Commentary

Television Is The Drug Of Choice -- And 'Choice' Is The New Addiction

by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, September 30, 2010

Television has always been a drug -- metaphorically speaking. What you probably didn't know was that the modern process of getting TV programs can be equally as addicting, according to Lauren Zalaznick, president, women & lifestyle entertainment networks for NBC Universal.

"I think the phrase for the future is that these kids are addicted to choice, right," she said at Media magazine's "Future of Media" event.

"And if you can capture an addiction in society, you're the pusher man, right? The old adage of the schoolyard is, you give them a little taste for free and then you've got them," she said. "So I think right now, we are testing giving them a little taste for free, but they are addicted to 'The Office,' so they've got to buy it on Hulu."

Many TV analysts have noted that TV networks would first offer TV programs for free online -- and then gradually make viewers pay for it. The only difference is that networks didn't announce all this three years ago.

For years, kids craved MTV programming, especially videos. But kids like change, actually. Lots of it. In recent years, MTV lost a lot of its younger fans. Only this past year has MTV revived ratings-wise, with "Jersey Shore" and other shows.

The addiction metaphor doesn't always work. So much TV content means never means having to go through any real withdrawal. You might be missing "Jericho" or "Chuck," but there is always another electronic drug of choice.

We are reminded of teenagers ringing up hundreds or thousand of dollars in mobile phone usage. (All you can eat plans have helped curtail this).

Now worried parents might discover monthly pay-TV bills of hundreds or thousands of dollars because their kids are buying up $30 "premium VOD" movies, regular pay-per-view films, Apple TV rentals, or Hulu Plus monthly TV packages.

The process of "choice" -- getting it via, Netflix, iTunes, Hulu Plus, paying for it and no longer free -- is a means to an end. Addicted to content? That doesn't sound so bad. Addicted to "choice"? Get me in rehab.

2 comments about "Television Is The Drug Of Choice -- And 'Choice' Is The New Addiction ".

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Arthur Greenwald from Greenwald Media, September 30, 2010 at 12:11 p.m.
Another insightful column by Wayne, but a stunningly bad choice of phrasing by Lauren Zalaznick. Her schoolyard drug-pusher analogy needs to be followed by Seth Myers and Amy Pohler shouting "Really? You want to compare NBC Universal to heroin dealers? Really?" Yikes!
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Mike Einstein from the Brothers Einstein, September 30, 2010 at 12:15 p.m.

Good piece, Wayne. I notice by its conspicuous absence any mention of advertising in this growing addiction chain. That's because given the choice, no one chooses advertising, despite the fact that they're the guys fronting the pushers.

To carry this metaphor to its illogical extreme, the moneyman in the middle is being cut out of the deal.