BACKGROUND & INDUSTRIAL CONTEXT!

History!
TLC, for years prior to its 1991 buying by Discovery Communications, was known for its original name, The Learning Channel. TLC was primarily concerned with providing documentary-style instructional, technical, and wholesome educational programming to its audience. Its content featured a wide spectrum, ranging from documentaries on medicine, cooking, home improvement, and technology. Thus, TLCs audience base was classified as inquisitive. In 1991, Discovery Communications purchased all of TLCs shares from Financial News Network and Infotechnology Inc.. Through the first half of the 1990s, TLC remained primarily an academic and educational channel. However, the later part of the decade witnessed a significant change from an academic theme to a more popular, mass-consumption theme. Programming began to gear itself towards particular niches of audiences by adding more popular and reality-based spins on already existing topics (Home Savvy and New Detectives are two examples). Furthermore, as TLCs program content shifted so too did its audience. By the end of the 1990s, daytime female viewers, who were also less interested in TLCs educational portion of its programming, became the primary target

audience. As part of a rebranding effort in 1998, the network began advertising itself as TLC instead of The Learning Channel. From 1999-2001, TLCs programming continued to transform. The networks emerging theme was reality-drama (such as Junkyard Wars) and interior design and makeover (like the series Trading Spaces). TLCs program subjects continued to expand to including law enforcement, medical dramas, extreme weather, dating, home design, and housing makeover. During these three years, TLC adopted the slogan Life Unscripted. In 2006, the slogan was changed to Live and Learn along with a program shift away from home design programming and towards themes centered on life lessons, family life, and personal stories. In 2008, the slogan was again altered, this time to Life Surprises but mostly this acted only as a brand refresher. Programs such as Cake Boss, Hoarding: Buried Alive, Say Yes to the Dress, and What Not to Wear have led TLCs emphasis on these themes for the past 5 years and continue to dominate the ratings. Due to ownership by Discovery Communications, related channels and networks include Animal Planet, Travel Channel, Science Channel, and The Discovery Channel.

Contemporary TLC!
TLC is Discoverys second-most watched network with 100 million viewers worldwide, with access from over 99 million homes in the United States and an additional 73 million homes internationally. As such, TLC is regarded as a premier source of daytime programming today. Its target audience is the mid to late 30s female demographic. It is currently labeled as one of the Top 10 Cable Networks for Women. When asked to comment on the audience, TLCs executive vice president and general manager, David Abraham, said, Were very aware that were strong with women. When TLC is working well, the woman controls the remote. Even so, not just any woman enjoys TLC programming. Comcasts Viewer Profile on TLC shows that 66 percent of all viewers are female and 71 percent are homeowners, which suggests that many of the female viewers are housewives. There is not one specific day in which new episodes air, but there is a particular time. Every day of the week features one series new episode at 9pm ET with a new episode from a different series following immediately afterwards at 10pm ET. However, given that TLCs audience is primarily daytime viewers, it seems the network places also places more importance on repeated airings of shows so as to ensure maximum availability for primary

audiences. The TLC schedule is shown in Figure 1.1 in the Appendix

Core Themes!

Core themes in TLCs programming today are family, life lessons, personal stories, and cultural insight. What Not to Wear plays heavily on life lessons as the hosts give fashion makeovers to stagnant and abnormal adult females, thereby effectively changing their life outlook. Cake Boss and Say Yes to the Dress incorporate staunch family environments into the developments and outcomes of the plots. Hoarding: Buried Alive and My Strange Addiction both look at dysfunctional disorders and problems, while creating engaging personal stories throughout the episode, and My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding and NY Ink both use their formats to gain interesting cultural insight. Just like other American cable networks, some of TLCs most popular shows are formatted after those that originated in other countries. For instance, My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding started broadcasting on TLC in 2011 after TV producer Simon Cowell took interest in making a U.S. version of Big Fat Gypsy Weddings, a British documentary series on gypsy culture (produced by Firecracker Films).

Foreign influence!

