"Desperate Housewives" may make it into the top 10 in Birmingham, Ala.
From The New York Times, 11/22/04:
http://nytimes.com/2004/11/22/business/media/22tube.html
Many Who Voted for 'Values' Still Like Their Television Sin
By BILL CARTER
The results of the presidential election are still being parsed for
what they say about the electorate's supposed closer embrace of
traditional cultural values, but for the network television executives
charged with finding programs that speak to tastes across the nation,
one lesson is clear.
The supposed cultural divide is more like a cultural mind meld.
In interviews, representatives of the four big broadcast networks as
well as Hollywood production studios said the nightly television
ratings bore little relation to the message apparently sent by a
significant percentage of voters.
The choices of viewers, whether in Los Angeles or Salt Lake City, New
York or Birmingham, Ala., are remarkably similar.
And that means the election will have little impact on which shows
they decide to put on television, these executives say.
It is possible that some secondary characters on new television shows
will exhibit strong religious beliefs, and an occasional plotline may
examine the impact of faith on some characters' lives.
But with "Desperate Housewives" and "C.S.I." leading the ratings,
television shows are far more likely to keep pumping from the deep
well of murder, mayhem and sexual transgression than seek diversion
along the straight and narrow path.
"It's entertainment versus politics," said Steve McPherson, the
president of ABC Entertainment.
He dismissed the notion that program creators might be developing
ideas specifically to chase voters who claimed moral values as an
important issue in this election.
"I have not heard an idea of that kind,'' Mr. McPherson said, "none
whatsoever."
As much as network entertainment executives believe in taking note of
trends, the rating figures from Nielsen Media Research remain their
bible.
"They tell you more about creative values than anything that's in the
political zeitgeist," said Dana Walden, the president of one of the
largest production studios, Twentieth Century Fox Television, which
produces shows like "The Simpsons" and "N.Y.P.D. Blue."
"It's those values that are striking a chord with the American
people," Ms. Walden said.
So if it is true that the public's electoral choices are a cry for
more morally driven programming, the network executives ask, why are
so many people, even in the markets surrounding the Bush bastions
Atlanta and Salt Lake City, watching a sex-drenched television drama?
"Desperate Housewives" on ABC is the big new hit of the television
season, ranked second over all in the country, behind only "C.S.I." on
CBS.
This satire of suburbia and modern relationships features, among other
morally challenged characters, a married woman in her 30's having an
affair with a high-school-age gardener, and has prompted several
advertisers, including Lowe's, to pull their advertisements.
In the greater Atlanta market, reaching more than two million
households, "Desperate Housewives" is the top-rated show.
Nearly 58 percent of the voters in those counties voted for President
Bush.
And in the Salt Lake City market, which takes in the whole state of
Utah and parts of Nevada, Idaho and Wyoming, "Desperate Housewives" is
fourth, after two editions of "C.S.I." and NBC's "E.R."; Mr. Bush
rolled up 72.6 percent of the vote there.
"We say one thing and do another," said Kevin Reilly, the president of
NBC Entertainment.
"People compartmentalize about their lives and their entertainment
choices."
_________________________________________________________________
These shows are designed for the sex-starved Bush moral values voters.
Harry
.
|
