Media Analysis Project Part 3.docx

 Matt Roth, Bryan GrazierMedia AnalysisDr. Curnalia Project Part 1TruTv, formerly known as CourtTv, is a relatively new and major network of the Turner Broadcasting System of the Time Warner Agency. Its sister channels include TNT, TBS, and CNN. It began as CourtTV, which mainly included infomercials and active court cases. Upon its name change, however, new programming such as reality-based television began to appear catering to other audiences, which incredibly boosted the channels views and popularity. As CourtTv their original agenda was to focus on real court cases. One of their major cases in which highlighted the channel was the OJ Simpson trial. Theses aired early in the morning. CourtTV also aired other law enforcement programming such as, World’s Wildest Police Videos, Speeders, and Cops. This gave viewers an inside look at an overdramatized side of the criminal justice background. The reality television that was involved makes it look very exciting however; this was due to high amounts of editing. Their agenda was to make these jobs look exciting. When the original switch to truTv occurred it was similar to CourtTV. However, more recently it has evolved away from the court cases in the morning. The channel now focuses most of its attention on the TV aspects. TruTv offers a great aspect of programming, which mainly focuses on today’s reality television. Almost every day truTv’s early morning schedule consists of paid programming and infomercials (truTv). Originally, as CourtTV, programming consisted almost completely of taped court cases and analyses of court cases. Upon changing its name to truTv, court cases continued to be a large part of programming offered. Lately court cases have almost disappeared completely, as no court related programs are airing at all this week. Today, truTv's programming consists of shows that use unscripted programming and humor to get higher ratings. The station uses programs such as Impractical Jokers, Hardcore Pawn, Lizard Lick Towing, and Killer Karaoke to get the audience laughing. They also have several programs, which are in a game show format; these include Killer Karaoke, Wipeout, and Panic Button. The other type of programming truTv uses is viewer clip shows such as truTv Top Funniest, Worlds Dumbest, and Top 20 Most Shocking. According to the truTv’s website, the top three featured shows are Impractical Jokers, Lizard Lick Towing, and Hardcore Pawn (truTv, 2014). Impractical Jokers is an unscripted program involving four friends completing humorous and embarrassing tasks (Lowry, 2011). Lizard Lick Towing describes the bad side of the towing industry, which includes fights, arguments, and even weapons (truTv, 2014). Hardcore Pawn includes the rough side of working in a pawnshop, with almost every episode including an upset customer who has to be thrown out of the shop. Also during the month of March, they offer NCAA basketball games for March Madness, which greatly increases ratings. These programs show how truTv has evolved over the years from a channel with very serious and real programming to a reality show based around humorous programming. Overall, truTv rates in the top five channels with viewers between the ages of 18-24 during primetime. Since its debut in 2010, truTv’s highest rated show is Hardcore Pawn. For every new episode, which airs on Tuesdays at 9:00 p.m., over 3 million people view the program (Marachel, 2013). More recently, this past week, Hardcore Pawn was number one on truTv with 1.8 million viewers during it's given time slot, while Impractical Jokers was number 2 with 1.2 million viewers in it's time slot (Bibel, 2014) .TruTv is a channel in the Turner Broadcasting System, which is a branch of Time Warner. The station was originally launched as CourtTV on July 1,1991, and then was re-launched as truTv on July 1, 2008 (Bauder 2007). Originally it was a branch of NBC. This was until 2006 when Time Warner bought the station and ran it under Turner Broadcasting System (Bauder 2007). TruTv has two primary demographic groups. Its first is adults from the ages of 18 to 49. Within that group, the channel focuses on men ages 18 to 34. According to , “TruTv has also planted itself among basic cable’s Top 10 networks with men 18-49. And with a median age of 41, the channel has the youngest primetime audience of such direct non-fiction competitors as Discovery, History and A&E.(Ratings, 2014 p.1 par. 1)” Hardcore Pawn wrapped up 2012 with over three million viewers; this was enough for first place in the ratings for the targeted age group during that time slot. Impractical Jokers attracts the lowest median age for the channel coming in at 34 (Ratings, 2012). Although many editorial and blogging websites claim that truTv is targeted towards a low socioeconomic class, there is no factual evidence that proves that this is part of their target or goal. The shows on truTv cover a variety of areas from actual courtrooms (like they did in the past when they were formerly CourtTv) in the early daytime, comedy shows at night, and sporting events when in season such as the NCAA basketball tournament. However, the channel likes to show real life situations and incorporate humor. “TruTv is the one network where the world of actuality comes alive and