A couple of studies recently published confirm what we’ve suspected. Screen time and obesity are positively correlated. And the news gets worse. A study out of Canada found that children from disadvantaged neighborhoods were 3-4 times more likely to fall into these high-risk groups. Another study, this one out of SUNY Buffalo, found that kids whose screen time was reduced lost weight. According to a report in Bloomberg,
Children whose viewing was eventually cut in half ate less, spent less time on sedentary activities and developed a healthier body mass index, a ratio of height to weight. The reduction in screen time didn’t translate into additional physical activity, providing insight into how sitting in front of a television or computer contributes to obesity in children, the researchers said.
Caveat Emptor: The Bloomberg article linked above is an advertisement dressed up as news. The article spends as much space pitching a $100 electronic device called the TV Allowance as it does reporting consumer information. This blurring of PR/Advertising and Journalism is almost as frightening as a 5th grade classroom full of 200 pound screen junkies!
There’s a new feel-good reality TV show in town. Imagine a cross between The Apprentice, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, and The Amazing Race and you’ve pretty much got The Big Give. The similarities with the other reality TV shows are both an admission that certain formulas work, and the fact that the executive producer of TBG is also the executive producer of TAR. The Emmy-winning Bertram von Munster got his start with the long-time reality TV show COPS, but made his mark with the four-time-Emmy-winning Amazing Race. I had a chance to meet von Munster at the BEA/NAB conference a few years ago and was impressed with his producing skills. He has figured out how to create drama without stooping to the contrived interpersonal conflicts so common to the reality TV genre.
Sunday night will be the 80th anniversary of the little annual party known as the Academy Awards. The Academy is the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences…quite a mouthful…which is why people refer to the show as “The Oscars.” So who is Oscar? Oscar is the name of the 13.5-inch, 8.5 pound statuette that is given to each awardee. According to the AMPAS website the statuette, “depicts a knight holding a crusader’s sword, standing on a reel of film with five spokes, signifying the original branches of the Academy: Actors, Writers, Directors, Producers and Technicians.” Approximately 6,000 Hollywood professionals make up the Academy and vote for the nominees.
