Has Television Gone Too Far?
In the past four decades American television has rapidly progressed from a luxury means of communication and entertainment to a far and wide spread, everyone-has-access-to-it, media/movie/sports/shocks/anything-you-can-imagine(literally) mess of stuff. There is now a channel for everything on God’s green earth. That is, if it can be stretched to fill a twelve-hour viewing schedule, and if it can’t, there is probably a show on about it somewhere. Pretty much every aspect of life can be filmed and produced, from birth to death to everything in between. Anything that can possibly bring more eyes to the screen (within limits, theoretically) will and can be done. Take for instance, Tom Green, who in any other era would have been long locked away or beaten to death by now for the stunts that he pulls, but because of television this man is a well-known and, dare I say, respected celebrity. Because of television (and maybe some other undiagnosed chemical imbalance), there is a man who will do physical harm to himself, in some cases severe, week after week to get ratings on a show entitled Jackass. Marriage has thrice been turned into a game show thus far, twice by the FOX network, first with Who Wants to Marry a Millionaire? and secondly with Who Wants to Be a Princess?, and thirdly by ABC with the reality TV show The Bachelor. Has TV finally gotten out of hand? It is hard to say one way or the other, given that the American public seems to flock to each newer and even more bizarre invention that TV writers, artists, and producers throw their way. The majority in the American public will be the ultimate judge of what should be on television and of how far the spectacle will go. As of yet, it shows no signs of slowing down, so where will it stop? Does our culture demand that we go so far as to put on more shocking programming than we already have?
The argument for not worrying about what’s on TV used to be that: questionable viewing material is not very mainstream and will remain that way and thus, we should just leave it where it lies, on the outskirts of society. Unfortunately, that tactic hasn’t worked very well. Questionable viewing material has gone mainstream; it is all over network television, from the marriage shows mentioned above, to reality TV shows, to Celebrity Boxing, to Jerry Springer, to Maury, to Malcolm in the Middle. And, by questionable viewing material, I mean shows that fail to reflect our values as a society. Do we really think that it is OK for grandmothers to steal lesbian lovers from granddaughters(Springer) and then flash everyone to prove that they are sexy enough to do it? What about mothers who appear to have no compassion or patience for their children(Malcolm), is that entertaining now? And is it OK now, in society, to pit people against each other in situations from which they can’t escape, for fun and maybe a little money(reality shows)? This is what we are doing on television, but what about in society?
Does television reflect society or does society follow television? I would argue both. Artists, producers, writers, actors, and directors of television can change the way that mainstream society thinks and reacts to a given something. Take cigarettes for an example, they used to be the epitome of cool --all of the stars smoked them in all of the movies, positive advertisements were everywhere for them on TV-- but they are now viewed as a social no-no. Most of the change in attitude has probably resulted from anti-smoking advertisements and recent health news about the effects of cigarettes via television. On the other hand, people do have minds of their own and most will choose not to do things if they find them to be asinine or harmful to themselves or others, regardless of what they see on television. However, it’s those who do not choose what most people do choose that fascinate us and thus, bring in ratings. That is why see things on television that do not reflect our own morals and values: it’s interesting to watch from a third-party standpoint.
As of now, television’s spectacle is not overtaking society, even though it may be overtaking television. For the most part, the madness of Jackass or Tom Green is still not condoned or accepted in everyday life. Most people would not want to have Tom Green around as their friend, but if he is hundreds of miles away under the control of a producer and the law, he is pretty fun to laugh at. TV is presented with a distinct lack of social regard.

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