the real stories would happen even if the cameras weren't rolling”(CoxMedia, 2009 p1 par 1). Individuals want to know what goes on in real world situations, outside of their own lives. This idea brings a special interest to its watchers and leads to the success with shows such as Hardcore Pawn, Lizard Lick Towing, and Cops. These are just three of the stations shows that showcase everyday jobs, which makes them popular shows. TruTv’s goals are in bold letters right in their slogan which is explained on their website, “Our focus is on series that feature real-life situations. That is why we're using the theme "Not Reality. Actuality." for the network. The goal is to let people know that truTv programming is different from typical reality shows, which often involve contests or other highly staged events”(truTv, 2014). The channel goes about this by having shows based on jobs and real life situations as we discussed earlier, such as Hardcore Pawn, Impractical Jokers, and Storage Hunters. According to , the station is also working in the development arena to craft additional on-target series for the network’s audience (trutv upfront, 2012). This means they plan on developing more on location reality based shows that are un-scripted such as Impractical Jokers. The station plans to not stop with just actuality and humor. Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of truTv Marc Juris told that, “We’re also programming with an eye towards creating content that works across multiple screens and establishing ourselves as a truly multi-platform brand.” Juris is discussing that the channel offers more than just humor and reality, it includes sports and drama shows making the channel support a wider audience. When looking at the motives for uses and gratifications of watching truTv individuals watch it for their concepts of reality. The shows focus on reality based television. As we discussed most of their shows deal with people in real job situations. People get gratification from seeing working class Americans doing jobs similar to theirs but over empathized. Some of this would include work drama, conflict, humor, and violence. Project Part 2MethodThis channel focuses its attention off real world situations which gives the viewers a sense of reality. Most of the shows try giving a probable look into realism, by making the situations in the programming look like they may actually happen. The shows that we looked closer at on truTv are Hardcore Pawn and Impractical Jokers. While these shows are vastly different they both give the viewer a sense that what is going on is really happening. Trutv shows a wide variety of lifestyles for example, Matt looked at Hardcore Pawn, which mainly shows poor working class americans selling their goods for any cost they can. The show is based in Detroit, Michigan which the show over emphasizes the Detroit culture of being a bad area. Bryan looked at Impractical Jokers a show that is based out of New York City. The main characters are four friends that pull pranks on each other by doing various random acts. The show has minimal violence instead it focuses on simple humor. The characters and random citizens on the show have a middle class appearance. The content on truTv depicts several different behaviors on their programming. In the two shows several behaviors are taught to viewers. TruTv’s programming depicts reality based television with realistic reactions to certain behavior. For example on Hardcore Pawn, customers will argue with the employees of the pawn shop, which brings out feelings of anger, frustration, occasionally happiness, physical altercations, yelling, and swearing. In observing advertisement for Lizard Lick Towing, another program on truTv, the employees towed someone’s car, and that person broke into the tow lot and stole their car back. One difference in truTv from other media channels is that it does not use the concept of attraction in their characters as much as other channels. TruTv depicts several behaviors in it’s programming which make it very entertaining. Results of CodingImpractical JokersThe first program on truTv that was analyzed was the show Impractical Jokers. Episodes are 30 minutes long including commercials. The four main characters are: Joe Gatto, James Murray (Murr), Sal Vocano, and Brian Quinn (Q). Impractical Jokers is now on its third season and premiered on truTv in December of 2011. The show is reality based, and the characters dare each other to do stupid things in public with the main goal to embarrass each other. If they do not complete a task, they get a loss, and whoever has the most losses at the end of the episode gets punished with a task that they cannot refuse to complete. In analyzing the show, many of the aspects of each show are extremely similar to one another, but there were some challenges within episodes that stood apart from the rest. The realism in production had the widest variety of results because tasks in each episode have different settings. Parks were the most common setting in the episodes analyzed, some other settings included restaurants, waiting rooms, stores, the mall, and a hair salon. The camera shots used in Impractical Jokers, vary based on the challenge, but medium range shots were used most frequently to include the main