Life Without the O

After 25 years of dominance The Oprah Winfrey Show finally came to a close. Not without an epic exit along with a nearly three-decade rise to prominence for Oprah Winfrey, who know ranks amongst the top of numerous “richest …” lists. Oprah and her show meant a lot not only for daytime television, but also for many communities including women, African-Americans, and those who have overcome negative circumstances to achieve success in life. Oprah was able to create a loyal base of fans that not only enjoyed her material but also believed in her message. As Oprah departs from our daily television sets (at least in terms of new topics and interviews) it may bring an end to an era that spawned mainly due to her efforts. Although now bombarded with The Maury Show and other trashy material, there was once a point where talk show’s ruled the afternoon. The iconic life of Oprah exceeds television, and has extended into many facets of life, but also leaves an impact of culture, media, and cultural media. Oprah has remained one of the few strong figures of an African-American woman on television, who is not there merely due to looks or some connection to a man, but her own establishments. As Oprah tried to maintain a certain level of integrity within her topics, many others like Tyra Banks do not take the same importance in everyday substance. This could lead to an instantaneous end of an era, with the Oprah Network not showing much sign of life. Hopefully Oprah’s legacy will lead to even more entrepreneurism in the lives of those suffering with less than desirable conditions. No matter what her impact will be felt forever, especially in this city of Chicago. – C.S.

60 Million Dollar Show

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ixEWrTLiZg

HBO executes a game plan that has been highly effective for quite some time. Their high budget series, usually executive produced by someone whose name will ring enough bells to generate viewers, are almost always brutally addictive. Whether it be The Sopranos, Sex And the City, Six Feet Under, or Summer Heights High, HBO is able to consistently produce series that immediately capture attention. The newest craze is Game of Thrones, a dungeons and dragons-esque show revolving around a fictional country undergoing a civil war. As someone who has never found these shows or subject matter to be of my particular interest, HBO is able to glamorize the show enough to make you invested in its characters, many of which share qualities of over-aggression, a tendency towards sexual abuse, and a laundry list of other undesirable traits. It seems to share similar artistic and aesthetic qualities to Rome, which was once HBO’s most popular series. Research shows that the show costs a pretty penny, with the first season budgeting at about 50-60 million according to Wikipedia. Are these shows truly worth the financial devotion they receive? Although there is an obvious fanbase for the genre, should we really be prone to putting out shows with budgets that could cure many of our economic issues. It seems our obsession with prime time television has driven networks to the point of no return, where high budgets equal high ratings, in many instances minus any real material. Although Game of Thrones is highly entertaining, watching every minute of the episode makes me feel like I’m sitting in an obnoxiously large house with overly priced furniture, and it makes me uncomfortable knowing that this is what our media culture has become. - C.S.

A (Temporary) End to an Era

It has been announced that HBO will premiere a condensed season of Entourage, with only about six episodes, to kick off the summer. Entourage remains one of HBO’s most popular shows amongst a wide array of viewers, including fans of all ages, gender, and interests that I know personally. Entourage is and has always been a feel good show, the story of an actor’s rise from nothing and ability to overcome turmoil. Yet for HBO, the show is far more formulaic. Although production credits go to Mark Whalberg, who has stated the show to be a very loose representation of his own “crew”, it is obvious that HBO has a definite say in the final product. Whether it be the constant cameos from an onslaught of currently popular celebs, or slick examples of product placement, Entourage is a prime example of the political economy within premium channel television. In order to the keep the audience interested and loyal Entourage continues to style its characters in the newest attire, surround them by the freshest stars, and keep them in new cars. Be that as it may, there are many like myself who are true Entourage fans, and for us it is sad to see the show coming to a close. For the past 7 years Entourage has served as almost another group of friends of mine whom I’m able to check in with weekly. For HBO there is one more season to milk the cash cow, and then a final bow taking a page from SJP’s (Sarah Jessica Parker) and capping the series off with a movie or two. Only to keep the viewers honest, right? Or to keep pouring in money off the same generic formula while the scientists craft the next show craze that will capture our attention every Sunday night. – C.S.

Dis-comfort Food

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGrqW3nx5HM

There is a recent Popeyes commercial that depicts an older African-American woman expressing her undying love for Popeyes fried chicken. Fried chicken, the stereotypical go-to food for African-Americans, has become a staple of black culture. Looking back on most Popeyes advertisements, unlike KFC, which seems to be more generally accepted and preferred, there has been a majority of African-Americans in their commercials. This may be due to their corporate belief that their main audience is within the Black community, however it does have a deeper affect of insinuation. With the woman who possesses a somehow slightly obvious hint of a Southern accent, seems to represent what American media has defined as the quintessential Black mom. She praises the chicken while condemning their competitors, and then performs a quick dance for her chicken. It seems that Popeyes figured an easy way capture their audience’s attention would be to perpetuate many stereotypes of African-Americans. Using a quick jingle, a flash of fried chicken, and a 3 second dance, Popeyes is able to, perhaps unintentionally, represent the Black community. Although one is much more aggressively promoting these stereotypes, the Popeyes commercials share similarities with a former YouTube phenomenon, “Fry that Chicken.” With these stereotypes being subtly kept alive through all media, it is hard to imagine that we can, as a general population, dismiss the prejudicial connection between Fried Chicken and Blacks. -C.S.

