Week #5 – Emerging trends in television
Since there are five weeks in July, this last week gives us a good, short opportunity to discuss emerging trends in television. There are two ways to interpret that. The obvious way is for you to copy emerging trends that come from television shows themselves. For example, if the actors on Cougar Town wear chokers with butterflies, you must run out to purchase and wear the same thing. The second interpretation and the purpose of this prompt is to encourage you to pay attention to the different kinds of television programming. Do you spot emerging trends in television? Your job is to list five reasons why it’s a good idea to follow emerging trends in television.
Creative Idea Gal’s Thoughts
Before having kids, I watched a lot of programs for adults. Despite having access to hundreds of cable channels, I limited myself to watching a few favorites. And then I had two girls. I suddenly became immersed in children’s programming. Both instances took me to extremes in television watching and very little education. There is value in watching television and I never even realized that until fairly recently.
Three months ago, my husband and I made a decision to cut the cable. Since then, we’ve watched the channels in our start-up television package with intrigue. Suddenly, we noticed things that we never noticed when we had more channels: QVC, the arts, local government, local access, Spanish-language shows, and PBS morning-time children’s programming, to name a few. The lesson learned is that television offers a variety of programming to accommodate many interests and personality types. There is something for everyone. Knowing about those options makes television watching more rewarding, even educational!
Tips on How to Spark Creativity in Writing
- Tip #12 – Watch television!
Today’s society makes it easy for people to connect on social media while at the same time, making it harder for people to watch television. Why is it harder? Because television must now compete with iPads, iPhones, Hulu, Netflix, xBox, and 100 other technological choices to get people interested in programming. Amazingly, there is even a strong movement of parents who limit children’s television viewing!
Let’s put all that aside for a minute and strip television down to its core. Television is a source of entertainment. It is a continuous series of moving pictures of people talking or singing or dancing or doing different things. You want to laugh? Watch a reality show. Want to hold a child’s attention? Put on some cartoons. Want to improve your skills? Watch a cooking show. With such a great variety of programs available, television becomes an interesting, if not valuable source of entertainment and information. It is bound to inspire you to creative heights in your writing!
Emerging Trends on Twitter
Here is a sampling of yesterday’s emerging trends based on Twitter hashtags:
- #RIPKiddKraddick (Radio host David “Kidd” Kraddick passed away)
- #askLukey (Luke Hemmings from Australian band Five Seconds of Summer, 5SOS, encourages his followers to ask him questions)
- #Pandora (Chatter about Pandora Radio – – a great discovery, by the way)
Writing Prompt 088
Prompt: List five reasons why it’s good to follow emerging trends in television.
- Step 1: Television offers its viewers a lot of things. Do you pay attention to the changes in programming? Now is a good time to do basic research. Watch t.v. to get started!
- Step 2: Do you notice what is popular on t.v.? What do people seem to talk about? Is it a good idea to be familiar with t.v. shows even if you don’t watch them? Why? These are all good questions to ask yourself.
- Step 3: List five reasons why it’s good to follow emerging trends in television. I can think of twenty benefits of following emerging trends in television. Remember, t.v. catapults the viewer to different places. That’s where the real education and creativity begins. What can you do with that knowledge?
Please be sure to leave comments about this writing prompt. We want to hear from you!
About the Author
Amanda M. Socci – a.k.a. Creative Idea Gal
Amanda M. Socci is the creator of this unique 10-month training program providing writing prompts to nonfiction writers. Amanda is a diehard creative and an aspiring book author, currently blogging a book on faith, A Slice of Faith, on a community website. Visit Amanda’s blog. Follow Amanda on her journey to book publication. Like A Slice of Faith on Facebook.
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