Similarly, Four Weddings (which features four brides and grooms who attend and rate each others weddings) and What Not to Wear both originated on United Kingdom networks. TLCs version of these two shows are formatted virtually the same, except in TLCs Four Weddings, only brides, not grooms, participate. Due to the international success of some of these shows, certain programming has also been tailored for foreign audience viewing. For example, foreign versions of What Not to Wear are broadcasted in Colombia, Argentina, Portugal, Mexico, Brazil, and Spain.

of upcoming new episodes for programs, launching viewer incentives such as the recent chance to win $5000 gift.com money by watching new episodes of What Not to Wear, and offering online blogs, videos, forums, and lifestyle guides for any online browsers. Advertising on TLC targets the networks main audience- adult women. Current commercials include an ADT home security systems commercial, Swanson cooking broth commercials, IKEA home furnishing commercials, a Sears commercial promoting holiday deals, and a Twix chocolate candy bar. Most of these advertisements are narrated by women and feature actresses as main characters. For example, in the Twix commercial, a woman narrator speaks seductively while a liquid chocolate and other ingredients twist and pour into one another. The commercials also cater to family-oriented interests, but still maintain women as the central targets in this context. In the Sears commercial, a woman is shown sneaking around the house and out to the Sears store while Christmas music and pictures of gifts and wrapping are shown repeatedly. This denotes a sense of enjoyment of the female character in preparing the households gifts.

Marketing & Brand!

TLC brands itself much like any other television network. It uses slogans, such as Life Surprises and Live and Learn, that are either spoken by a narrator during commercials or placed beside or below the channels logo. The logo itselfa red TLC in boxescan also be found on the lower right hand corner of the screen after a commercial break. TLC also heavily brands itself through its content. Its themes permeate throughout every show on its schedule, and the content is very appropriate for leisurely, daytime viewing. Promotions techniques for TLC include saying only on TLC when showing previews

Say Yes to the Dress!

Show Analysis:!

The Premise!
Beginning in 2007, a new show began to air on TLC titled Say Yes to the Dress, which focuses on the process of finding a wedding dress at the popularly known bridal boutique Kleinfeld Bridal in New York City. Throughout each episode, audiences follow sales associates, managers, and fitters who, along with individually profiled brides, search for the perfect wedding dress. Every appointment that is chronicled is presented through a series of problems that need to be solved, with the most important one being that the bride finds a dress to purchase. Approximately half of each 30-minute episode focuses on the perspective of those who work at the store while the remaining is seen from the viewpoint of the bride and her friends and family. The success of this series has lead to several spin-off series, including Say Yes to the Dress: Atlanta, Say Yes to the Dress: Big Bliss, and Say Yes to the Dress: Randy Knows Best. those in her shopping party. From this, the role of the store consultant is transformed into a mediator, one who has to balance the opinions. The end of each episode culminates in the final solution, or sometimes a lack thereof, as the featured brides find and purchase a wedding dress. Furthermore, the process of finding the perfect wedding dress is more than just the main premise of the show. This development throughout each episode is considered to be symbolic for the marriage that each bride is preparing to enter. Finding a flawless dress represents to the brides that their marriages will also be flawless. Also, with searching for the perfect dress, brides are sometimes presented with stress about their body image. Thus, this struggle is presented in the series as another conflict that brides overcome as they discover and purchase their wedding dress. In addition to all these themes, economic troubles are also a feature of the show. Since the show began to air in 2007, the 2008 economic crisis of America has become evident in television programming. There are many times on the show when brides struggle with wanting a particular dress and limited funds. This is an additional obstacle that brides are confronted with and must learn to overcome.

Common Themes!
Common themes found in this series are family drama, problem solving, struggling with body image, and managing economic constraints. Balancing problems and drama among the brides friends and family is a frequent element of the show. More often than not, differing opinions emerges about dress styles and costs between the bride and

Altogether, these elements of the show embody the primary themes of TLC programming: drama between family members, overcoming personal hardships, and modern culture.

The Show & TLC!

Through the different aspects of the series production, Say Yes to the Dress overall connects with the TLC network. The show is a human-interest program that is produced in the form of a semi-reality series. Commentary from both store employees and customers are included for each plot within the episodes. From the inclusion of these elements, the show is able to appeal and amass its general audience from middle-aged women, who can most easily relate to task involved in weddings and identify with the process of managing and handling the abovementioned problems.

Audience & Online Analysis!

TLC Web Site!

