Television criticism is the act of writing or speaking about
television programming
Broadcast programming is the practice of organizing or ordering (scheduling) of broadcast media shows, typically radio and television, in a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly or season-long schedule.
Modern broadcasters use broadcast automation ...
to evaluate its worth, meaning, and other aspects.
Such criticism can be found in daily newspapers, on culture discussion shows (on TV and radio), and in specialist books and periodicals, all of which are in direct competition for audiences from television.
There are many aspects to critiquing something, and those critiques can be found in a variety of places, such as newspapers or journals.
While originally developed to critique content for children, it has been used to critique how various issues and topics are presented on television such as
feminist and
African American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
representation.
Relations with the audience and networks are important to critics, but problems can arise with both.
Overview
Television criticism originally began as a way to analyze the shows children were watching, and to make sure they were getting quality educational content. Originally being defined as ''
visual literacy
Visual literacy is the ability to interpret, negotiate, and make meaning from information presented in the form of an image, extending the meaning of literacy, which commonly signifies interpretation of a written or printed text. Visual literacy ...
'', the term changed in the '90s to ''
media literacy
Media literacy is an expanded conceptualization of literacy that includes the ability to access and analyze media messages as well as create, reflect and take action, using the power of information and communication to make a difference in the w ...
''.
The purpose of television criticism is to evaluate the content of television to make sure the people watching them, whether it be students or citizens, are obtaining some level of reliable education.
This education can be for political, ethical, social, or cultural topics and issues.
The act of criticizing has a variety of components to it.
California State University, Sacramento
California State University, Sacramento (CSUS, Sacramento State, or informally Sac State) is a public university in Sacramento, California. Founded in 1947 as Sacramento State College, it is the eleventh oldest school in the 23-campus California ...
professor Leah R. Vande Berg explained that, "The act of criticism involves organizing, systematically and thoroughly describing, analyzing, interpreting, and evaluating patterned relationships to share an informed perspective with others."
The three most important parts of criticism are a key interpretation that the rest of the criticism will follow, sound arguments to back up the interpretation, and solid evidence to support it.
Since television is so accessible to so many people, most newspapers carry
TV listings
TV listings (television listings, also sometimes called a TV guide or program/programme guide) are a printed or electronic timetable of television programs. Often intended for consumer use, these provide information concerning programming sche ...
and these are often accompanied by criticism even just to the extent of recommending a particular program or programs from that day's selection of viewing.
Television criticism is a way for us to share and gain information about television shows.
Television will often provide a forum for criticizing itself. In the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
, ''
The Review Show
''The Review Show'' was a British discussion programme dedicated to the arts which ran, under several titles, from 1994 to 2014. The programme featured a panel of guests who reviewed developments in the world of the arts and culture.
History
'' ...
'' on
BBC Four hosts a monthly discussion on the arts with a television series often featuring.
Also in the UK is ''
Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe'' which takes an incisive though humorous look at current television.
Television can be criticized in a variety of ways, usually by watching what is on TV from a certain viewpoint.
Feminist Viewpoint
Viewing television from a feminist viewpoint refers to watching television programs with the purpose of critiquing the feminine aspects of it.
People who criticize from this viewpoint have three ways of going about it.
The first way is to analyze how the female characters are portrayed.
The second is to analyze how feminist messages are explored.
The third way is to analyze the theme of feminism and how the television content depicts it.
African American Viewpoint
Viewing television from an African American viewpoint refers to watching television programs to critique how African Americans and their issues are portrayed.
How it could be done was turned into three categories by a television critic name
Herman Gray The first category was assimilation and the discourse of invisibility.
This category that any issues related to African Americans should be treated as individual problems and any other political issues should be viewed through a racial lens.
The second category is separate-but-equal discourses.
This category brings up that the world black characters live in should be the same as the one the white characters live in.
The third category is multiculturalism/diversity.
This category states that the audience should see Black life and culture through a variety of viewpoints.
Issues in Criticism
With how big television has gotten, with thousands of channels and countless shows, it has become harder for critics to do their jobs.
This was originally seen back in the 1980s, where televisions grew to not only include the normal three networks but channels from nascent cable and three more broadcast networks.
The increase in content made critics prioritize what they watched, leading to a wider and more diverse range of critics.
Despite the issues caused by the increase in content, it made critics more important to networks, who relied on them to help them figure out what shows they should advertise.
This arose when networks wanted to expand their advertising so it wasn't just on television.
The work of critics allowed people to find and get excited about different shows and served as a form of advertisement for the network.
Sometimes issues can arise with the networks.
In 1981, the executive producer of
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
, Bud Rukeyser, got into conflict with television critics.
Critics were demanding that the sexuality of the main character of the TV show
Love, Sydney be revealed.
Rukeyser refused to provide an answer and pulled NBC from a press tour in an attempt to punish and assert his power over the critics.
His attempt was in vain, as critics become more interested in the other networks at the press tour than with NBC.
Relationship with Readers
Critics recognize their audience as an important factor in their work and try not to use it to preach their opinions.
They admit that they take in industrial factors, such as commercial viability, when reviewing a show, but they also must keep an open mind since they may not be the target audience of the show.
Critics also have to take into consideration the audience's pleasures and evaluations and balance it with their knowledge of the television industry.
This means that they have to put a lot of their knowledge of the workings and limitations of the industry to the side when making a review.
Examples of Television Criticism
The rise of the internet has allowed television critics to publish their work in a cheaper manner that is easy to distribute.
Multiple websites dedicated to critiquing television have sprung up over the years, though a lot of them have different ways of critiquing.
Some examples of this are the website
Television Without Pity
Television Without Pity (often abbreviated TWoP) was a website that provided detailed recaps of select television dramas, situation comedy, situation comedies and reality TV shows along with discussion forums. These recaps were written with sarca ...
providing that provide "more creative and interactive commentary" and FLOW displaying a "more academic, yet still generally accessible discussion of television."
See also
* ''
Did You See...?''
*
:Television critics
References
External links
Our critics' advice-
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
, 8 July 2008.
**In this article
Nancy Banks-Smith
Nancy Banks-Smith (born 1929) is a British television and radio critic, who spent most of her career writing for ''The Guardian''.
Life and career
Born in Manchester and raised in a pub, she was educated at Roedean School.
Banks-Smith began her ...
gives advice to young, aspiring, would-be TV critics.
*
{{Authority control
Television studies