The Conglomeration of EVERYthing

The current state of the sports world mirrors many of the issues facing popular media in general. There has been a recent gravitation towards super teams (see: Miami Heat, Philadelphia Phillies, New York Knicks), in which many superstar athletes have accepted their lack of ability to carry a full load by themselves, instead surrendering to the newly found concept of unfairly stacked teams controlling the upper portion of most league's standings. From a spectator's perspective this is both glorious and disgusting, as it makes the average game a chance for the ultimate highlight reel, while decrease any sense of parity amongst the two dozen or so teams in the leagues. This is similar to the world we live in, in which many large corporations have bought out others in an effort to dominate a particular portion of society's desires. This exists in the food market, for example McDonald's purchase of the booming Chipotle, along with Clear Channel's control over nearly every possible wavelength available on the radio. Within the music industry this happens daily as the small market independent labels are constantly being bought out (and buying into) the destructive powers of the powers that be. In some ways this has lead to a lack of individuality within these markets, as even our athletes, once portrayed as national heroes, are know acknowledging their own shortcomings in a sell out fashion. We live in a world where the exploits of these corporations are unavoidable, wherever you go there is something impacted by the Coca-Cola Corporation, or Sony, or any of the multibillion dollar companies that are able to essentially monopolize their fields. Take Google for exmaple, what started out as a search engine has blossomed into an enterprise that owns the formerly powerful AOL network along with YouTube, perhaps the most prominent website there is. The true question is what the direction will be for the future, whether or not this trend will continue until a select handful of corporations own everything possible, where the entire all star teams are derived from four teams, and what this means for individuality in general. Has our generation, evidently more focused on insane proportions of money than integrity, lost touch with the desire for the Mom n Pop? - Craig Shepherd

Offensive Comedy for the Mainstream

http://tosh.comedycentral.com/blog/2011/02/16/fan-favorites-elevator-wheelchair-breakdown/

For the past two years Daniel Tosh has had control over a specific brand of comedy on television. His television show Tosh.0 is a popular segmented based show that digs through YouTube clips in a “The Soup”-like manner. For the most part Daniel Tosh, and the show for that matter, uses brash and obnoxious comedy, which is mainly based on the embarrassment of others. I recently watched “Happy Thoughts”, Tosh’s most recent standup which follows a similar pattern. The core of his material covers his sexual exploits and down talks his girlfriend, whom I hope isn’t a real person or else she probably immediately ended their relationship. Although it is impossible to deny that some of his one-liners are humorous, it seems that it lacks the flair of the classics of the comedic-genres. Tosh is not attention grabbing, but instead a sort of ADD comedy that relies upon someone else’s misery. It’s at many moments highly questionable whether his type of humor should be commended with a weekly show, yet the viewers and the advertisers hold the control over that issue. It’s racist, homophobic, and crosses many boundaries of what is funny. But Tosh himself admits this in “Happy Thoughts” and states that he aims to cross even more lines. I miss the days of the Chappelle Show, and Dave Chappelle’s reign over the comedy world. Tosh.0 and the internet generation’s form of comedy is in many ways concurrent with our taste in music, television, and other forms of media that have begun to lose true meaning overall. With Tosh.0 being one of the most well known non-“reality” comedy shows currently on the air, maybe we have fully accepted this brand as the comedic zeitgeist, and if we have, I am disappointed. - CS Craig Shepherd

Are We as Dumb as the Shows We Love?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mrfqn7QsILE

I’ve recently gotten caught up with an independent, rather low budget, television show called Trailer Park Boys. The show surrounds a trio of alcoholic living in a Canadian trailer park, and follows their path of destruction upon the people around them. Many of my peers have a distinct love-hate relationship with the show. Some think it is genius, other question my intelligence just for being a fan. When considering what truly draws me to these 24-minute portions of buffoonery, it is a majority the lack of any real substance. The characters are obscene and profane as much as possible if not more, and treat their own friends like the scum of the earth. Similar to HBO’s Eastbound & Down, Trailer Park Boys relies on its usage of absurd concepts and farfetched pitches, along with its constant explicit content. After completing the shows entire collection, and movie, through Netflix dedication, I have stepped back and asked myself just why I have this obsession. Is it because I love to laugh at these idiotic characters? Do I feel that for some odd reason I share similarities with their ridiculous antics? Or is my attention truly grabbed by material with the substance of monkeys in a zoo? Either way as much as it hurts to love such nonsense, I can’t help laugh when I see Ricky ruining the lives of everyone around him. – C.S. Craig Shepherd

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mrfqn7QsILE