Anikh Wadhawan
MCS:015 Intro to Television
May 6,2013
Paper #1
Prof. Bundy

Quality vs. Good: Different ways to judge Television

What is the role of television today? Television has almost become apart of American culture as if it is a form of religious practice. Many people practice this ritual through out the day; some as they wake up in the morning, and others thanks to technology can get their practice of television in throughout the day. What makes T.V. so important? How did it become to be so? Yet a larger question that may be of even more importance is what allows us to see the entertainment value in the shows that are presented to us? Shows on television may tend to look good, yet may not affect our emotions or share a connection as deep as others. Other shows go as far as trying to make something unfamiliar to us much more realistic and “real-life like”. To categorize such shows one has to understand what is “Quality” television versus “Good” television, and to help describe the relationship between these categorical descriptions of television the show Nip/Tuck by Ryan Murphy on FX is a show that shares both “Quality “and “Good” T.V. aspects. Television is considered “Quality” when; a show has a type of textual characteristic that definitely is important in representing its value to the Audience, and an audience that is majority “middle class” (Cardwell, 23). At most the show will have “a carefully constructed storyline, well acted, and well filmed”(Cardwell, 20), but the biggest thing that separates it from a “Good” show is that it may be seen as boring or non attractive to the interest of it’s viewers even though, “it may be perceived as being “Good” for its viewers… at the same time it is dull and pretentious”(Cardwell, 21). In much more basic terms it is seen as “generic” because of its non-emotional impact. Even though “Quality” T.V.