The problem with this is the “public sphere” – free to air television – is once again abandoned. There is a class divide in the medium between smart, savvy, insider shows and, as The Emmys painfully indicated, the rest of the programming tailored to a mass market (hence the disaster of the reality tv dudes and dudette as hosts). Just read some of the comments in the NYT story to see how hard it is for Americans to think in those terms ( “it’s nice to have something for everybody”).

Queen Tina on NBC is the exception proving the rule, but I have other things to say about that in the paper…

in part produced by the industries’ self-love and (especially in the case of journalists) overinflated self-importance, in part result of the constant need to self-commodify in order to get, keep (or stay away from) a certain job, in part consequence of the deeply individualized yet at same time incessantly networked nature of employment in the media.

in other words: media producers produce shows on media production because that is pretty much all they (can or want to) know.

that, and slightly modifying whatever more or less successfull formula works for the competition.

another option: as a growing portion of the laborforce moves into what Richard Florida calls the “creative class” (he suggests its at least 30% of the US workforce), and one thing a lot of folks in these groups have in common is a need to express themselves through consumption, this makes them an attractive proposition for advertisers that ultimately determine whether such shows make it past their pilot or first season, or not.

I wonder whether its important – in the US context – that the newest hit examples of such shows (Entourage, Extras) – are on HBO and not on the networks.

Part of what I want to explore is whether television turns inwards during times of transition – whether depicting TV production as content is some kind of coping mechanism. This stretches back to the Dick Van Dyke Show but also covers the main one missing from your list: Mary Tyler Moore.

I don’t know about the journalists. In Australia at least there was never much hope of a serious portrayal after Frontline . Though the creators of that are now reaching new heights with a show called The Hollowmen, which satirizes Federal politics. It’s also telling for my purposes that the company behind these programs is called “Working Dog”.

this reminds me: how is this different from another 1970s/1980s staple of media work-based tv series, namely several shows that glorified the lives of journalists (“Lou Grant” from 1977-1982, “Murphy Brown” from 1988-1998; and i found on Wikipedia “WKRP in Cincinnati” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WKRP_in_Cincinnati)?

perhaps its telling that today we have shows on ad agencies, talent companies, film and tv productions, and even game studios (http://www.cbc.ca/jpod/), but not on journalists anymore… perhaps they have become to depressing to talk about?