Saturday, April 27

TELEVISION

The Research Behind ‘Sesame Street,’ ‘Arthur’ And Other Children’s TV
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EDUCATION, IN OTHER NEWS, TELEVISION, VIDEO REELS

The Research Behind ‘Sesame Street,’ ‘Arthur’ And Other Children’s TV

Making the moral of the story stick − a media psychologist explains the research behind ‘Sesame Street,’ ‘Arthur’ and other children’s TV. To adult viewers, educational media content for children, such as “Sesame Street” or “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood,” may seem rather simplistic. The pacing is slow, key themes are often repeated and the visual aspects tend to be plain. However, many people might be surprised to learn about the sheer amount of research that goes into the design choices many contemporary programs use. For more than a decade, I have studied just that: how to design media to support children’s learning, particularly in moral development. My research, along with the work of many others, shows that children can learn important developmental and social skills through media. ...
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From The Comedic Mind Of Tina Fey Comes A New Twist On The Modern Classic
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TELEVISION

From The Comedic Mind Of Tina Fey Comes A New Twist On The Modern Classic

From the comedic mind of Tina Fey comes a new twist on the modern classic. MEAN GIRLS New student Cady Heron (Angourie Rice) is welcomed into the top of the social food chain by the elite group of popular girls called “The Plastics,” ruled by the conniving queen bee Regina George (Reneé Rapp) and her minions Gretchen (Bebe Wood) and Karen (Avantika). However, when Cady makes the major misstep of falling for Regina’s ex-boyfriend Aaron Samuels (Christopher Briney), she finds herself prey in Regina’s crosshairs. As Cady sets to take down the group’s apex predator with the help of her outcast friends Janis (Auli’i Cravalho) and Damian (Jaquel Spivey), she must learn how to stay true to herself while navigating the most cutthroat jungle of all: high school.
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Reality TV Show Contestants — Unpaid Interns Or Hollywood Stars
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TELEVISION

Reality TV Show Contestants — Unpaid Interns Or Hollywood Stars

Reality TV show contestants are more like unpaid interns than Hollywood stars. In December 2018, John Legend joined then-newly elected U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to criticize the exploitation of congressional interns on Capitol Hill, most of whom worked for no pay. Legend’s timing was ironic. NBC’s “The Voice” had just announced that Legend would join as a judge. He would go on to reportedly earn US$14 million per season by his third year on the show. Meanwhile, all of the participants on “The Voice,” save for the winner, earned $0 for their time, apart from a housing and food stipend – much like those congressional interns. The fall 2023 TV lineup will be saturated with low-cost reality TV shows like “The Voice”; for networks, it’s an end-around to the ongoing TV writers and ac...
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Captain James T. Kirk — Why Is He Known And Loved By So Many?
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CELEBRITIES, TELEVISION, TOP FOUR

Captain James T. Kirk — Why Is He Known And Loved By So Many?

Why is Captain James T. Kirk Known and Loved by So Many? Among science fiction's fictitious characters, Captain James T. Kirk is without a doubt among the most well-known. Fans all across the world were won over by Kirk's charisma, leadership, and bravery aboard the Starship Enterprise in the original Star Trek series. If Kirk's popularity and impact are as great now as they were when the show first aired, what accounts for that? Kirk's character is renowned for his resolute dedication to his duties and his exemplary leadership skills. He held the fate of his crew and their missions on the Enterprise in his hands, and he consistently motivated his team to surmount any challenge they faced. One of the show's prominent themes was Kirk's profound sense of duty and responsibility, as eviden...
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A Cinema Scholar Explains How AI Is Upending The Movie And TV Business What Hollywood Actors And Writers Afraid Of
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AI, CELEBRITY NEWS, TECHNOLOGY, TELEVISION

A Cinema Scholar Explains How AI Is Upending The Movie And TV Business What Hollywood Actors And Writers Afraid Of

What are Hollywood actors and writers afraid of? A cinema scholar explains how AI is upending the movie and TV business. The bitter conflict between actors, writers and other creative professionals and the major movie and TV studios represents a flashpoint in the radical transformation roiling the entertainment industry. The ongoing strikes by the Writers Guild of America and the Screen Actors Guild were sparked in part by artificial intelligence and its use in the movie industry. Both actors and writers fear that the major studios, including Amazon/MGM, Apple, Disney/ABC/Fox, NBCUniversal, Netflix, Paramount/CBS, Sony, Warner Bros. and HBO, will use generative AI to exploit them. Generative AI is a form of artificial intelligence that learns from text and images to automatically produce ...
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The Center Of The Miami Housewife Universe
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TELEVISION

