Can We “Come Home” Again?

During the past thirty years of the last century, television in the United States was a far different landscape than what we have today. Back then, we didn’t seem to have the attention span of a You-Tube clip, and we were entertained by the vast amounts of original programming that is now all but devoid from the current television landscape.  Reality TV was ‘Real People” and comedy wasn’t watching men in drag telling a girl how to “work it”  in trying to be America’s Next Top Model.

Now many say that we have evolved past the television of old, but I have to disagree. I would say we have de-evolved. With every economist saying that our economy is now resetting itself, I for one would welcome a reset to the television landscape. For you see, I don’t completely buy what the networks say when they report that their audiences have all gone elsewhere. Maybe it’s not the audience, but the creativity.  Case In Point, remember the splashy Fall ad campaigns of years past? These were wonderfully written PR campaigns that made you excited to watch the network and made you feel like we were all part of their family. The stars and talent all aligned together to support the network as they were placed in many cute little vignettes in the campaign. They were fun, and often catchy tunes and made you feel good. 

And that’s what we need right now, is to feel good again. Sitcoms rained supreme during the 80’s on NBC as it was a juggernaut not to be reckoned with. Now it seems NBC has been reduced to an “also-ran” that airs nothing but six hours of the Today Show and soon 3 hours of Talk Shows a night. Is that really what it’s come to? How many times can you see the Octo-Mom in the morning followed by Paris Hilton or the likes on at night? This is entertainment? No wonder we’re migrating to other sources. I have no problem with change. However, I also subscribe to the old adage that “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. Maybe if the networks went back to more original, creative programming it would help. Hey, It’s so crazy of an idea that it just might work!  Heck, while we’re at it, let’s take some stimulus money, get the creative MAD Men going and create a feel good campaign for all of us. Crazy sounding, perhaps. But I look to the retailing giant Wal-Mart as the leader in telling people what they want to hear, and them believing it. If you spend 2 billion dollars a year telling people you have the lowest prices around, well, it just starts to sink in with your customer then doesn’t it?  Imagine what we could do with a similar campaign to feel good about America. For that, I leave you with this.

“Keep Moving Forward!”