Benjamin Burton

JMC 1013 Introduction to Mass Communication

Chrisley Knows Best Reality Show:
A father and mother, with some help from the fathers Todds mom attempt to
teach their children to live without technology while they are on vacation. The
brother and sister join forces to find their phones, which their parents have taken
from them for the weekend. Todd and his wife try to teach their children the
lesson of living in the moment without being unduly harsh. This show transmitted
the message that technology isnt necessary to have a good time, and that family
can be the most rewarding part of your life if you spend time together without
outside interference. It also tried to transmit the message that parenting is hard,
but, if done right, is rewarding. The message was a worthwhile message, but
watching the show was Not so worthwhile. There were lots of gimmicks and at
times I was almost literally in pain at how performative the participants reactions
felt. There were definitive socially acceptable points made by the show both
the main points listed above are ones that are preached and embraced in our
society, often especially by middle class citizens and/or parents. For social value,
Id give the show a 4 good content and good message, but there was a fair
amount of arguing and petty behavior that detracted from the overall good of the
show. On the entertainment scale I would give the show a 2. I laughed a couple
of times, and managed to get through the show without needing distractions, but I
didnt really enjoy it and wouldnt recommend it to anyone.
60 Minutes Network News Program
The vast majority of the content was serious content, but there were jokes
and human interest shots thrown into the program, primarily in the first story
about Justin Trudeau. All in all, there was probably about 90% serious content to
10% human interest/humor. Im going to give 60 Minutes a 5 for my satisfaction
with how informed I feel after watching it, because I feel I have a very deep
understanding of each of the stories that were covered. However, I do feel like I
missed out on some of the breadth of the news from that week, due to the fact
that the program went so far into the depth of their three stories. The word news
as presented by the anchors created a sense of fun when in reference to the
Trudeau story, a sense of intrigued dread when in reference to the illegal coal
mining business, and a sense of concerned intrigue when in reference to the

Benjamin Burton
JMC 1013 Introduction to Mass Communication
inmates on death row. The news anchors were involved in the telling of the
stories, and had a lot of commentary, both in voice overs and as the interviewers.
The coverage of the stories was much more in depth and told a much more vivid
picture with more background information in these stories than the stories in the
newspaper did. However, there were many more stories covering a much larger
variety of topics in the newspaper.
Downton Abbey Drama
This show did meet my entertainment expectations; I even went on to
watch several more episodes after finishing the first. There was no excessive
violence in fact, the only thing that could even be considered violence by
extrapolation was raised voices during several disagreements that the characters
had. There was not excessive bad language, either, although that may be more a
reflection of the time period of the show than its intentions after all, some rather
rude things were said, that, in that time period, were perhaps considered as
offensive as profanity is today. The absence of both excessive violence and
language didnt detract from the entertainment value of the show, at least for me.
I didnt once find myself wishing for more of either however, I did consistently
hope for more screen time for Dame Maggie Smiths sarcasm. I dont think this
show was intended for my demographic; if I were to guess, I would say that
middle-aged, middle-upper class white women are the target demographic.
However, I very much enjoyed it, and I sometimes feel like a middle-aged white
woman at heart. I would rate this program a 4 out of 5 in entertainment value.
I was blown away by the cinematography, costume and set design, and precision
of acting choices. The story also drew me in, but at times the script was just a
touch slow. Because of these occasional moments where I felt myself
disengaging, I gave the program a 4, instead of an all-out 5.