As the writer's strike drags on, the crowds at Blockbuster have shifted from their usual pockets around the just-released romantic comedy to loitering around the TV racks. Looking to pick up a new show. To find the House or Lost they may have missed when their DVRs were ... well, not barren wastelands of Ugly Betty reruns.
While ringing up my four episodes of Heros, the local manager started yapping about how popular the TV DVDs had been in recent months - not just for the writer's strikes, but because many of his customers were opting to wait for the full season discs rather than deal with the suspense of waiting from week to week. They don't like the emotional implications of having to wait to find out what happens.
When we talk about how technology has evolved the culture - making us more demanding, more impatient, shorter-tempered - it's easiest to point to the obvious incarnations. The 3-second rule on the Web, toes tapping in 3-person deep lines at Target, etc.
But, this observation rang as particularly interesting to me - the idea that the Now Culture has touched even our ability to appreciate traditional creative devices. Suspense is no longer exciting, it's unnecessarily delaying gratification. We're reading the last page of Harry Potter halfway through the first chapter. And, watching an entire season of serial programming in one marathon sitting.
From an advertising standpoint, it may mean that more easily resolved programs like House or Law and Order may be the best venues to communicate with passionate fans during the original broadcast. Or, that cliffhanger spots with a CTA to visit the Web site will become every more effective. And, it definitely means that I'll be chatting up more store managers to find out what weird things we're all up to out in the world...
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