The Parenthood Project

Posted on February 14, 2010 at 8:00 am

I’m looking forward to the new television series “Parenthood,” based on the 1989 movie starring Steve Martin, Jason Robards, and Dianne Weist. Producer Brian Grazer, director Ron Howard and screenwriters Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel based the film on their own experiences as the fathers of a total of 14 children and on their relationships with their own parents when they were teenagers.
The television show stars “Gilmore Girls'” Lauren Graham (replacing Maura Tierney who is battling cancer), and “Six Feet Under’s” Peter Krause. In connection with the show’s premiere, the producers have teamed up with the Boys and Girls Clubs of America for The Parenthood Project. They will donate $20 to the Family Strengthening Initiative for everyone who submits a response to their question: “What does parenthood mean to you?” with video, photo, text, or tweet (with hashtag #parenthoodis).

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Quiz: Television Couples

Posted on February 12, 2010 at 8:00 am

Another Valentine’s Day quiz about some of the all-time favorite television couples. How many do you recognize?
1. The very first issue of TV Guide featured the real-life baby of this sit-com pair whose on-screen race to the hospital to give birth was one of the most watched episodes of its era.
2. Perhaps inspired by the glamorous and elegant occupants of the White House, this sit-com couple, a writer and a former dancer, lived with their son in New Rochelle, New York.
3. She grew up on one of the top shows of the 70’s and then had a spin-off series of her own about her life with her cute boyfriend.
4. This loving couple broke some barriers by having the first inter-racial marriage on prime-time television.
5. Sparring detectives generated a lot of romantic chemistry in this glossy romantic mystery series.
6. The viewership for the wedding of this soap opera duo broke records and even ended up on a magazine covers.
7. This couple did things a bit out of order — they had a relationship, they were on a break, they got married, got divorced, had a baby, and then ended up together.
8. This couple on a popular new series just adopted a daughter from Vietnam.
9. One of the most loving marriages in television history was between this doctor and lawyer, parents of five children, who loved to dance with each other.
10. A journalist and an aspiring actress became engaged in the last season of this popular series.

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The Battle Over Super Bowl Ads

Posted on January 30, 2010 at 1:48 pm

On February 7, the Saints will take on the Colts in Super Bowl XLIV. And the ads are as high-profile as the game. Companies and groups must pay CBS more than $2 million in addition to the cost of producing the ad, which can be as much per-minute as a feature film.
A lot of people want to reach the Super Bowl audience and some want to sell ideas, not products. CBS, which has refused some “advocacy” ads in the past, this year has said they will permit those that are “responsibly produced.” They have already been criticized for agreeing to run an ad from Focus on the Family that features college football player Tim Tebow and his mother. She explains that though she was advised to get an abortion after she became ill, she continued the pregnancy and gave birth to Tebow. The Women’s Media Center and a group of organizations dedicated to reproductive rights, tolerance, and social justice have protested.
CBS is also getting complaints about what it is not showing. The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation has called on CBS to explain why it is refusing to run an ad for a gay dating site called Mancrunch during the Super Bowl. CBS issued a statement but did not explain their concerns: “After reviewing the ad — which is entirely commercial in nature — our Standards and Practices department decided not to accept this particular spot. As always, we are open to working with the client on alternative submissions.”
The Washington Post has a thoughtful op-ed by Frances Kissling, the former president of Catholics for Choice and Kate Michelman, former president of Naral Pro-Choice America, on “what Tim Tebow’s Super Bowl ad can teach the pro-choice movement.”

For abortion rights supporters, picking on Tim Tebow and his mom is not the way to go. Instead of trying to block or criticize the Focus on the Family ad, the pro-choice movement needs its own Super Bowl strategy….We’d go with a 30-second spot, too. The camera focuses on one woman after another, posed in the situations of daily life: rushing out the door in the morning for work, flipping through a magazine, washing dishes, teaching a class of sixth-graders, wheeling a baby stroller. Each woman looks calmly into the camera and describes her different and successful choice: having a baby and giving it up for adoption, having an abortion, having a baby and raising it lovingly. Each one being clear that making choices isn’t easy, but that life without tough choices doesn’t exist.