characters and whomever they were socializing with, also including several close up shots throughout. The realism in the narrative is generally the same throughout all of the episode, but was done in different ways, meaning that the characters were always in a realistic situation, but the situations (or challanges, as they are called in the show) themselves are always changing. Some examples of challenges the characters undertake in the show are: driving instructors, shampoo boys, randomly approach strangers, employees at a restaurant or store, public speakers or teachers, and arguing with one another. All of these challenges include interaction with the public. Sometimes they have to get a tip, get someone to agree with them, or get someone to tell them a secret to win a challenge. There is not a lot of physical aggression in Impractical Jokers, but at times there is a lot of verbal aggression either between the main characters, or between the main characters and the public. Most of the verbal aggression includes people confronting them, arguing, and swearing. Sometimes they make people angry with some of the things they do. For example, in the episode Out of TP, there is a challenge where they have to steal food off of peoples plates at a buffet, and whoever steals the least food loses. Most people felt offended by the main characters’ behavior, but some were extremely angry, and would yell and cuss them out. Impractical Jokers does not appear to have any obvious main streamed values. Humor is probably the only value to be taken away from the program, and how it makes people happier. There are several moments in the program that resonate. For example, in season 1 episode 10, Murr was being punished in which he had to play a recording in a coffe shop, which made all of the customers get up and leave because they were so annoyed. In the episode Strip High 5, Joe and Murr tied for last place so they both got punished, and had to strip in public. The behaviors depicted in the show were extremely similar in each episode. Humor was the most consistent behavior in the program. Other behaviors included stupidity, embarrassment, irresponsibility, inappropriateness, weirdness, anger, disbelief, persuasive, and confusion. The main outcome of the behavior depicted in the program is success or failure. Success meaning completing the task, failure meaning not completing the task. More specific outcomes of the behavior are offending other people, people laugh, people go along with the behavior of the main characters and sometimes do it themselves, complaining, and getting punished if they lose. The justification for the displayed behavior is the same throughout the series, which is not to lose. If they refuse, they lose, and also they would not have a successful show. Overall, Impractical Jokers is a very successful show, and one of truTv’s most popular programs. It uses the concept of reality based television to be funny, which differs it from other comedy programming.Hardcore PawnHardcore Pawn is also a thirty minute program. It involves the life of a family the owns and runs a pawn shop in downtown Detroit. The first thing I noticed when looking at the results of my coding is that every episode starts with a three minute segment. What makes that three minute segment interesting is it that its used as a hook to keep the viewer watching. The segment always consist of a customer getting in some sort of altercation with Les, Seth, or Ashley the three owners of the store. The customer then gets thrown out of the shop. This usually entails plenty of swearing, aggressive behavior, and physical altercations in most cases pushing and shoving. The rest of the segments all vary in amounts of time from two to five minutes depending on the story line. When it comes to the setting it’s usually pretty basic the characters are either dealing with customers on the store floor or they are behind the glass at the pawn window. Occasionally you will see them go outside the front of the shop this is done when either sa customer is getting removed from the store or someone is trying to sell a very large item. I found a very common theme when it came to ideology at the pawnshop. In every episode the customer always felt they were right no matter what the circumstance. Individuals who work in retail have to please the customer no matter what the cost. However, at what point does the customer go to far and this is something the show expresses. The show shows hundreds of customers that are shopping there on a daily basis yet they only depict three to five customers an episode. So when it comes to realism you are only seeing a small slice of the big picture in what happens at the shop on a daily basis.The physical and verbal aggression in the as explained earlier happens frequently almost every other segment. The arguments are always with one of the owners. However between these violent segments is usually a civil one where a customer comes into the store with a nice item. Here the owners usually calmly negotiate how much to sell the item. In a 2013 episode called “Redeem Girl Rumble”, the show followed this exact pattern. the first, third, and fifth segments all included physical and verbal violence however, the second and fourth segments were calm negotiants between customer