So I happened along this fascinating Washington Post article discussing how the median age of viewers of TV shows based in Washington, D.C., are, well, the highest of any show on the network.
I’m not sure if my explanation above made any sense, so read the article. The median age of ABC’s “Commander in Chief” was 55 years. The highest of any scripted series on ABC. Poof, Geena Davis is showed the way to the door.
Viewers of NBC’s “The West Wing” had a median age of 54 years. Even the two FOX shows based in D.C., “Bones” and “24,” had median ages of 44 and 45 years, respectively. For comparison, FOX’s overall median age for its viewers is 27; “The Simpsons” is 29.
No wonder there’s no “Friends” based in D.C. I’ve always been wondering what makes D.C. an unattractive setting for young sitcoms. Why don’t we have a Capitol Hill version of “The Apprentice?” No young adult drama involving seven hypersexually-charged residents of Adams Morgan?
MTV’s “The Real World” is filming its 18th season in Denver, Colorado. They’ve placed seven not-so-unsuspecting strangers in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, London, Miami, Boston, Seattle, Honolulu, New Orleans, Chicago, Las Vegas, Paris, San Diego, Philadelphia, Austin, and Key West. Six of those cities have a smaller population than our nation’s capital.
No Washington, D.C. in that list. This is plainly offensive. D.C. IS a fun place to live. We have our 18th Street stretch in Adams Morgan for our seven guests to get smashed at. We’ve got museums and parks. They can do internships on the Hill or along K Street. We have three major airports. I think the conditions are ripe for MTV to do a “Real World” here (which is really nothing more than a four-month-long party, so it really wouldn’t be a drain on our local resources).
But anyway, my point is that if the TV networks could just set a successful, funny, cool, non-drama show in Washington, it’d boost our city’s image. Stop casting us as this old-geezer city…we’re not.
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I’d love to see shows based in DC that cater to the twentysomething and thirtysomething crowd myself.
A teensy bit of nitpicking here - “24″ is actually based in Los Angeles and has been since its inception. Maybe the connection there is not so much D.C., but it focuses heavily on the U.S. government? That’d explain “The West Wing” and “Commander in Chief” too. I’m not familiar with “Bones,” so I don’t know about that one.
I live in Austin, and I really don’t know how Real World Austin helped Austin at all. The older Real Worlds (I would say up to and including Seattle) were much more about doing things in the city and showing how much a city has to offer. After that, it seemed like the whole show was just about going to bars. That’s what every episode in Austin showed, and the show did not even get close to showing what a cool city Austin is. I don’t know why they just dont have Real World Scranton or Real World Harrisonburg, and just have the cast members get drunk and cause drama at those bars. Having a Real World DC wont hurt the city much, but it will show the world that DC has the same thing every other city has–bars.
real world outings to bars always seem to end with shouting fits. :)
in the street, no less.
welcome, Wonkette readers!
You *want* the Real World to come to DC? Are you high? I know I’d love to run into camera crews everytime I go to use the john at the Black Cat.