In this hour, we explore Television and the Mind. Nearly 99% of American households own a television. Is it a "boob tube" or a positive influence? Guests include psychologists Dr. Daniel Anderson, Dr. Robert Kubey, and Dr. Jane Healy; Norman Lear, the creator of groundbreaking shows including All in the Family and Sanford and Son; Anthony Zuiker, the creator of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation -- the top-rated drama in America; and public-television documentary filmmaker Ric Burns. With commentary by John Hockenberry.
Host Dr. Fred Goodwin begins with an essay on the paradox of television. On the one hand, television can serve as an educational tool and a unifying force for people across the country and around the globe. On the other hand, it can have negative effects on children and even on adults. Fortunately, the negative effects are dose-dependent, and adults can limit the dose for their children (and themselves), although that requires time and energy and a persistent commitment.
Next, The Infinite Mind's Marit Haahr interviews Anthony Zuiker, the creator of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and CSI: Miami, about what goes into writing a show and how he draws in his enormous audiences. Four-years ago, Zuiker was working as a tram driver at the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas. He got the idea for a crime show based on forensic science. Now in its third season, CSI is the top-rated drama in the country, and it was nominated for six Emmys. CSI: Miami just had the most successful debut for a TV drama in eight years.
Zuiker describes the many people -- from writers to directors to network executives -- who are involved in putting together an episode of CSI. Although many changes are made to a script over the course of filming, certain things must be retained to satisfy the audience. The story must be a good mystery, and the episode must contain what he calls "bells and whistles" -- the technical shots CSI is known for (things like following a bullet as it travels through a body or zooming in for an extreme close-up of a hair follicle). He says the show's audience ranges from ages six to sixty; the younger people watch for the "bells and whistles" while older people watch for the character development (for example, one continuing plotline involves the lead investigator's losing his hearing). Although the show has been criticized for being too graphic, he says he is just being true to forensic science. He does not include "gore for gore's sake," but will push the envelope as long as every choice is driven by the forensics.
To contact Mr. Zuiker, please write to: Anthony Zuiker, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, CBS Television City, 7800 Beverly Blvd., Room #18, Los Angeles, CA 90036. For more information about CSI or CSI:Miami, visit www.cbs.com/primetime/csi/main.shtml or http://www.cbs.com/primetime/csi_miami/.
Then, Dr. Goodwin interviews three psychologists about the effects of television on both children and adults. Dr. Daniel Anderson is a professor in the department of psychology at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He was involved in the development of several TV programs for children, including Blue's Clues, Bear in the Big Blue House, and Dora the Explorer. He's also served as an advisor to Captain Kangaroo and Sesame Street. Dr. Robert Kubey is the director of the Center for Media Studies at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. He's the co-author of Television and the Quality of Life: How Viewing Shapes Everyday Experiences. Dr. Jane Healy is an educational psychologist and educator whose books include Failure to Connect and Endangered Minds: Why Children Don't Think and What We Can Do About It.
Dr. Goodwin begins by asking each of the guests whether he thinks children should watch television. Dr. Anderson suggests that parents think to themselves, "Would my child be doing something better if he or she weren't watching this program right now?." If the answer is yes, turn the TV off. If it's no, then it's OK for the child to watch. However, since we know that TV is a powerful medium that can have serious negative effects, it is crucial that parents keep a close eye on the kind of programs their children are viewing.
Dr. Healy adds that the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that children under two watch no television at all. She says that, in older children, we know that more than ten hours per week begins to interfere with school achievement.
Dr. Kubey agrees that we need to monitor what children watch, but, since we eventually want kids to become autonomous, he advocates for media education, so that kids (and adults) can become more critical of the things they watch and more active participants in viewing.
According to Dr. Anderson, parents should follow the American Academy of Pediatrics guidelines primarily because we don't know much about the effects of television on children under two. He has begun to do some research on how television that's on in the background (when a parent or older sibling is watching, for example) might affect babies. His findings show that this kind of background TV may disrupt children's toy play, babbling, and inner speech, all of which have key roles in development. Dr. Healy adds that even in older children, play is important in the development of imagination and socialization.