and employees. This pattern continues when we look at the shows mainstreamed values. The segments that deal with physical and verbal abuse usually have to do with either the customer always feeling they are right or that individuals need to except when they have made a mistake. The positive attitude segments usually teach you something about history or teaches you wants versus needs.In a 2012 episode called “Cold Blooded Robbery, we were exposed to a new element that resonated. The store was robbed in the middle of the night and concerned Ashley. This robbery was the main focus of the episode. However, the attitude remained in almost the same pattern of mad and content rotating every segment. This program revolves around anger and frustration whether it is customer to customer interaction or any of the family. Each episode watched had some sort of this aggression going on in the show. This is used as a way of entertainment people enjoy watching the fighting for their own comedic benefit and excitement. These arguments almost always hold the pattern that have been discussed. Especially within the family Ashley and Seth who are brother and sister fight constantly due to their differences in opinions on how to run the store. This is high exploited in the 2013 episode “short staffed”, The two disagree on how an issue with employees was handled, however, instead of the show ending with the problem being solved, it always ends with the argument still lingering and each person thinking they are right. The justifications for the anger issues in the show I feel are over amplified. As I said earlier, Hardcore Pawn only shows certain parts it wants its viewers to watch. Due to the culture of inner city Detroit, truTv portrays the attitudes more aggressively. DiscussionIdeology or what we believe to be true is represented in our shows in several ways. Impractical Jokers represents reality by making you believe the citizens the pranks are pulled on have no idea they are on tv. This is a way of representing reality well because, it presents that individuals will be in a oblivious state of mind, making what happens more realistic. On occasion, Impractical Jokers includes materialism and capitalist interests. They do this buy filming in name brand locations for example, White Castle, Dairy Queen, also doctor offices, and local New York restaurants. There's not much articulation of group stereotypes or concentrated ownership in the show. However, there is hegemony in the show because the group of friends basically controls each other and their surrounding environment. The characters have their own identities in the show that separate them individually in the program. For example, Sal is identified as a germophobe and hates doing dirty tasks in the show. Joe is the character that will do anything that is presented to him in the show he is like the leader of the group of friends. Murr is the character that losses the competition the most often. He is picked on the most by the other members of the groups. Q is the rosie O’ Doanld look alike in the group he has the worst fashion and is also picked on due to his bad luck that happens in the show.Hardcore Pawn representation of reality focuses on the everyday life of a pawn shop in Detroit Michigan. It represents that their are good and bad customers that come into a store daily. There is no capitalist interests in the show Hardcore Pawn only advertises for American Jewelry and Loan which is the name of the pawn shop. However there is materialist interests, you see all types of items that are brought into the store that vary from cheap to being very expensive. The show highly depicts the African American community, a majority of the time in the show that there is an altercation it involves a black male or female. It also depicts on family arguing and violence, Seth, Ashley, and Les which are the father son and daughter who own the company fight and argue in multiple episodes creating family drama. Power from concentrated ownership is a major factor within Hardcore Pawn. Les, the father is the owner of the company makes sure his kids and employees know constantly in the show that he is the owner. Ashley and Seth also fights over power because they want to control the company in the future. Les identifies himself as the boss and is well respected with his employees. Seth, one of the managers always feels that he is never in the wrong. Ashley’s character is constantly trying to one up her brother to try and gain an upper hand in the company. The other employees that are sub characters are very easy going and have sub plots depending on the episode.Tables from CodingImpractical JokersFrontBackFront BackFrontBackHardcore PawnPart 3The social media world is a major part of both of the truTv channels that we watched, Impractical Jokers and Hardcore Pawn. They are two of the top rated shows on truTv which drives a strong social media presence among viewers. Both shows use social media differently but achieve the ultimate goal of interacting with their viewers. Impractical Jokers focuses on the social media channels Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube. However, Hardcore Pawn expands on the social media field also having a Pintrest, Linkedin, and their own website.Impractical JokersImpractical