04: Telepharmavangelism

What I found most interesting about Williams' article happened to be the very end. The 9th page begins to really fill in the picture of what television programming is, that is: the lowest common denominator. Something that started out as a secondary communication devise turned into a rather inexpensive pleasure object in that people watch what companies put on it. In some ways, this is just like Goebbels' idea, except instead of having a definite point, it's slapped together, and shot out, without much thought in between the transmissions.

I think the unfortunate part, not taken from the article, is that people believe programming is on television because the general population wants to see it. Is some ways, it's a self-fulfilling prophecy, I believe due to this thought-process, there isn't much innovation in the programming aspect of television broadcasting, despite the technological sides massive complexity.


I mean, what is the point of that robot during football games? Did American culture ask for that, explicitly or not?