{"id":163,"date":"2011-02-02T05:30:58","date_gmt":"2011-02-02T05:30:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/catholicsmediaandculture\/2011\/02\/mtv-skins-and-the-manipulation-of-ratings-plus-glaad-vs-snl-petas-super-bowl-ad-a-home-for-the-kenne.html"},"modified":"2011-02-02T05:30:58","modified_gmt":"2011-02-02T05:30:58","slug":"mtv-skins-and-the-manipulation-of-ratings-plus-glaad-vs-snl-petas-super-bowl-ad-a-home-for-the-kenne","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/2011\/02\/mtv-skins-and-the-manipulation-of-ratings-plus-glaad-vs-snl-petas-super-bowl-ad-a-home-for-the-kenne.html","title":{"rendered":"MTV, “Skins” and the manipulation of ratings; Plus GLAAD vs. SNL, PETA’s Super Bowl ad, a home for “The Kennedys” and a doc on America’s last-standing WWI warrior"},"content":{"rendered":"

MTV Programming boss says network will stick with Skins <\/i>despite shedding of advertisers and viewers.<\/b><\/a>  Sounds like a sound business decision to me. Actually, David Janollari claims the network has “not lost any advertising dollars on the show”<\/i> (despite a ninth advertiser<\/a> pulling its spots from the show). That may be true, in a way. Since many of the advertisers that are canceling spots on Skins <\/i>are shifting their purchases to other shows. But, the fact is, MTV is airing a show that advertisers and viewers are steering clear of. Obviously, there is not a consumer or advertiser demand for this show.
Says Janollari of critics who worry the show veers toward child porn<\/a>: “You’re always going to have haters. And MTV is no stranger to that kind of reaction, most recently with ‘Jersey Shore<\/em>‘ and going all the way back to ‘Jackass<\/em>.'”  <\/i>I think that’s called defining hate down.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Weekly Standard<\/a> uses government statistics to dispute the argument that Skins<\/i> is merely dramatizing what most teens are actually doing while also exposing how ratings are manipulated to artificially prop up Skins<\/i>-type programming that, in fact, is not in high demand.<\/p>\n

From the Weekly Standard<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Hollywoodites further defended “Skins” <\/em>by
\nappealing to laissez-faire principles. They are simply responding to
\nmarket forces, they claim, adding that if parents don’t like what their
\nchildren are seeing on TV they can always turn it off. Viewers should be
\nable to “choose for themselves whether it is appropriate.”  <\/i><\/p>\n

This is an old dodge whose main purpose is to
\nstrengthen the left’s deathgrip on television. Hollywood liberals cite
\nthe market to justify everything from lesbian sexual references on
\n“Glee” <\/em>to real and open discrimination against Hollywood
\nconservatives.  Meanwhile, conservatives themselves refuse to challenge
\nthe overwhelming liberalism of the television industry, since it’s
\npresumably what the public demands. Only when something truly egregious
\nhits the airwaves do they mobilize in full force.<\/i><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n

The result is a game of political whack-a-mole that
\nleaves the underlying liberal structure of Hollywood intact, while
\nstopping only the most extreme television offenders–and only
\ntemporarily. Anyone who watches MTV on a regular basis knows that
\n“Skins” is hardly an anomaly – MTV routinely broadcasts sexually
\nexplicit material, often featuring underage characters. Moreover, when
\nconservatives attack such shows on content grounds, they accomplish
\nprecisely the opposite of what they seek, bringing more publicity and
\nhigher ratings to <\/em>controversial shows, and inuring the public to less overtly gross material.<\/i><\/p>\n

A better strategy is to focus on Hollywood’s
\nfallacious market argument as a whole. In fact, the market does not
\ndictate that exploitative shows like “Skins” <\/em>see the light of
\nday; rather, advertisers have been gulled by networks run by
\npolitically-oriented executives.  Network executives are not pure
\nbusinessmen seeking the broadest possible market – they are motivated
\npolitical actors who run in the same circles as the Hollywood liberals
\nwho think they produce “realistic” content.  <\/i><\/p>\n