I think CBS should be open to “responsibly produced” advocacy ads on any issue of public concern. I doubt that the Focus on the Family will change anyone’s mind, and I support the right of Tenbow and his mother to tell their story and explain their views. I can imagine gay dating site ads that would and would not be appropriate. And I share the concerns of parents who are uncomfortable with the ads for ED and prostate medication, sexual pleasure aids and other highly personal items during telecasts of sporting events. What do you think?

What Can We Learn from ‘The Office?’

Posted on January 24, 2010 at 3:11 pm

NPR asks whether “The Office” should be used in HR training.

Though the show is clearly a caricature, there are grains of truth in the dysfunctional conflicts that drive its humor, says Sheri Leonardo, senior vice president for human resources at Ogilvy Public Relations.

“As an HR person, I sometimes cringe,” she said. “Some of the stuff is so outlandish, politically incorrect, morally incorrect and everything else — but at the same time I say, ‘God, I would love to take clips of this and use it for training, because it’s so perfect.’ “

A 30-year human resources veteran, Leonardo says that although the characters’ insensitivities are exaggerated, she can think of real people who fit many of the show’s office stereotypes: the out-of-touch and politically incorrect boss; the peace-keeping secretary; the ambitious underling who doesn’t care whose toes he steps on to suck up.

Does “The Office” remind you of anyone you know? Do you think people who resemble the characters in “The Office” are capable of enough self-awareness to learn from the show?

Kids and Media: Kaiser’s M2 Report

Posted on January 20, 2010 at 6:40 pm

The highly respected Kaiser Foundation has issued the third in its series of reports on children and media, Generation M2: Media in the Lives of 8-18-year-olds. They found that with technology allowing nearly 24-hour media access as children and teens go about their daily lives, the amount of time young people spend with entertainment media has risen dramatically, especially among minority youth.
Today, 8-18 year-olds devote an average of 7 hours and 38 minutes (7:38) to using entertainment media across a typical day (more than 53 hours a week). And because they spend so much of that time ‘media multitasking’ (using more than one medium at a time), they actually manage to pack a total of 10 hours and 45 minutes (10:45) worth of media content into those 7½ hours. The amount of time spent with media increased by an hour and seventeen minutes a day over the past five years, from 6:21 in 2004 to 7:38 today. And because of media multitasking, the total amount of media content consumed during that period has increased from 8:33 in 2004 to 10:45 today.
It will not come as a surprise to anyone that the increase in media use is driven in large part by ready access to mobile devices like cell phones and iPods. Over the past five years, there has been a huge increase in ownership among 8- to 18-year-olds: from 39% to 66% for cell phones, and from 18% to 76% for iPods and other MP3 players. During this period, cell phones and iPods have become true multi-media devices: in fact, young people now spend more time listening to music, playing games, and watching TV on their cell phones (a total of :49 daily) than they spend talking on them (:33). For the first time, however, actual TV use declined.
The study pointed out some racial differences. Black and Hispanic children consume nearly 4½ hours more media daily (13:00 of total media exposure for Hispanics, 12:59 for Blacks, and 8:36 for Whites). Some of the largest differences are in TV viewing: Black children spend nearly 6 hours and Hispanics just under 5½ hours, compared to roughly 3½ hours a day for White youth. And the racial disparity in media use has grown substantially over the past five years.
It is also not a surprise that the study found that the heaviest media use was associated with poor grades. But what I found particularly distressing was the failure of parents to exercise any oversight. According to the report, only about three in ten young people say they have rules about how much time they can spend watching TV (28%) or playing video games (30%), and 36% say the same about using the computer. But when parents do set limits, children spend less time with media: those with any media rules consume nearly 3 hours less media per day (2:52) than those with no rules.
Worst of all, about two-thirds (64%) of young people say the TV is usually on during meals, and just under half (45%) say the TV is left on “most of the time” in their home, even if no one is watching. Seven in ten (71%) have a TV in their bedroom, and half (50%) have a console video game player in their room. I strongly recommend that parents not allow televisions or other media except for music in bedrooms or at mealtime. Connections are nourished by silence and it is time to remind families that there is no connection via texting, ims, Facebook, phone, blogging, tweeting, or anything else requiring a charger that is as important as in-person, looking-at-each-other conversation. In law school, we learned about “demeanor evidence,” the things you can learn from watching and listening to the way someone says something. Teaching kids how to understand this is more important than all the LOLs and POSes ever typed.