{"id":86308,"date":"2024-10-25T20:53:20","date_gmt":"2024-10-25T20:53:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/2024\/10\/25\/rise-of-the-first-responders-what-do-americas-changing-tv-habits-say-about-our-politics\/"},"modified":"2024-10-25T20:53:20","modified_gmt":"2024-10-25T20:53:20","slug":"rise-of-the-first-responders-what-do-americas-changing-tv-habits-say-about-our-politics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/2024\/10\/25\/rise-of-the-first-responders-what-do-americas-changing-tv-habits-say-about-our-politics\/","title":{"rendered":"Rise of the First Responders: What Do America’s Changing TV Habits Say About Our Politics?"},"content":{"rendered":"


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If you\u2019re a fan of broadcast TV dramas (and you know we are, here at TV Fanatic!), then you\u2019re probably aware that the major networks are all about first responders these days.<\/p>\n

A quick scan of the year\u2019s top dramas turns up more cops and firefighters than a charity softball game in Central Park.<\/p>\n

Throw in doctors, lawyers, lifeguards, and folks with first responder-adjacent jobs (a la Tracker\u2019s Colter Shaw or High Potential<\/a>\u2018s Morgan Gillroy), and pretty much every drama on network television is covered.<\/p>\n

\"Chim\"Chim
(Disney\/Christopher Willard )<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Obviously, TV\u2019s fascination with cops, firefighters, FBI agents, etc. is nothing new.<\/p>\n

After all, those people have very interesting jobs, which makes it easy for writers to come up with weekly adventures to enthrall audiences.<\/p>\n

And if you\u2019re looking for a hero in 2024, you could do a lot worse than the people who come to the rescue during emergency situations.<\/p>\n

That might be especially true when said hero has a checkered past.<\/p>\n

Need a redemption arc than can be completed over the course of an hour (44 minutes with commercials)? <\/p>\n

\"Vince\"Vince
(Sergei Bachlakov\/CBS)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Just have an inmate who\u2019s been convicted of a violent crime save someone\u2019s life by pulling them from a burning building.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a scenario that\u2019s played out several times on Fire Country<\/a>, and we\u2019re not knocking it in any way. It\u2019s succinct and powerful, and in the age of TikTok-ified attention spans that\u2019s a hell of a combination.<\/p>\n

In fact, it\u2019s important for us to note that we\u2019re not dismissing these shows or the brave men and women they depict. <\/p>\n

But interestingly, it wasn\u2019t all that long ago that a list of TV\u2019s top shows would\u2019ve also contained oddball entries like Lost, Twin Peaks, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, This Is Us<\/a>, Parenthood, Gilmore Girls, and the like.<\/p>\n

Even The X-Files, while it obviously centered on two FBI agents, was more concerned with matters otherworldly than procedural. And it was a massive hit across every major demo.<\/p>\n

\"Cracking\"Cracking
(Fox)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

So what happened? <\/p>\n

Why is it that at some point over the past 10 years, the major networks seemingly lost all interest in shows that don\u2019t revolve around the people who show up when you dial 911?<\/p>\n

Well, the situation might speak to the current political tensions in America these days.<\/p>\n

In case you\u2019ve been living under a rock in a cave on Mars these past few years, we have some sad news to deliver \u2014 the US has become pretty divided.<\/p>\n

As in \u201cpeople who are stockpiling canned goods might have the right idea\u201d-level divided.<\/p>\n

\"Jamie\"Jamie
(CBS \/ 2023 CBS Broadcasting )<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This split is most evident in our politics, but there are signs of it in our pop culture as well.<\/p>\n

And it seems that conservatives got custody of broadcast TV in the national divorce. That said, liberals have not been left with an empty nest.<\/p>\n

After all, it\u2019s not as if more eccentric, provocative shows aren\u2019t being produced anymore.<\/p>\n

A look at the year\u2019s top streaming and premium cable shows reveals a wide array of bold premises on shows like Baby Reindeer, The Penguin<\/a>, Bridgerton, Only Murders In the Building, etc.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s younger people and more affluent households that are most likely to subscribe to multiple streaming services.<\/p>\n

\"Richard\"Richard
(Ed Miller\/Netflix)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Those demographics also tend to be more left-leaning in their politics, which might help to explain why they\u2019re more interested in Scottish comedians and steamy Regency romances than the procedurals that remain popular with older audiences.<\/p>\n

Obviously, there\u2019s nothing new about generation and income gaps having an impact on viewing habits.<\/p>\n

But the divide is wider than ever these days, as evidenced by a recent Bill Maher monologue in which the comedian joked about never having heard of CBS\u2019 Tracker<\/a>.<\/p>\n

His studio audience \u2014 which was likely an affluent, coastal crowd \u2014 seemed to agree with his befuddlement at the fact that it\u2019s TV\u2019s most-watched show.<\/p>\n

It was a small moment that spoke volumes about the state of television in 2024.<\/p>\n

\"Colter\"Colter
(Sergei Bachlakov\/CBS)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Interestingly, the broadcast sitcom is almost completely dead these days, possibly as a result of the fact that Americans can no longer agree on what\u2019s funny.<\/p>\n

Seinfeld<\/a> and Home Improvement were the top two sitcoms of the 1990s, and they both drew such huge audiences that it\u2019s safe to say their audiences overlapped considerably.<\/p>\n

Nowadays, a single, Manhattan-based standup comic and a Midwestern, power-tool-obsessed family man would appeal to very different demographics.<\/p>\n

But 30 years ago, a wide swath of the American public was able to appreciate the comedic potential in both scenarios.<\/p>\n

\"Seinfeld\"Seinfeld
(NBC)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Maybe the Tim and Jerry Divide tells us everything that we need to know about the division at the center of American cultural life in 2024.<\/p>\n

Or maybe we\u2019re just overthinking TV trends again. That\u2019s sort of what we do here.<\/p>\n

Anyway! Over to you TV fanatics!<\/p>\n

Do you think modern broadcast television schedules can tell us anything about the US political climate?<\/p>\n

Hit the comments section below to share your thoughts!<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n


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If you\u2019re a fan of broadcast TV dramas (and you know we are, here at TV Fanatic!), then you\u2019re probably aware that the major networks<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":86309,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[175],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-86308","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-shows"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86308","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86308"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86308\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86309"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}