"The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" is a media show that portrays news around the world in a comedic and entertaining way. On the air every Monday through Thursday night, "The Daily Show" has been on television since 1996, providing comedy and news all in one 22-minute episode.
Episode Analysis
During the Wednesday, April 9 episode, "The Daily Show" portrayed both international news and news story from the United States. The first segment of the show started with Stewart talking about Russia's continued attempt to take over more regions of neighboring Ukraine. Stewart makes a number of jokes about the situation, including himself mimicking the accent of a Russian citizen. To go along with his jokes toward Russia, Stewart also takes a jab at the U.S. When the U.S. states they will lend a helping hand to Ukraine, Stewart shows an image of a silhouette man eating a hoagie in the night time sky (imitating the Batman symbol). Secretary of State John Kerry spoke on a news organization saying that the U.S. wouldn't be afraid to use it's "21st century weapons"against Russia to protect Ukraine. Stewart poked fun at that buy referencing those "weapons" as Twitter, Candy Crush and Tinder. The last section of this act saw one of the crew's members, Samantha Bee, mock Russia's continued quest to take over neighboring countries. She even goes on to state that Russia is coming for a part of the U.S. next, Brighton Beach in Brooklyn because of supposedly large population of Russians. She obviously does this in a joking fashion in a fake interview. Bee goes on to make jokes about the the Russians and fitting into the city so she is ready for their takeover in the future, as well as the fact that they never smile no matter what the situation is. Bee also dressed like the Russians, talked like them (with heavy accents), and began acting like them around the city.
In the second act of the show, Stewart makes fun of Fox News and their week long coverage of what Spring Break has turned into over the years. Fox ran segments for a week straight, including an hour long show one day, talking about the dangers and problems at Spring Break (alcohol, drugs and sexual intercourse). A panel of adults were on the Fox News show stating how bad it is now and to blame the parents for their acts during that week break of college. Stewart makes fun of this in a number of ways. He then shows clips of a number of those panel members stating that they had been to Spring Break, attended party colleges and drink as well. Stewart proceeds to mock them and states their parents are the same ones that let these kids go to Spring Break, causing an outbreak of laughter from the audience. The panel is then shown performing a number of beer related activities: beer pong, shotgunning beers and beer funnels. One of Fox News' liberals was also shown stating that he had taken a lot of cocaine during his life, but that the kids at Spring Break were taking the "bad cocaine". Stewart titled that segment "The Younger Games: Catching Ire".
The final act of the episode was a brief interview with Stewart and Colin Firth, an actor in the upcoming movie titled "The Railway Man". Firth spoke briefly about his movie and what it was like during the filming process.
Critique
While some may argue the show isn't beneficial to the audience because of the way the news is presented, others believe it's that comedic sense that separates the show from anything else. I believe the show takes the role of the former--the comedic style brings in a large audience and has a positive impact. More people are turning into "The Daily Show" looking for the amusing take on news, which in turn brings in a higher audience.
There are a number of news networks that provide a strict journalistic style approach toward reporting news (CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, etc.), but there aren't many shows like "The Daily Show" that present the news in an amusing way. It is a way for people to not only see news presented in a different view, it is more enjoyable and often times more understandable to the public. They can relate to it more clearly. I also think that because of its amusing take on various news items, more people are likely to follow "The Daily Show" rather than watching CNN or MSNBC for a half an hour or so.
I definitely feel the comedic approach has a positive impact on its audience. The audience must understand, however, that it is intended to be comedic and make them laugh. If people are looking for a more journalistic approach that states the facts (who, what, when, where and why), they should turn into other news outlets.
Thursday, April 17, 2014
Product Placement in "The Big Bang Theory"
If you're watching your favorite television show, you may or may not notice certain brand name products throughout its viewing. Some of those products are labeled under "product placement", the strategic setting of brand name objects that are shown for a set cost.
In season five, episode No. 8 of The Big Bang Theory titled "The Isolation Permutation", this idea of product placement is seen at various points. Some instances were more obvious than others, while the products ranged in viewing time from a couple of seconds to a number of minutes.
Examples of Product Placement
One of the most common instances of product placement comes in the opening scene of the episode. During a 2-3 minute clip, Sheldon is shown wearing a Flash T-shirt a number of times on screen. This is promoting both The Flash (a fictional character appearing in the DC Comics series), as well as DC Comics itself. It is bright red and yellow, which drew a great amount of attention to it early. The next scene finds the group (Sheldon, Leonard, Howard and Rajesh) sitting at a lunch table in the cafeteria of the university that they're employed. Leonard approached the table lastly, and with his tray in hand, places it on the table. Whenever the camera focused on Leonard, a Sunkist orange soda can is shown at a visible distance. The logo of the brand was shown each time on the screen, showing the audience what the brand of soda actually was. There were also water bottles and juice bottles on the table, but no labels or brand names were shown on those. I believe that both the Sunkist soda can and Flash T-shirt are both examples of product placement.
