There was a story on NPR this morning about the rise in TV watching and how it is catching on around the world.  I think most of us who were listening were all thinking the same thing, “Huh?  Catching on?  Umm, what does he mean ‘catching’ on?”  The journalist was comparing TV to the likes of Facebook and Twitter.  He was mostly pulling numbers out of 3rd world countries but still the idea intrigued me to do some research on my own.

I decided to try to find out what the most watched TV show in the world was and to my surprise it was Baywatch.  (internal sigh)  I was disappointed.  It actually made the Guinness Book of World Records with over 1.1 billion viewers.  I know that this has been played out in such movies as Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan when Borat came to New York and while in his hotel room stumbled upon a Baywatch episode with Pamela Anderson.  He thought this was the best show ever.  I wonder if that is because people in other countries visualize America to be like that of a Baywatch setting? (which is disheartening)  Maybe Hollywood has painted a picture that America can only deliver on the silver screen.  Long strips of sunny beaches with beautiful people running around doing fun things while looking beautiful and half-naked, yeah that only exist in the movies or on Baywatch.

Then I decided to dig a little further and find out that House was the most watched TV show in the world in 2008.  This really wasn’t a surprise because I have been a fan of the show for many years and I am aware of it’s popularity.

The journalist on NPR did talk about soap operas being among some of the most popular TV shows in Brazil and how it has changed their society.  Apparently, when women had more access to soap operas there was a rise in the divorce rate and a decline in child births.  They did not contribute those factors entirely on soap operas but they tracked the popularity by names given to new born children as those belonging to the characters on the shows.  The journalist said that women felt more empowered because they were watching women on the TV doing things they hadn’t be able to do and only dreamed of.  Another interesting fact was that 1 out every four people in India have a television and it’s hooked up to either cable or satellite. 

According to the story, television is more readily accessible than the Internet now and that is why it is catching on in countries that did not previously have this ‘luxury’ that Americans can’t seem to be without since the 1950’s.

I’d really like to go on more about this but I kind of need to go, one of my shows is on. heh.

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