Going to the “wayback machine” today in thinking about how television influenced the culture when I was a kid growing up. Most of us kids watched the same shows, because there were only three networks, and at any given time, there was probably a good chance that the shows we liked would be viewed by many of us.
So, for example, at school the day after a particularly adventurous show of Zorro the night before, the vast majority of kids were abuzz about how cool it was when Zorro stabbed that guy with his sword. You know, boy stuff…
Or the day after the Alamo episode on Disney’s Davy Crockett series. Wow, we were mesmerized. Come on, admit it, you just sang the ballad of Davy Crockett – I know, it’s OK!
The point here is that with the limited amount of TV shows back then, a large percentage of people watched the same things. News was consumed by watching Walter Cronkite, Huntley and Brinkley, or maybe John Cameron Swayze. Mostly, the three networks were how people consumed news in those days, and there was a certain uniformity of reporting the news. If there was a political slant, it was pretty slight and very subtle.
There was a unifying effect when choices were limited. For example, in 1983 viewership of the M.A.S.H. final show was 106 million people or 45.5% of the viewing audience. By 2019, the final episode of the wildly popular Big Bang Theory reached just 18 million people or about 5.4% of the viewing audience. By 2019 there were hundreds of choices on TV and myriad streaming options.
The things in media that tended to unify the American culture are now fragmented to the point that people now live in media silos – narrow places where there is unity only among a smaller and smaller group.
I will talk more about this phenomenon in future blogs. Meanwhile, enjoy the Davy Crockett theme song. You’re welcome!
Reflections of a Counselor 