The second-to-last scene opens with a gigantic lego spacecraft (roughly one and a half feet in height) that Sheldon is putting together at his apartment. There is no lego brand logo or any mention of "legos", however, the audience most likely knows what that product is. It was placed at such a high magnitude on the screen for a reason to suspect it is an example of product placement. Also during two of the final scenes, a Purell hand sanitizer station is shown in both clips of one of the biology labs. It isn't focused in on the screen and the brand name can be tough to read, however, I believe it is product placement because it is on the screen for a number of minutes and people can view it in the background. Neither the legos or Purell hand sanitizer are as obvious as the previous two examples, yet I believe both are considered product placement situations.
Not Examples of Product Placement
Leonard is shown playing a virtual video game in the living room of his apartment near the beginning of the show. When switching to the TV screen of the video game he is engaged in, an Xbox Connect system is seen, although very briefly, on top of the flat screen TV. This happens three times, although for about a second during each instance. It is very likely that those not looking for product placement wouldn't see the video game system on top of the TV. Therefore, I do not believe this is a subject of product placement.
Roughly halfway through the episode, a snack machine is visible in the cafeteria as the group is conversing. The audience can see various products (chips, candy, etc.) in the machine, however, it's not visible what the foods are. It is shown only a few times, and since none of the products are being singled out or presented clearly, I believe this falls short of product placement, too.
As mentioned earlier, water bottles, juice bottles and other drinks are shown throughout the episode. When the group was eating at Sheldon and Leonard's apartment, about six or eight drinks were seen on the coffee table (most of which were water). None of their brand names or labels were shown to the camera, and the only drink I could see a brand name for throughout the whole episode was the Sunkist soda can. Because of this, only the Sunkist soda can is an object of product placement.
I anticipated that many more products would be placed throughout a TV show to enhance their brands. I was expecting a few more than the four products I had labeled as product placement (Flash T-shirt, Sunkist soda can, legos and Purell sanitizer). However, in a 22-minute or so episode, I guess it's tough to incorporate many more with the limited amount of time.
In season five, episode No. 8 of The Big Bang Theory titled "The Isolation Permutation", this idea of product placement is seen at various points. Some instances were more obvious than others, while the products ranged in viewing time from a couple of seconds to a number of minutes.
Examples of Product Placement
One of the most common instances of product placement comes in the opening scene of the episode. During a 2-3 minute clip, Sheldon is shown wearing a Flash T-shirt a number of times on screen. This is promoting both The Flash (a fictional character appearing in the DC Comics series), as well as DC Comics itself. It is bright red and yellow, which drew a great amount of attention to it early. The next scene finds the group (Sheldon, Leonard, Howard and Rajesh) sitting at a lunch table in the cafeteria of the university that they're employed. Leonard approached the table lastly, and with his tray in hand, places it on the table. Whenever the camera focused on Leonard, a Sunkist orange soda can is shown at a visible distance. The logo of the brand was shown each time on the screen, showing the audience what the brand of soda actually was. There were also water bottles and juice bottles on the table, but no labels or brand names were shown on those. I believe that both the Sunkist soda can and Flash T-shirt are both examples of product placement.
The second-to-last scene opens with a gigantic lego spacecraft (roughly one and a half feet in height) that Sheldon is putting together at his apartment. There is no lego brand logo or any mention of "legos", however, the audience most likely knows what that product is. It was placed at such a high magnitude on the screen for a reason to suspect it is an example of product placement. Also during two of the final scenes, a Purell hand sanitizer station is shown in both clips of one of the biology labs. It isn't focused in on the screen and the brand name can be tough to read, however, I believe it is product placement because it is on the screen for a number of minutes and people can view it in the background. Neither the legos or Purell hand sanitizer are as obvious as the previous two examples, yet I believe both are considered product placement situations.
Not Examples of Product Placement
Leonard is shown playing a virtual video game in the living room of his apartment near the beginning of the show. When switching to the TV screen of the video game he is engaged in, an Xbox Connect system is seen, although very briefly, on top of the flat screen TV. This happens three times, although for about a second during each instance. It is very likely that those not looking for product placement wouldn't see the video game system on top of the TV. Therefore, I do not believe this is a subject of product placement.
Roughly halfway through the episode, a snack machine is visible in the cafeteria as the group is conversing. The audience can see various products (chips, candy, etc.) in the machine, however, it's not visible what the foods are. It is shown only a few times, and since none of the products are being singled out or presented clearly, I believe this falls short of product placement, too.
As mentioned earlier, water bottles, juice bottles and other drinks are shown throughout the episode. When the group was eating at Sheldon and Leonard's apartment, about six or eight drinks were seen on the coffee table (most of which were water). None of their brand names or labels were shown to the camera, and the only drink I could see a brand name for throughout the whole episode was the Sunkist soda can. Because of this, only the Sunkist soda can is an object of product placement.
I anticipated that many more products would be placed throughout a TV show to enhance their brands. I was expecting a few more than the four products I had labeled as product placement (Flash T-shirt, Sunkist soda can, legos and Purell sanitizer). However, in a 22-minute or so episode, I guess it's tough to incorporate many more with the limited amount of time.
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