Political Divide Reflected in TV Shows We Watch

(HMG Celebrity News) – Interesting study on how political tendencies seem to have a strong influence on the shows we watch.  While cable networks appeal to more specific viewpoints, like Comedy Central’s The Daily Show With Jon Stewart to Fox News’ Glenn Beck, the data suggests that main stream success may require pleasing conservatives.  According to months of data from leading media-research company Experian Simmons, viewers who register as Republican are more likely than voting Democrats to watch the biggest hit shows on television.  That’s probably not great news in Hollywood, which tends to be heavily liberal leaning.  Of the top 10 TV shows in the spring, nine had higher percentages of Republican viewers than Democratic viewers. Conservatives not only like the big shows with mass appeal, but strongly favor reality-competition shows. Meanwhile liberals tend to favor darker shows like  Dexter and Mad Men (which did poorly among Republicans) that get critical acclaim but struggle for mass appeal. “Looking at the Democrats side, I don’t mean to make light of it, but they seem to like shows about damaged people,” said a marketing manager with Experian Simmons.”Those are the kind of shows Republicans just stay away from.”  Sort of a reflection of the same divide that exists in congress, with Democrats usually champing social programs, and Republicans not so much.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter