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July 1994

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Film and TV Studies Discussion List <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Wed, 6 Jul 1994 15:28:22 -0400
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There were some postings a week or two ago I think that were
essentializing TV as a medium determined by (more or less) fixed
time viewing habits. On Monday evenings (here in Montreal) we can
settle in with the _Simpsons_, and ditto Wednesday evening with
_Roseanne_, the shows' characters becomming familial in a sense.
The O.J. Simpson TV coverage suggests, though, a rupture of the
_usual_ fabric of TV viewing, since it was not prepared in
the usual way of planned out TV production, and until the drama
plays itself out, the networks are not going to cancel the
"show."  The logic of such TV coverage as with the _Watergate
Hearings_, the _Thomas Supreme Court Confirmation Hearings_,
the _Branch Davidian Conflagration_, the _Kennedy Rape Trial_,
etc. is the unplanned special event. Judging by the number of
people who can't get enough of the Simson trial preliminaries
(myself included) and the fact that US television throws up
(Hmmmnnn!) a great many such media extravaganzas suggests
an irregular time rhythm to TV too.
 
 
Gordon Peffer
Montreal, QC
 
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