- Sep 22, 2013
- 4,956
- 250
- 85
Two iconic 1990s TV series were Sports Night (a show that focuses on the friendships, pitfalls and ethical issues the creative talent of the program face while trying to produce a good show under constant network pressure) and High Incident (a show that focuses on the everyday condition-managerial stories of a group of El Camino Police Department officers investigating and solving crimes).
Sports Night was very wry and sharply-written, while High Incident was very taught and well-orchestrated. Neither show lasted long due to surprisingly poor ratings despite featuring stellar casts, writing, and acting. However, many of us TV fans consider these two short-lived American culture programs to be iconic of the socially-colorful 1990s (and of American television in general!).
What both of these symbolic American TV shows revealed was that modern television audiences craved something like 'sociological imagination.'
Does this modern 'social-dialogue' trend in entertainment reveal the civics appeal of the fire-fighter film Backdraft? I think it does! It seems that much of modern entertainment is dominated by realism imagination.
====
Sports Night featured drama-stories, officeplace-romance, and sports-culture tension in the arena of television culture and was certainly some reflection of the modern-day sports-network office-atmospherics of the sports-news network ESPN.
High Incident featured a very nice cast and thoughtful and even witty stories about diligent, creative, or pensive American police officers dealing with crime-management as well as personal improvement. Unlike the 2 iconic/dominant American cop-shows Hill Street Blues and NYPD Blue, High Incident was more of a pedestrian's view of 'cop-realism' and could therefore represent just about any promising police department in America.
So which show do you think better captures our modern era fascination with psychological entertainment?
I personally prefer High Incident...
====
Sports Night was very wry and sharply-written, while High Incident was very taught and well-orchestrated. Neither show lasted long due to surprisingly poor ratings despite featuring stellar casts, writing, and acting. However, many of us TV fans consider these two short-lived American culture programs to be iconic of the socially-colorful 1990s (and of American television in general!).
What both of these symbolic American TV shows revealed was that modern television audiences craved something like 'sociological imagination.'
Does this modern 'social-dialogue' trend in entertainment reveal the civics appeal of the fire-fighter film Backdraft? I think it does! It seems that much of modern entertainment is dominated by realism imagination.
====
Sports Night featured drama-stories, officeplace-romance, and sports-culture tension in the arena of television culture and was certainly some reflection of the modern-day sports-network office-atmospherics of the sports-news network ESPN.
High Incident featured a very nice cast and thoughtful and even witty stories about diligent, creative, or pensive American police officers dealing with crime-management as well as personal improvement. Unlike the 2 iconic/dominant American cop-shows Hill Street Blues and NYPD Blue, High Incident was more of a pedestrian's view of 'cop-realism' and could therefore represent just about any promising police department in America.
So which show do you think better captures our modern era fascination with psychological entertainment?
I personally prefer High Incident...
====
