If I did they'd have a samurai

I don't create TV shows, I've made web pages for TV shows but have only rarely had input on content. I certainly don't come up with the concepts. Still what good is a blog if you can't arm chair quarterback?

It seems to me that there is a disconnect between network program creators and the public. This is partially the fault of censors but I think it is also, in part, either a lack of understanding of the audience and/or a lack of intestinal fortitude.

A few points I'd like to make here.

1. Most of the really, highly acclaimed shows are coming from cable, especially pay cable (such as HBO and Showtime) - for example Weeds, the Sopranos, 6 Feet Under, Dead Like Me, Oz ... These shows are, I believe, successful because they have accepted new realities. The world is not as innocent as it once was and these programs accept that and embrace it.

2. The censors who decide what is acceptable and what is not for network television have not accepted these new realities and will not allow the networks to accept them either. Like most parents they would like to believe that their children are virginal, even after they have children of their own.

3. Reality television has jumped the shark. More and more people are catching on that there is no such thing. The only reality television comes from web cams and, other than porn, people don't watch those. When television executives call something reality television all they mean is that some details are sketchy when production starts. Reality television shows are scripted. The creators set the scenario, choose the cast, know how it ends and at least set the scenarios for what goes on in the middle - then, with hundreds of hours of tape and only 13-20 hours to fill they can basically tell any story they want. There is nothing real about it.

4. Fewer and fewer people are watching any network television (it isn't just the CBC) as I pointed out here it appears that (for the week I looked at) less than 1/3 of Canadians watched any of the top 10 programs that week. Those programs would be: C.S.I, C.S.I. New York, C.S.I. Miami, ER, Survivor: Cook Island, Law and Order SVU, Desperate Housewives, Lost, Grey's Anatomy and Prison Break.

There are vast, untapped audiences out there. But, I think in order to reach those audiences network programmers and show creators are going to have to get truly creative, come up with whole new (instead of recycled) concepts and are going to have to examine their prospective audience more deeply. Times and people have changed - they don't talk the same, think the same or behave in the same ways that they used to and in many cases that isn't a bad thing.

Don't be afraid to push boundaries, to offend people (no matter what you do you'll offend someone) or to get your hand slapped by the censors. There are untold stories out there, and untapped audiences and the only alternative to going after them is to continue to fight for a piece of an ever shrinking pie.