Violence On Tv

After watching three hours of primetime TV, I have concluded that violence is only a relatively common occurrence on many programs. The first hour I watched was made up of two half-hour drama comedies - Two and a Half Men and Rules of Engagement on CBS. Consequently, there was no violence during this hour. These shows were followed by the hour-long CSI: Miami, a detective show chock full of crappy acting and references to violent events, also on CBS. Despite the many references (eight), there were only half as many scenes of actual violence. The final show I watched was TNT's Law and Order. There were even fewer scenes of violence in this one, with a whopping two occurrences of and five references to violence.

All in all, the three hours averaged out to two scenes of violence per hour and 4.3 references per hour. I expected these numbers to be substantially higher, though I am aware that these three hours are a "small and unrepresentative sample of programs" and that different channels on other nights probably have much more blood and guts.

So why is there so much violence on TV? First of all, is there, really? Violence is a matter of perception; what my grandma considers violence may seem like slapstick to me. With that said, what we each consider to be a lot or a little violence in a given amount of time of TV depends on who you ask. Tipper Gore may say there is too much, while I may say "not really". In any event, I believe the cause for any violence on TV is simply to reach and hook viewers, whether by awing us, appealing to our (men's) natural interests in guns and explosions, creating shock, or conjuring up sympathy or jealousy (for guns and explosions).