Johanna Blakley

Last year, Zogby International and the Norman Lear Center surveyed 1,637 American women about their political beliefs and their media, entertainment and leisure preferences. Looking through the data, we realized that there were some stark differences among women of different ages. Not only do they gravitate toward different media and entertainment channels, they also spend their leisure time differently, and they often have widely varying views about the biggest political issues of our day.

Some of the results about political values were not surprising: when it comes to the environment, taxes, guns, affirmative action, war, and business regulation, the youngest group consistently took a more liberal position than older women. (You can see all the data here.) However, there were several provocative discoveries that suggested that we should not assume that women become more conservative as they grow older.

Morality and the Government

Johanna Blakley

With the Comcast/NBC merger on the horizon, Hollywood has been abuzz about how all this is going to affect the beleaguered TV industry. Now that the biggest Internet and mobile-phone provider in the U.S. is buying a vast vat of premium TV and film properties, will audiences finally be able to watch what they want where they want it?

As we fret about whether we'll still get to watch The Daily Show for free on Hulu (Comcast will scoop that up in the deal, too), we may not notice the quiet revolution that's taking place in the murky world of online-only Web series. "Webisodes" have been around since the late 90's, but ever-increasing broadband penetration rates, and destination video sites like YouTube have made it much easier to distribute original, scripted video content online. As media conglomerates wring their hands about monetizing online content, some creative industry insiders decided to throw caution to the wind and put their stuff online anyway.

For film and TV writers, who are often deeply insulated from audience feedback, it can be pretty bracing. Web series are a relatively new creative outlet, and they're often cheaper and easier to produce than plays. Written By, the magazine of the Writers Guild, dedicated an entire issue to digital media issues, including a long article about TV industry veterans trying their hand at Web series. Ylse, which is written and produced by a working TV actress, Ruth Livier, airs online every two weeks, along with an intervening sub-series every other week. After developing the idea, Livier realized there was no way her off-color Spanglish creation would get picked up as a TV pilot so she decided to post it online instead. She became the first person to become a WGA member based on writing a Web series.