Gamerforlife wrote:I'll probably get a lot of flak for saying this, but it's just an observation based on my own personal experiences. Most of the crap TV that gets the high ratings these days have a pretty large female audience. Now I'm not a sexist, and I am not trying to be offensive, but when I hear people at my job talk about the kind of crap shows mentioned in this thread, it's almost always females. I don't know guys who watch that crap. The last time I talked to a dude at work about TV, it was Game of Thrones. I then convinced him to try Breaking Bad. A lot of these garbage shows appeal to women it seems. I don't know why.
I bet more guys watch these garbage shows than you think; they're just not discussing it at the office. I imagine a dude isn't going to assume that bringing up last night's American Idol is going to produce a lot of common ground with his officemates. He might also fear the stigma of his admitting to watching them (which would be worse for him than for a woman). So his opening with American Idol as opposed to Game of Thrones is impractical at best, socially stupid at worst.
Even though I haven't seen any of the shows mentioned in this thread, I think it's unfair to put Dancing with the Stars and Jersey Shore next to each other under the same heading of "garbage." Challenge shows where people get eliminated or voted off the island have a tacky gimmick but might be good light entertainment otherwise (Wild & Crazy Kids, American Gladiators, MXC). Pure voyeuristic reality television that exists solely to emotionally exploit a cast for entertainment is a different beast, though, and worthy of real disdain. (And there are, of course, shows that combine these two elements.)
It seems like an outstanding characteristic of the "good" television series listed here is their level of violence. I was going to site violence as a potentially alienating issue to female viewers, but then there's True Blood. Is True Blood considered a quality show? Because the book series it's based on is aimed squarely at women, and I have to imagine HBO is taking that into account and actively courting a largely female fanbase. If it's at all comparable to Breaking Bad, The Wire, or Game of Thrones in terms of maturity, then I'd say the real issue isn't that women enjoy mindless trash or that men enjoy gratuitous violence. I'd say that maybe plot topics that are assumed to appeal moreso to men (espionage, crime, warfare) are treated more seriously by the crews producing them more often than plot topics that are assumed to appeal moreso to women (romance, family, class warfare).
VVV