Ethnographic though it may be, Lull's approach is somewhat of the 'old wine in new bottles' variety. His distinction between family types seems arbitrary and unsubstantiated. Not only does the new ethnography generalise from very small samples, it reinvokes the behavioural social science models it desperately sought to displace. All three books argue that gender differences in viewing are marked. Men choose the programmes, women watch in silence.
Men prefer news, current affairs and action programmes, women prefer romantic films and soap operas.
Most programme schedules pander to male programme preferences in the evening. Evening viewing is largely male-dominated and takes the form of 'silent communion' rather than active engagement. Only Venezuela differs. Because of the large number of solo-female households, telenovelas dominate the evening programme schedules. While making these conclusions, the authors give little concrete evidence of critical viewing behaviour.