Southern Utah Chef.
I use this example to illustrate a point. From a small community cooking show to CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360” or “Modern Family,” television is a communication industry that operates at many levels. As a whole, it has the ability to educate, encapsulate culture, drive economy, and to unite.
When Postman claims, “American television, in other words, is devoted entirely to supplying its audience with entertainment,” there is much more to consider. Such a position minimalizes a complex modality.
Do you agree with Postman that television is devoted entirely to supplying entertainment?
And if so, do you agree that such an attribution minimalizes television as a medium? Why or why not?
