8 Most Important Things Happening In TV
by Evan Shapiro
This week, our mid-term assignment is due — a 10-20 page paper in which each student must propose and defend their choice for the single most important thing to happen to TV in the past five years.
Five years may seem like a relatively short period of history to explore; but when it comes to TV, five years is a lifetime — a generation. In just the past five years, we’ve seen the emergence of true streaming television, the arrival of the iPad and ascendancy of Snooki. TV is like the weather in Florida — wait a minute and it will change.
The students are not limited to any area or aspect of television. Their topic can be a technology, a trend or even a person. In the past, I’ve gotten a wide array of responses — from the general to the specific and everything in between. The ‘thing’ they choose is less important than the argument they make and the research they offer to support their thesis. The rule is “Choose anything — but prove it.” The best paper I’ve gotten so far was on — get this — how Glee was indeed the most important thing to happen to TV in the past half decade. The author did not focus on the acting, the writing or even how the show championed the alienated or outcast, rather he highlighted the unorthodox way the show was launched — a single episode at the end of one season, after the Finale of American Idol; followed by ubiquitous distribution online over the summer — and how it created an enormous consumer market for a musical songbook long thought dead. In choosing Glee, the student focused not on its artistic merit, but on the business behind the series. While I did not agree that it was the most important thing to happen to TV in the past five years, I could not argue with the premise. He got an A+.
So, following the spirit of that A+ paper, I have assembled my list of the 8 Most Important Things to Happen to TV in the Past 5 Years. (Don’t worry, the class has already handed in their papers, so they cannot crib my answers.) Why 8? Because that’s how many I came up with. You may not agree with my choices — this being the interwebs, I assume you will not. So I highly encourage you to list your top five in the comments below. You can grade me, and then I can grade you.