Jokers uses three types of new media; Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, and the Impractical Jokers App. These social media mediums keep the cast in touch with the audience, gives information about the show, and even provides new and unaired footage of the show. Impractical Jokers has it’s own Facebook page. Posters to the page include the show, the cast, and the fans. The Impractical Jokers Facebook uses hypertextuality, it links to other programs on truTv. The cast is part of a comedy group called the Tenderloins, so there are links to their Facebook page and to tour dates for the group. It also links to the Impractical Jokers Twitter page. The diversity of content, or multimediarity, used on Facebook includes; pictures, videos, status updates, tour information, news, and information regarding upcoming new shows and seasons. Impractical Jokers interacts with fans on Facebook. There are status posts by both the cast, and the show itself. Once they gave viewers the chance to give them ideas to use in the show by posting the ideas on Facebook, and if they liked it they’d potentially use the idea. The Impractical Jokers Facebook is posted on regularly with about 1 to 3 posts per day.Impractical Jokers also has a Twitter account, as do each of the characters in the show. The show and the cast are both linked to one another. The show also links to the comedy tour, which includes the Tenderloins comedy group that travels with them. The types of content that both the show and the cast use on Twitter are mainly updates, and images from the show. The cast members will also post personal tweets on occasion, but mainly they advertise for the show. There is great interaction with the show on Twitter. The cast will tweet during the show, and their tweets are shown during the show with their usernames so they can be followed. The show and cast also retweet fans quite often. Twitter is probably the most updated aspect of new media Impractical Jokers uses, between the show and the cast, there are several tweets every day.Impractical Jokers has it’s own app. It links to Facebook and Twitter, and directly to the cast and the show. There are pictures,videos (which include deleted scenes and unaired footage on the app), popular soundbites from the show, and fan posts directly to the app. Every week, there is a question and answer video which includes one or more of the cast in which they answer questions posted by fans to the app. The app is updated regularly every day, and receives posts from fans every day also. Impractical Jokers does have a Youtube channel, but it seems to have been discontinued. It had several followers, but most likely with the app being launched and videos being on it, the need for a Youtube channel was no longer needed. The Youtube channel included clips from the show, and some of the show’s funniest moments. There was not much diversity in content, the channel did not post at all on the channel, and the video content remained relatively the same. Interaction mainly included fans only in comments to the individual videos, which were not responded to by the channel, and likes and dislikes of the videos. Recently as stated earlier there is no more posts to the channel as the last video to be posted to the channel was posted over 2 years ago. Hardcore Pawn For Hardcore Pawn, the social media realm is a major part of their show and their business. They focus on five areas of social media including Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Youtube, and their own website . All of these platforms contain some form of interaction with the viewer, while some include the business aspects of the store making it capable to buy products you would see at the location.The cast of Hardcore Pawn is very interactive with their fans when it comes to their Facebook page. They use fun competitions in order to keep people coming back to the page. One of these competitions was on National Sibling Day when they asked fans to choose their favorite sibling and posted a picture of Seth and Ashley. This gets fans to vote and feel apart of the show. They also expand on this by having a live chat feature. This is set up like a chat room where fans are able to chat with either Seth, Ashley, or Les. They post on the page one to two times a day whether it be images or reminders to watch the show. The show hyperlinks to their website. You can find this link in the more information section of their page.Hardcore Pawn’s Twitter account is posted on daily whether it be retweets, posts by truTv, or characters from the show. These retweets show the multimediarity by using pictures, memes, and video links to clips of the show. Retweets are also a way they use to respond to users after the they send a message to the show. When this happens people become more intrigued to continue to be viewers of the program, they feel a sense of bonding or relation to the program. The show also has responded to other Twitter users periodically by responding to their tweets that are directed to them. The Twitter account also links to the stores website and it’s Youtube account.Hardcore Pawn’s website has two focuses which are remaining connected with the shows fans and also maintaining the online portion of the business. , is set up like an ebay website. It