The guests then discuss violence on television. The preponderance of evidence suggests that watching TV violence can predispose people to being violent, particularly if they are already at risk. Dr. Kubey believes this is not only because people model their behavior on what they see on TV, but also because TV violence desensitizes them. Watching extreme violence and gore can be psychologically unsettling, which isn't great for either children or adults. Dr. Healy says that since we know that certain neurotransmitters are secreted in fear reactions, we need to pay more attention to what goes on in the brain developmentally when children are exposed to extreme violence on TV-- she wonders if we are training the brain to be fearful and respond to situations with antisocial kinds of behavior.
Dr. Anderson and Dr. Healy conclude by talking about the kind of programs parents should allow preschoolers to watch. Dr. Healy says it is important to observe your children to see how they are reacting to a show and to ask them about what they learned from it. Also, parents should look for shows that are not too fast-paced and that encourage children to do something, like sing or dance. Dr. Anderson adds that parents should choose programs that educational specialists have been involved in creating -- many of these can actually be beneficial.
To contact Dr. Anderson, please write to: Daniel R. Anderson, Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003. Or visit http://www.umass.edu/.
To contact Dr. Kubey, please write to: Robert Kubey, associate professor, Department of Journalism & Media Studies, Rutgers University, 4 Huntington Street, New Brunswick, NJ 08901-1701. Or visit http://www.mediastudies.rutgers.edu/.
Dr. Jane Healy can be contacted at 4266 Columbine Dr., Vail, CO 81657.
One of the most direct ways TV affects our minds is by educating us. After a short break, we hear from award-winning documentary filmmaker Ric Burns - a master at conveying compelling, informative stories on the small screen. Burns has written, directed and produced the public-television documentaries Ansel Adams, The Donner Party, Coney Island, The Way West and New York: A Documentary Film, and he co-wrote and co-produced The Civil War with his brother, Ken Burns.
Burns describes how he combines images, words, and music to maximize a story's impact on its audience. He says he must begin every project with a powerful intuitive sense that the material is deep, rich and compelling. He must feel a strong emotional connection to the work, and it is this connection which forms the basis for reaching out to the viewer.
Because TV is, in essence, a small mode of distribution, it cannot convey, for example, the sublime grandeur of the West. Therefore, when working on projects about the West, he had to find surrogate ways of connecting with the audience. For him, the primary way is through language.
To contact Mr. Burns, please write to: Ric Burns, Steeplechase Films, 2095 Broadway # 503, New York, NY 10023.
Then, Dr. Fred Goodwin interviews Norman Lear, a pioneer in the production of quality television programming that challenged social conventions. He is perhaps best known as the creator of the groundbreaking comedy All in the Family, but his television credits also include Sanford & Son, Maude, Good Times, The Jeffersons, One Day at a Time, and Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman. He's won numerous awards, including four Emmy's, a Peabody Award, and the National Medal of Arts, and he's been inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame. He is currently chairman of the multimedia holding company Act III Communications.
Dr. Goodwin and Lear begin with a discussion of All in the Family and the ways in which it broke with the conventions of programming in the 1970s, tackling issues ranging from racism to homosexuality to the women's movement. Lear describes the main character, Archie Bunker, as an ordinary American full of fears; because of his fears -- of anything or anyone different from himself -- he was a bigot. The show's tension came from conflict between the conservative Archie and his liberal son-in-law, Mike (aka Meathead) -- both impassioned if not always well-informed. Lear says that, looking back, he thinks people laughed harder at All in the Family than they do at current comedies because they were engaged in serious thinking when they were laughing -- they were laughing at important issues in their own lives.
He thinks that in many ways, now is the golden age for television -- if one is willing to hunt for quality programming, there are great options (he mentions the History Channel, many of the primetime dramas, and South Park). However, he also sees television mirroring the excess of American society.
To contact Mr. Lear, please write to: Norman Lear, Chairman, Act III Communications, 100 North Crescent Drive, Suite 250, Beverly Hills, CA 90210. To learn more about his latest project, visit http://www.independenceroadtrip.org/.
Finally, commentator John Hockenberry offers his thoughts on what he sees as the sorry state of television programming: "America's shared experience diminishes, programmers ride the wave, surfing down the brainstem to push old reliable hot buttons of greed, sex, fear, with offers of celebrity pig-brain eating contests, million dollar rewards, large breasted teen idols, sports for betting. Programmers net eyeballs -- and talk in precisely those terms about their audiences -- and they get what they pay for: people staring like fish for a moment at someone knocking on the side of the tank before they swim away."
- Marit Haahr
