Group Three.

A few weeks back, I blogged about the new TV shows for the Fall Season. In that post I talked about the possibility that some shows might only be able to last for one season. I was right! This week, the new NBC series 'The Playboy Club' (TPC) got canceled only after 3 episodes. Hmm... I wonder why?

This past week, the readings in class and the discussion we had about the importance of regulation and/or the deregulation of our media, really made me think a little bit more the different factors that led to the cancellation of the show.

The reports from the International Business Times said:

" The Playboy Club" premiered on Sept. 20, in association with Hugh Hefner's Playboy Enterprises. However, it opened to an underwhelming response - only 5 million people watched the first episode and only a few million tuned in for the third."

Like many other shows, because of the poor ratings, TPC was axed. However, there have been controversies around the show even before it hit the air on Sept 20th. The Parents Television Council (PTC), a non-partisan education organization advocating rsponsible entertainment had been against the airing of the show on TV and had committed to discourging sponsors of the show like Chrysler/Dodge and Unilever from sponsoring the show. They believed that the show was trying to bring the 'Playboy brand' into the home which the believe 'degrades and exploits women'. It seems like the PTC understands that we don't only 'consume' media products, these products have the ability to 'produce' us, as Siochru and Girard [4] explain.

So, why didn't PTC take their fight to the writers of this show which they believe promotes a brand that 'degrades and exploits women'? Instead they went after the advertisers, they went after the people whose 'money' controls the ability to keep the show on the air. Why did NBC pull the plug on the show? Few people were watching it, which meant the high possibility to loose their sponsors which therefore meant the network would lose money.

It's all about the money! I figured that a few years ago when I interned at a TV station (I might tell that story later). Unfortunately, the media is a huge business. It is true, we do have some form of regulation, but at the end of the day it seems to me that when a network is signing on new shows, they are first looking at how to make the most money (or get the most sponsors) then they take to see the show meets the 'regulations' in place.

I believe that if we want to put on our TV sets and get really good stuff, we (members of civil society) can do it! It's not too late. But we need to get to the money source. If these networks begin to loose money for pumping shows like 'The Playboy Club' or the endless reality TV shows that honestly are beginning to make my head hurt, progress might be made.

But then, I guess the next question is how do we get to the people in charge of the money? I guess its high time civil society got a little bit more active. Join organizations like the PTC or form your own organization, research other organizations. It's a slow process, but effective measures do not always happen overnight.