An abstract of mine was accepted and I have a couple of months to write a chapter for a book about diversity in the media. The angle I'm taking is that on television there is little to no diversity of belief. We've made some strides in depicting racial minorities, and showing women in roles other than housewife, but the dominant discourse is materialistic.

What do you all think about this: Are diverse beliefs portrayed on TV? If so, where? How would you describe the dominant beliefs available on television? It seems to me that television contains mostly materialistic messages, that consumerism is the answer to everything. I'm including sitcoms, news, cartoons, serials, sports, home and garden shows, made for TV movies, you name it. How deep are the morals? How broad are the solutions to problems? Where is there a discussion of spirituality?

For example, rather than consumerism, do you ever see people re-using products? recycling? Do you see people wearing old clothes? Do you ever see people praying for answers? Do people serve each other for free, or is there always an angle?

DJ, wow, what a topic. Now that you mention it, I hardly ever see any morals portrayed while watching TV. Now I hardly watch so I'm not a great one to ask, but the occasional show I do catch is usually nothing but sarcastic humor, cutting others to pieces and awful sexual connotations.

Let me think on this to see what shows I can come up with that may portray healthy perspectives.

ARe sitcoms/series have underlying constant theme of materialistic? Perhaps I don't watch enough different sitcoms regularily.

However one of my favourite drama series, was "Six Feet Under", a U.S. drama series based on a family where 2 brothers own a family business funeral home after their father died. There's the older teenager daughter with red hair, Claire, etc.

Despite all the problems individual family members might have, they genuinely try to be a family, ...to love/care one another each in their own wasy (with occasional) disagreements. Yes, times, where some family members were engaged in relationships that needed to be straightened out or just dropped because of a toxic personality, etc.

I loved the show because of its humanity...and the funeral business where for each show, the theme would open up on a tv reflective mediation of a person who just died, circumstances at point of death...and ended up the funeral home.

This is not religious, but the show in its heart, was spiritual and not about material /consumer things (except the time funeral business was threatened or a lover buying a small thing for someone).

The final episode actually took one forward of how each family member might look like just before death, when aged and at what point their life they each were, before they died.

Sad, somehow so real...meditative and reflective. It was a great finish to a great series. And clearly, even if we were/are married/coupled or have children: we enter into this world alone and we each, will leave this world alone. But a backward reflection for viewer who watched the series, that we have 1 life, live it with at some of your dreams fulfilled, love well and make the best of it.

Orchid --
I also loved that series but don't have HBO so I watched it entirely on DVD. Though I agree with what you say about the family trying to stay together, I still see it as materialistic. The relationships the characters were involved in were physical, mostly. The patriarch was all about his own pleasure. The mom, the daughter and the homosexual brother were all about finding themselves as sexual beings, not spiritual beings, dealing with their various fears and insecurities. And though Nate met the Quaker woman and started going to services with her, he also was about "finding himself" and not caring what that did to his wife and daughter. So while it was a relatively thoughtful series, it wasn't one that was interested in spiritual truth, for example.

I recently did a study about Sex and the City, comparing the views of that show in the US with how they perceive it in China. The show is called (in Chinese) "So Want to Be in Love" The scripts have been entirely redone in Chinese, but using the original plots. I'm not saying that Chinese culture is less materialistic than ours, but it's interesting to see how they perceive the women in ways that would be unfamiliar to us in the US. For example, some of the respondents there say they put men on a pedestal. I don't think we do that here!

If you look at any sitcom, you will find archetype characters and plots that always end up maintaining the status quo of power relations, for example.

Shows like "Saved by the Bell" and "Family Matters" end with a moral, but they are in the mainstream belief community and not much more probing that an Aesop's fable.

Are there shows that "think outside the box"? It's a tough question.

What about Oprah? Does anyone watch that? My daughter tells me that her shows end with some sort of spiritual message.

