Media and Me- I See Dead People (On TV)

My day began in complete shock. Like everyone else on planet earth, my day begins with a quick Facebook login. Lately, my newsfeed has slowly alerted me to the popularity of AMC’s newest smash hit TV show- The Walking Dead. The past couple of years AMC has been dominating the television world with drama’s like Breaking Bad and Mad Men, which in 2008 won 6 Emmys.(MC 352)




I’m completely taken off guard by the fact that AMC’s biggest premiere episode in its history was nothing but a black and white independent comic book that I used to read when I was in middle school. The comic was published by Image Comics, which along side Dark Horse Comics, stands as the two largest independent competitors to the big two comic companies- DC comics and Marvel comics, who control 70% of comic book sales (MC 323) (image courtesy of amc.com)











(image courtesy of Image.com)


I remember bringing an issue into school one day, and having kids basically laugh at you for reading comic books, and obviously the girls didn’t think much of it. Now, almost five years later, the star of the show is being talked about on daytime talk shows as the new “sexy” leading man, giving co-AMC star Jon Hamm a run for his money, and his wallet. The Walking Dead premiered on Halloween Day, and was the highest rated episode in the networks history, as well as being the biggest premiere of the fall season since HBO’s Boardwalk Empire. In the 1950s comic books were targeted by the government for contributing to juvenile delinquency (MC 322), but nowadays television and movie producers scour comic shop aisles for the next marketable adaptation.

Besides the new "in thing" to adapt to film which is comic books or graphic novels, books have always been a jackpot for finding profitable stories, and none moreso then Stephen King. Today after logging off the computer, me and the roommates put on the movie Shawshank Redemption. We watched it five times that day, and it is one of my favorite movies all time. That, of course, was based on Stephen King’s short novella, Rita Hayworth and The Shawshank Redemption. “Over 1,250 books, novels, short stories, and plays…have been released as feature-length films in the United States since 1980.” (MC 328) With numbers like that, making films based on adaptations look like they are here to stay.

After watching Shawshank five time in a row and only brief pauses to eat, the sun was gone and it was nighttime. Around dinner time, the Colorado Avalanche game was on. However, since Vermont does not qualify as “local area” for Colorado, I am forced to listening to the games over the radio. Because it is the twenty first century I couldn’t get the radio station over the radio, I have to log onto the Internet to get a live streaming broadcast of the game on the Avalanche’s website. Internet radio didn’t get popular until the 1990s and early 2000s when it was easier for webcasters to simulcast live on-air coverage on the Internet and the airwaves. (MC 133)

During one of the intermissions and a break in broadcasting an advertisement for Dunkin Donuts comes on the air. At this point, the realization that since coming to college my Vanilla Chai intake had dropped to an unacceptable level, and therefore I decided to go to Dunkin Donuts. A record 66 percent of adult Americans are overweight, and the media advertising of fast food, and junk food products is a major contributor to the increase. (MC 369) It just so happens that advertising absolutely dictated my life as if I was an autonomous robot very easily, so I don't find it too hard to believe those statistics.

On the car ride back from the church of Dunkins we put on some music. Again, because of the twenty-first century, we turned the radio on, but didn’t listen to the radio. This time we had plugged in an iPod. When Steve Jobs says, “We’ve put a lot of work into making the iPod a part of on-the-go living,” he really isn’t kidding. (MC 77)

We got back to the dorm in time for me to finish the hockey game. The Avalanche won in a shootout. Thank God. Earlier this year, at the beginning of the year, Sports Illustrated had predicted the Avalanche to have a mediocre year and not go far. When “the most popular sports and leisure magazine” ( 297) says your team is going to do bad, you tend to get nervous. To my amazement, the Avalanche are doing good, and are in the top spot of their division.

The day came full circle when at the end of the day I decided to watch the first episode of The Walking Dead for the first time, and see if the adaptation lived up to my expectations. Not only was I completely blown away by the episode, but each subsequent episode has been fantastic. The really unbelievable part came when I went to investigate more deeply into the TV show by asking the Google machine, I learned the guy that was behind the production and the writer and director of the pilot episode, was also the same man who wrote and directed The Shawshank Redemption- Frank Darabont. (Coincidence?) The guy really is on top of his game, and I’m going to go out on a limb and say The Walking Dead will be a surprise Emmy winner.

My day winds down and after the usual Facebook login and check likealittle.com, I can turn off the lights, and call my media filled day over with, and get ready for tomorrow.