TV vs. MTV

One of my favorite shows is Modern Family, and the authors actually talked about it in the intro to this chapter. I never actually watch it while it’s on TV anymore because it never fits around my schedule, but I always watch it on iTunes. That means that lately, I haven’t seen many commercials, so I don’t know what the advertisements are and to whom they are geared towards. Modern Family is one of those shows, similar to Glee, which tries to break the stereotypical perfect -lifestyle type show. Modern Family has characters of all shapes, sizes, ages, and races. They have the controversial gay couple, with the adopted Asian baby, and the old man married to the sexy, younger Spanish woman. This makes it so the audience can span to many different types of people. The characters are all very distinct in their actions and mannerisms, making each of them unique from one another. The humor can appeal to many different age ranges, from kids to adults. It is a show that someone can watch with his or her family, like I used to do with mine. It is sort of about dysfunctional family times, but at the end they always learn something that makes them appreciate their odd family even more. Each episode never really has a dramatic story line, and it is a show that you don’t have to watch every episode to know what is going on.  

But comparing TV to MTV, they are very different, yet similar. I think that both shows and music videos give you strong feelings; whether it’s a sad song or a drama television show, or an upbeat song and a comedy show. I think that music videos are different because there isn’t enough time to get to know characters, whereas in television shows there is much more time to understand and relate to characters.