The Center Of The Miami Housewife Universe

The Real Housewives Of Miami. This entry in the "Real Housewives" franchise sticks to the tried-and-true formula that has made other incarnations a staple on the Bravo schedule. The women featured on the series are at the center of the Miami housewife universe, though not all are actually wives at the time of the show's filming. Among the women are Adriana De Moura, known as the Brazilian bombshell of Miami's art scene, and Texas native Lea Black, a committed philanthropist who is married to one of America's top criminal defense attorneys.
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The History Of That Jerry Springer [Bleeping] Bleep Sound
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CELEBRITY NEWS, TELEVISION, TOP FOUR

The History Of That Jerry Springer [Bleeping] Bleep Sound

Jerry Springer and the history of that [bleeping] bleep sound. Since Jerry Springer’s death on April 27, 2023, writers have been working through the cultural significance of his eponymous daytime talk show. For 27 years, Springer’s circus of sensationalism was a remarkably durable and bankable commodity. Helping to normalize outrageousness in culture, it taught content creators that shamelessness is a lucrative industry. It’s been framed as a harbinger of “‘anything goes’ reality television” or “trash TV” and decried for setting a “new standard for tawdriness” and for providing audiences with the “guilty pleasure” of “chair-throwing.” But as a media historian interested in the ways that sound structures our experience of TV shows and films, when I think of “The Jerry Springer Show,” I t...
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A Look At ‘Swarm’ Murder, Sex, Music — This Is Not A Work Of Fiction
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TELEVISION, TOP FOUR

A Look At ‘Swarm’ Murder, Sex, Music — This Is Not A Work Of Fiction

‘Swarm’ is a dark, satirical look at how the absence of meaningful relationships can spawn a serial killer. “Swarm,” the new streaming series created by Donald Glover and Janine Nabers, centers on a deranged superfan named Dre who becomes a serial killer. Dre longs to meet a global pop star named Ni’Jah, who’s based on Beyoncé, and Dre’s obsession with the singer sparks a multistate murder spree that begins after the death of her only friend, Marissa. As a criminologist, I look to understand what causes people to commit crimes, and I see more driving Dre than her extreme fixation on a celebrity. As the story unfolds, viewers learn about Dre’s childhood. To me, these early experiences explain a lot more about her crimes than her fandom does. Social isolation and criminal behavior In 196...
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Family Guy And The Parent Television Council
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TELEVISION, TOP FOUR

Family Guy And The Parent Television Council

Family Guy released an episode entitled "Quagmire's Mom." In the episode, the sex-addicted reoccurring character, Glen Quagmire, is arrested for having sex with a high school girl. After claiming that his mom is the reason that he grew up to be a sexual deviant, Quagmire is still sentenced to twenty years in prison. However, his mom then enters the episode and finds a way to get her son acquitted of his charges. While I am a huge fan of Family Guy, I personally thought this episode was mediocre. However, I apparently loved this episode compared to the Parent Television Council. The Parent Television Council is probably more active in attacking Family Guy than any other major organization. Family Guy has made their yearly list of "worst prime-time shows for family viewing" three times a...
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‘House Of The Dragon’ Inspired By A True Medieval Struggle Over A Female Ruler
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TELEVISION

‘House Of The Dragon’ Inspired By A True Medieval Struggle Over A Female Ruler

In three decades of teaching medieval European history, I’ve noticed my students are especially curious about the intersection of the stories told in class and the depictions of the Middle Ages they see in movies and television. Judged by their historical accuracy, cinematic portrayals are a mixed bag. However, popular fantasy, unencumbered by the competing priority of “getting it right,” can, in broad strokes, reflect the values of the medieval society that inspires it. “House of the Dragon” is one of those TV shows. A king, lacking a male heir to his throne, elevates his teenage daughter to be his named successor, and a complex dynastic drama ensues. This storyline reflects the real obstacles facing women who aspired to exercise royal authority in medieval society. The queen as a c...
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