Being a couch potato can be a social recreation. Don’t believe us?
Case in point is Bravo’s “The People’s Couch,” a simple show where viewers watch people watching television — and it’s a hit. The U.S. version — it’s based on the British hit “Gogglebox” — debuted last October and the network decided to bring it back for another run, which has now been extended into July with full-hour episodes.
The show is filmed throughout Los Angeles County, from Long Beach to Burbank, and features eight very diverse groups of watchers. Each week they all watch the same shows, from the very popular “The Voice,” to ones that may leave viewers scratching their heads.
The show is unscripted and allows viewers to peek into homes to see how a cross-section of Angelenos watch television.
Brandy Howard and Julie Goldman are writing partners and best friends. Brandy is married, straight and lives in Burbank. Julie is gay and lives in Sherman Oaks, but one of the many things they have in common, besides wry senses of humor, is a love of television.
“I mean, where else but on reality television would you see a butch lesbian portrayed doing what everyone else does while watching television,” Goldman said. “I yell at the television and maybe the void of the world, too, but viewers also see two friends simply watching shows and our mutual love and hate for television. I think this show connects people.”
Michael Chavez, who lectures in sociology at Cal Poly Pomona, says watching TV does in fact bring people together, but much of that is because of how many people now watch TV — by taking to social networks like Twitter and Facebook.
“First, it helps viewers share in the watching experience with friends, loved ones, and acquaintances with whom they can’t sit in the same room. That’s really one of the main goals of social networking overall,” he said.
“A common complaint is that social networking drives people away from one another and disrupts ‘normal’ social relationships. But what we also see is the ability to connect, even if minimally, to a greater number of people and gather even more information about things that are of interest to us like politics, social movements, and popular culture.”
The second, possibly more important, role of those social networks is through the free advertising TV programs get through hashtagging and tweeting.
Chavez points to the fact that many favorite shows actually invite viewers to “start tweeting now” at the beginning of new episodes.
“This audience-centered marketing is likely going to be something that we’ll see more deeply embedded in popular television in the years to come,” Chavez said.
Looking at the way people watch TV is not necessarily new. Chavez points to former hit TV shows like “Mystery Science Theater 3000” and “Beavis and Butthead” which had similar concepts as “The People’s Couch,” minus the reality-show aspect. But the success of it is more proof how much people like to be social and feel connected with pop culture, he says.
“The People’s Couch” also gives an interesting look at the habits of families who watch TV together.
One of those families is the Resnick clan from Long Beach — dad Joseph and sisters Rachel, Nicole and Sarah. ►
“We tend to always sit in the same positions or spots when we watch television together,” said Rachel. “Doesn’t everyone do that?”
The Resnicks were already close but their three-night-a-week viewings and being on the show has brought them even closer. “At the start of all this, it seemed like a strange concept, but I get it now. We even love watching the others on the show,” she said.
That wouldn’t be much of a surprise to Cynthia King, a professor in the communications department at Cal State Fullerton and co-author of the 2010 textbook “Entertainment and Society: Influences, Impacts and Innovations.”
“We watch television to escape. We also like watching people and comparing them to us,” King said. “There’s nothing new about any of that. We used to sit next to the radio or watch television as a family, but the technology is here now that not only allows us to watch but in some cases even creates an urgency to watch.”