has links to different categories of items they sell from jewelry, to art, electronics, and sports memorabilia. This is also a great way to market the show because fans are able to purchase items they have seen on a particular episode in there “as seen on the show section”. These sections in which you can purchase items is something that is updates daily due to the coming and going of items. The site also interacts with a meet the Gold’s section (the owners last name) this is another way the show interacts with the audience. Viewers are able to get an inside look at the family and once again feel more connected to the show. That connection goes even farther in the ways they allow you to connect to the store. The site lists email and phone number options you can also set up an account with the store. This account is set up like any website account where you are able to have a shopping cart of items that you wish to purchase. also has various amounts of links outside of just the items for sale. These links connect you to the other social media websites that Harcore Pawn uses including Facebook, Twitter, Pintrest, and Linkedin.Hardcore Pawn also has a company Linkedin account. Yes, a Linkedin for a television show. The site contains background information about the founding of American Jewelry (the store name), helpful information on running a pawn shop, and links videos to popular interviews the owners have done on other shows. Videos are the only real type of content that is on the page. Unlike the sites Facebook and Twitter this site is not updated frequently, the last update was over one month ago. One of the videos on their Linkedin is also interactive video about the most frequently asked questions dealing with pawnbroking. The site links to the stores website The store wraps up its social media networking with Pintrest. The show has multiple links on its page containing Les pins, Ashley’s pins, Seth’s Pins and the stores pins. The site uses multiple images to emphasize each pin board. These images are popular items that are in the store and Les, Ashley and Seth’s favorite items. The site is full of content and is obviously updated often as it contains items that are available in the store.Impractical JokersFacebookOther truTv programs. Tenderloins Comedy group & Tour dates. Links to Twitter Acct.Pictures, Videos, Status updates, tour information, News and information about upcoming shows and seasons.Status posts and pictures are posted by the cast and producers of the show. They take peoples ideas from Facebook posts and use them in the show if they like them.There are about 1-3 posts on Facebook each day.TwitterThe cast and show have Twitter accounts and they each link to one another. Also link to the Comedy Group the Tenderloins.Mainly updates and images from the show. Each cast member posts personal or show related posts.The cast will tweet during the show, and they will be shown while the show is on. They retweet fans quite often also.The show and the cast usually tweet once or twice per dayImpractical Jokers AppLinks to Facebook and TwitterPictures, videos, deleted scenes and unaired footage, soundbites, and fan postsAnswer questions from fans, import pictures with the cast.updated daily, fans post regularlyYoutubeClips of shows, funniest momentsnot much diversitycomments from views, likes & dislikes.stopped posting 2 years ago Hardcore Pawn coding sheetHypertext:What do they link to?Multimediarity: Diversity of types of contentInteractivity: Interaction with viewers / usersImmediacy: Recent / timely posts and updatesFacebookThe shows truTv website pagePictures, full episodes, memesThey use competitions like what would so and so say. They have a live chat feature to chat with cast members1 to 2 posts per , youtube videosPictures, videosVery interactive with pictures with fans and retweets and answering of tweetsPosts daily some are retweetsWebsiteFacebook, twitter, youtube, pintrest, linkedin, booking inquiries, news, auctions, store informationVariety of links, gives detials about castThey interact by linking to all the different types of social media. They also have a newsletterThe website is updated daily as it has live ebay auctions as well as sales in their storePintrestDifferent pins they follow, and who they follow, their websiteCharacters interest, show interestBehind the scene look at TVNot the most active 1 or 2 posts a month LinkedinThe shows website, videos of show appearances they have doneSee the personalities on other channelsNot much interaction.. focuses more on other pawn brokersNot active 1 or 2 posts a month.ReferencesBauder, D. (2007, December 30). Court TV exits, truTV appears - . Retrieved from truTV_N.htm Cox Media. (n.d.). Retrieved from Lowry, B. (2011, December 14). Impractical Jokers. Daily Variety, 313(51), 10. Ratings - truTV Tracking Biggest Quarter Ever, Plus Top 10 Ranking with Target Demo | . (n.d.). Retrieved from Marechal, A. (2013, April 2). Hardcore Pawn at 100: TruTV Strikes Pure Gold | Variety. Retrieved from hardcore-pawn-1200330948/ truTV Shows. (n.d.). Retrieved from truTV Upfront: Top 10 Network for Advertisers Promises More “Dumbest,” Steve-O and Shaquille O’Neal - MediaBuyerPlanner. (2012, May 1). Retrieved from ................
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