Much has been made of the drift of the TV audience in recent years away from common programs and toward the plethora of niche programmers. But when it comes to truly monumental events, television still delivers, allowing the nation and the world to experience history as one. What's more, TV also creates bonds that provide us with openings to communicate with strangers, even across ethnic, gender or class divides. Added together, these moments are what creates a truly shared American culture, such as it is. It's not Copland, Faulkner and Pollock, but it will have to do.
Television is an immensely powerful medium for promoting positive social change.
It's a double-edged sword, having 90 percent of current television written by the same thousand or so liberal white guys who all live in the 310 area code. For example, much of the increased acceptance of homosexuality, especially by young people, can be traced to television and its mainstreaming of the gay and lesbian populace. At least as much as any pride march, shows like MTV's The Real World went a long way toward showing Middle America that, far from being participants in a bizarre, aberrant lifestyle, gays and lesbians suffered through the same relationship woes and heartbreaks as their hetero counterparts. Television helps motivate us to infuse our own lives with drama and meaning. It's counterintuitive, I know.