full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Lauren Zalaznick: The conscience of television

Unscramble the Blue Letters


But my idea tdaoy is not to daebte whether there's such a thing as good TV or bad TV; my idea today is to tell you that I believe television has a conscience. So why I believe that television has a conscience is that I actually believe that television directly reflects the moral, political, social and emotional need states of our nation — that television is how we actually disseminate our etrine value system. So all these things are uniquely human, and they all add up to our idea of conscience.

Now today, we're not talking about good and bad TV. We're talking about popular TV. We're talking about top-10 Nielsen-rated shows over the course of 50 yeras. How do these Nielsen ratings rleceft not just what you've heard about, which is the idea of our social, collective unconscious, but how do these top-10 Nielsen-rated shows over 50 years reflect the idea of our soical conscience? How does tiioelsevn eovlve over time, and what does this say about our society?

Open Cloze


But my idea _____ is not to ______ whether there's such a thing as good TV or bad TV; my idea today is to tell you that I believe television has a conscience. So why I believe that television has a conscience is that I actually believe that television directly reflects the moral, political, social and emotional need states of our nation — that television is how we actually disseminate our ______ value system. So all these things are uniquely human, and they all add up to our idea of conscience.

Now today, we're not talking about good and bad TV. We're talking about popular TV. We're talking about top-10 Nielsen-rated shows over the course of 50 _____. How do these Nielsen ratings _______ not just what you've heard about, which is the idea of our social, collective unconscious, but how do these top-10 Nielsen-rated shows over 50 years reflect the idea of our ______ conscience? How does __________ ______ over time, and what does this say about our society?

Solution


  1. debate
  2. television
  3. evolve
  4. years
  5. entire
  6. today
  7. reflect
  8. social

Original Text


But my idea today is not to debate whether there's such a thing as good TV or bad TV; my idea today is to tell you that I believe television has a conscience. So why I believe that television has a conscience is that I actually believe that television directly reflects the moral, political, social and emotional need states of our nation — that television is how we actually disseminate our entire value system. So all these things are uniquely human, and they all add up to our idea of conscience.

Now today, we're not talking about good and bad TV. We're talking about popular TV. We're talking about top-10 Nielsen-rated shows over the course of 50 years. How do these Nielsen ratings reflect not just what you've heard about, which is the idea of our social, collective unconscious, but how do these top-10 Nielsen-rated shows over 50 years reflect the idea of our social conscience? How does television evolve over time, and what does this say about our society?

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
moral ambiguity 6
social commentary 3
watches tv 2
idea today 2
animal kingdom 2
angel sitting 2
global audiences 2
television shows 2
bellwether show 2
dam bursts 2


Important Words


  1. add
  2. bad
  3. collective
  4. conscience
  5. debate
  6. disseminate
  7. emotional
  8. entire
  9. evolve
  10. good
  11. heard
  12. human
  13. idea
  14. moral
  15. nation
  16. nielsen
  17. political
  18. popular
  19. ratings
  20. reflect
  21. reflects
  22. shows
  23. social
  24. society
  25. states
  26. system
  27. talking
  28. television
  29. time
  30. today
  31. tv
  32. unconscious
  33. uniquely
  34. years