Such executives can green-light extreme leftist
\nfare because they have successfully promoted the fiction that young
\naudiences are more valuable than broader demographics.  “Skins” <\/em>is
\non air because advertisers have been wrongly convinced that it delivers
\nthe best kind of audience, even if it alienates the vast majority of
\nAmericans.  <\/i><\/p>\n

GLAAD calls SNL skit “dangerous” to transgender people.<\/a><\/b>  Not sure I agree with them about the sketch<\/a> (which spoofs those ubiquitous<\/i> drug company ads) but they certainly have the right to protest program content they find objectionable. It doesn’t make them “haters.”<\/i><\/p>\n

PETA PRODUCES SEXUALLY-CHARGED AD FOR SUPER BOWL.<\/a><\/b>
\nThe spot is unlikely to actually run and the animal rights group
\nobviously just wants attention — but is it good attention? I mean
\nnothing beats cuddly animals when it comes to winning sympathy for an
\nargument. Why aren’t they going with their ace in the hole — instead of
\nproducing shock spots that probably lose more supporters than they
\ngain? <\/p>\n

ReelzChannel picks up The Kennedys<\/i>.<\/b><\/a> The political hot potato of a miniseries (from conservative producer Joel Surnow)  finally lands a network — albeit one most people have never heard of.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/b>America’s last surviving WWI vet celebrates 110.<\/b><\/a> Frank Woodruff Buckles, whose birthday was yesterday, will soon be the subject of a documentary called Pershing’s Last Patriot: The Story of Frank Woodruff Buckles, America’s Last Veteran of World War I<\/i>. <\/a>Richard Thomas will narrate. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MTV Programming boss says network will stick with Skins despite shedding of advertisers and viewers.  Sounds like a sound business decision to me. Actually, David Janollari claims the network has “not lost any advertising dollars on the show” (despite a ninth advertiser pulling its spots from the show). That may be true, in a way.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":225,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,16,8,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-163","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-events","category-family-matters","category-history","category-television"],"yoast_head":"\nMTV, "Skins" and the manipulation of ratings; Plus GLAAD vs. SNL, PETA's Super Bowl ad, a home for "The Kennedys" and a doc on America's last-standing WWI warrior - Catholics Media and Culture<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/2011\/02\/mtv-skins-and-the-manipulation-of-ratings-plus-glaad-vs-snl-petas-super-bowl-ad-a-home-for-the-kenne.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"MTV, "Skins" and the manipulation of ratings; Plus GLAAD vs. SNL, PETA's Super Bowl ad, a home for "The Kennedys" and a doc on America's last-standing WWI warrior - Catholics Media and Culture\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"MTV Programming boss says network will stick with Skins despite shedding of advertisers and viewers.  Sounds like a sound business decision to me. 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Kennedy","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/d80\/d801bc09698c0995d9ae402b4b55ab61x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/d80\/d801bc09698c0995d9ae402b4b55ab61x96.jpg","caption":"John W. Kennedy"},"description":"John W. Kennedy is the founder and Dir. of Development of The Creative Universe Entertainment\u2122, a media consultation and development company focusing on the creation, development and support of high-quality mainstream entertainment that upholds positive timeless values, including trust in God. Current projects include \"Bryant Park\" (an uplifting romantic-comedy) and \"Photo Finish\" (an award-winning sci-fi TV pilot). He has written over 100 children's novels based on episodes of the Cartoon Network series \"Ben 10\", \"Ben 10: Alien Force\", \"Ben 10: Ultimate Alien\", \"Ben 10: Omniverse\" and \"Generator Rex\" among others. He also writes Beliefnet\u2019s \"Faith, Media & Culture\" blog. Previously, he has produced successful news and talk programming for CNN, Fox News, Pax TV and SiriusXM. Specialties: Script Writing, Movie\/TV Novelizations & Adaptations, TV Content Creation and Development, Creative Consultation, Producing and Booking News and Talk shows. He can be reached for writing, producing and consulting services at 516-640-1182.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/author\/jkennedy"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/225"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=163"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}