Tracking Tv Programs Essay, Research Paper

Since its invention, television has been an important part of American life and culture. In

our modern society, there are even those who would argue that it has become an absolute

necessity. Recently, many people have been debating whether or not television content is

corrupting our youth and Americans in general. In spite of this, I believe that the networks do an

adequate job of providing programs that appeal to the different categories of viewing audiences.

In the early evening, one can find a variety of programs that connect with a large audience

spanning children to adults, however as the night progresses the program content changes in

order to target mature audiences only.

When the early evening programming begins at around five o’clock the viewer has

various selections to choose from. It is about this time that many people are returning home

from work, so news programs are a staple of these early time slots. Following this is a barrage

of comedy sitcoms, movies, and dramas, such as “Home Improvement” and “Melrose Place”.

Their viewers include children, families, and single adults. Therefore, these time slots draw larger

audiences than any other.

As the evening dwells on, one can start to see a gradual change in program content as

they begin to lose the younger viewers and start focusing on more mature audiences. The

content becomes more violent and sexually explicit. The comedy also follows this pattern and

becomes more adult oriented, such as HBO’s “Def Comedy Jam”. This is also the time of night

that those famous infomercials begin airing. The reason for this is that these are the cheapest

time slots to buy and broadcast on. These hour long commercials usually end out the viewing

day.

In conclusion, it is apparent that television programs are devised to target specific groups of

viewers. The networks set aside the early evening for children and families, and still provide

entertaining programs for mature viewers in the late evening. To state it in the simplest way

possible, when it comes to evening television programs they go from mild to wild.