Money or Quality? What's the Difference?

What is it about us that makes us want to watch TV about people making or having money? Why is money such a large factor into what is interesting? I have come to this realization that money is a huge factor in television. When I say it now, it probably sounds obvious. Money is a factor in so many aspects of everyday life. But I find almost discouraging to actually think about how wealth can help a show, and how the lack of it can deeply injure a show. There are so many shows that have the creative capacity to be an excellent show, but the money is not there, either with audience viewership or with funding from the network. It can be quite damaging to a show and ultimately end something very good.

I have always been a strong believer in second chances, which is exactly what a lot of shows need. As I've said many times on this blog, pilots are almost never a good representation of the how good (or bad) a show will be. There is so much that goes into a pilot. Introducing all the characters, setting up what the show will be about, intriguing enough viewers to want to sit through another episode, and most importantly, gaining enough viewers to allow the network to continue the show. Whether a show is the absolutely phenomenal or painfully horrible, the number of viewers is all that counts. This is because many advertisers will pay to have their ads on TV during a show that has their target audience, which is usually the majority of TV watchers anyway. This is where networks and eventually TV shows get their money. Of course, if a show is really good, viewers will usually follow anyway. But what about a show that is creative and good, but doesn't capture the audience needed to receive sufficient funding?

Community is a great example. One of the few innovative and unique comedy shows today, and yet it is constantly struggling to receive enough viewers to stay on air. This reminds me of a psychology term known as cognitive dissonance, when you have conflicting thoughts that bring you discomfort. For instance, if you know that smoking causes lung cancer and your grandfather died from smoking, you may experience cognitive dissonance if you too begin smoking. The fact that Community is a great show and it was taken off air for a mid-season hiatus, makes me experience this psych term. This show is so great, but it doesn't reach out to the audience that is most profitable. Because of this, networks try to shut the show down. They want the best bang for their buck.

Obviously I'm not saying networks are evil and they are hurting television creativity, but this system can be annoying to the regular television viewer. Sure good shows are getting hurt, but what about the crappy shows that stay on? The huge audiences that tune in to watch the various singing, dancing, and bitch-slapping competitions continue to boggle my mind. Yes that's right, I'm talking about reality television. It's pretty much the only thing that still keeps networks like NBC (The Voice and America's Got Talent) and FOX (American Idol) alive. I obviously love other shows a lot more than reality, so to see that these are the shows the Americans latch onto and watch the most is quite discouraging. Why doesn't anyone like a good story anymore? Why are people so obsessed with watching reality? To take advantage of reality TV's popularity, networks are popping them out left and right because advertisers want put their ads with those shows. Now there are reality shows than ever! What does that do? It leaves less money and less time slots for the shows that I and other people who enjoy good TV love.

What if their was a solution? What if networks got their money from some other source besides advertisers. How amazing would that be. Not only would shows be more free to express their creativity, but the audience would free of the perpetually hated commercial break! It would be a utopia. Literally. The system is what it is. If ads didn't pay them, someone else would. But how would they measure how much to pay them? Now by how many fan letters or Emmy nominations they receive. They would continue to be paid according to their ratings and unfortunately that's just the way television has to work.