Interesting. There is a different way of looking at this, for me, each character imperfect as they are, they may have wanted sex PLUS more beyond and were struggling to find that/establish that in their relationships. Which is natural and normal for most folks-- no matter how religious or non-religious a person is. 6 ft. under did not reflect the dream mainstream image of family. I think the show reflects more reality...most families do experience abit of dysfunction at some point in time, either involving 1 or several family members, where someone is insecure, etc.

Would you have considered shows where characters are overtly searching for God or trying to meet/wrestle with overtly themes of Christian faith, values, as more "spiritual"? I don't mind watching movies like that occasionally. But a whole series would not interest me if it was overly didactic instead of effectively weaving themes of submission vs. liberation, self-interest vs. family, etc.

Sex in the City is overtly more materialistic than 6 Feet Under. Dumb as it may seem, I enjoyed watching the show...for its fashion. Got tired of Carrie's, played by Jessica Parker, constant manhunt escapades and her insecurities. Certainly the series was more "fluffy" / airheaded in content compared to 6 ft. Under.

But I'm the wrong person to opine much on series, ...I tend to watch Food Network, some British drama/police series.. Have lost track of U.S. sitcoms. I have zero interest watching anything like the Sopranos, Housewives (or whatever). Many U.S. cop/lawyer shows turn me right off because the easy violence, cool/hip/tough script is annoying ...'cause in real life to meet cops, judges and lawyers like that...was really annoying. I worked in various agencies for over 15 years, where my client groups were primarily ex-police officers, firefighers, judges and lawyers.

I appreciate what you're saying Orchid. I agree that didacticism gets old rather quickly and also prefer that ideas be woven into the plot somehow. Also, what you point out -- that you can find a certain spirituality in 6 Feet Under (that the characters want sex plus something beyond) -- is indicative of one of TV's characteristics, i.e., that TV texts are open ones and that viewers fill in many of the gaps.

I watch Desperate Housewives as well as 30 Rock -- both are fun. And also Brothers and Sisters. I don't know that they have any particular redeeming value. B&S has a very complicated family situation. I think DH is campy and funny. 30 Rock even moreso. And actually, that may come closer to providing diversity in viewpoints, except that it's satire.

Hey DJ, you need to come to Canada or watch some of our comedy shows.. There is a Canadian mini-comedy series aired just recently, "Little Mosque on the Prairie".

Cute, satiric title. Yes, a mosque shares space with a mainstream Church. And the local Muslim leader is a handsome ex-lawyer. http://www.cbc.ca/littlemosque/

I watched some episodes...I actually found the humour almost too tame...not satiric enough.

It's hard to imagine that a comedy series like this could be aired in the U.S. at this time of history..when the U.S. has been at war/invaded some Muslim dominant countries in the past decade and now..

I know the loaded joke at that website made by the minister character in the show might offend people here but: "Christianity did not survive 2,000 yrs. by just being charitable". Funny, but sad. I think of the Crusaders killing others way back...

Diversity of beliefs would mean ability to laugh at oneself also...

[I keep responding and the posts disappear -- very frustrating!]
anyway...I heard about that show! There's a public radio show called "Wait Wait Don't tell me" which is basically a news-based quiz show. There's a panel in the studio, humor writers, cartoonists, comedians, etc. and people call in. One of their gigs is that they have 3 scenarios for the audience to decide which is the real one. Two are made up. One day it was about Muslim based sitcoms. The real one was more bizarre than the ones they made up. Very funny.

What you say about humor is right on -- if you can laugh about yourself, that means you can see yourself objectively, warts and all.

My parents' church shares space with a Jewish synagogue. That seems to be happening more and more -- I know of a couple like that around here too.

In the UK a reality show "Big brother"where people are in a house for several weeks caused much debate,
There was an episode where a quarrel esculated and it semed like bully/racist behaviour to many who phoned in.This went as far as Pariament and caused serious fuss.
It seems to me that fair minded people can and do complain when things go too far.
Mountain ash