TLC has come a long way from its early programming and moved into a more interactive position with the viewer. Represented on social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, TLC has brought their content from the TV screen to the fingertips of the consumer. The online presence for TLC originates at their main webpage, TLC.Discovery.com. On the webpage, shows are listed as well as TV schedules, video clips and full length shows available for viewers at any time. As seen in the Figure 1.2 in the Appendix, the TLC webpage includes sections called such as Social in which the combine live chat, Twitter and comment. Furthering interaction, TLC provides games relevant to each one of their shows. From LA Ink: Virtual Tattoo Game ,in which you design you own virtual tattoo, to Cake Boss: Delivery Dash Game, in which you must deliver a cake before time runs out, this interaction creates deeper connections with viewers Additionally, blogs are maintained on the webpage for each show, capturing a behindthe-scenes look at the shows and their stars. 19 Kids and Counting features Michelles Blog, documenting family trips, Thanksgiving with the Duggars, tips on buying used clothes and teaching children values. The Little

Couple features Jens Blog, where Jen shares her journey on her road to parenthood. TLCs advertising content is consistent across all of their online mediums, with webpage take-over for their own content (full background advertisements) and large interactive banner advertisements at the top and along the side panels. Advertisements include TLC content, as well as The Home Depot, First Response Pregnancy Tests, Panasonic Cameras. These brands tie heavily into their slogan, Live and Learn and the journey of life. TLC has a well-defined presence on Facebook, with their fan page declaring that they are 1 Million and Counting in regards to their fan following. With 1,040,850 likes on the main TLC page, the page is consistently adding fans, as seen in the Figure 1.3 in the Appendix. Along with the main page for the network, each TLC show has its own fan page with likes ranging from 14,412 for the new show All American Muslim to the most liked TLC show page, Cake Boss, with 3,274,423. Totaling all the TLC show pages and the main page together, the network has a reach of 11,856,465 fans on Facebook alone.

Facebook!

With content ranging from updates on cast members, video,s and photos, TLC Facebook pages are delivering content that viewers care about. Interactive contests are used on pages such as What Not to Wear and their Keep It or Toss It photo upload contest or Extreme Couponing and their Show Us Your Stuff fan upload. This content allows fans to interact with the shows they love and allows each viewer to Live and Learn from the show and other viewers.

far more expansive than the 94,060 followers have direct contact with. Along with the TLC Twitter account, program stars are also active on Twitter, such as Cake Boss Buddy Valastro (@CakeBossBuddy), who boasts 175,233 followers and 2,135 tweets. With content such as photos of cakes and decorating tips, Twitter is tailored to the Cake Boss fans and their lives. Other TLC stars that are present on Twitter include What Not to Wears Stacy London (@StacyLondonSays) and Clinton Kelly (@Clinton_kelly), DC Cupcake shop, Georgetown Cupcakes (@GTownCupcake) and more.

Twitter!

TLC has an active presence on the social media site, Twitter, with 94,060 followers and over 10,000 tweets to date. With their Twitter account, TLC updates fans on shows, but predominantly tweets relevant information to the target audience, such as a link to a 7 Step Plan for Healthy Living or home remedies for the flu. These real-life tips connect to programming about real families and their lives. As seen in the Figure 1.4 in the Appendix, TLC tweets on average 9.8 times per day and 254 times per month with the highest day for aggregate tweets on Monday at 8 pm. This time slot is likely the most frequently used to announce premieres or specials for the week, leading into their prime time of 8 -10 pm. With 19.51% of total tweets by TLC being retweeted, the reach of their Twitter account it

YouTube!
With an active YouTube, TLC combines video advertisements, tutorial clips and show extras into a highly viewed online channel. The channel hosts 2,373 uploads, with 100,773 subscribers to the channel. Both subscribers and non-subscribers enjoy TLC YouTube content with 75,397,393 video views on the channel. Content on TLCs YouTube channel is heavily concentrated with short tutorials on skin care, cooking tips, and fashion advice. Promotional material and clips for the shows are also

included but make up much less of the content. Through the collection of tutorials, TLC is promoting their values of learning about real life situations.

skirt. These strong opinions are heard on both the TLC website as well as on other forums such as tvwithoutpity.com. In both cases, viewers freely express their positive and negative attitude for the show and the network. As mentioned on tvwithoutpity.com, I would watch this show if everyone actually looked good in what the what not wear hosts style...By that logic...every woman needs pointy toed heels of death,. Really a superb show. TLC is my favorite channel,. These viewers love to watch the network, but have high expectations and pointed opinions that they expect to heard.

Audience Reaction!
Are you a What Not to Wear expert? Or maybe it's YOUR outfit that needs some feedback? Click here to upload your photo or to cast your vote. Posted on December 7th by TLC on their Facebook page, this prompt and the ensuing comments give insight into how viewers react to TLC and their programming. With 218 likes and 25 comments and 4 page shares, the post has been widely viewed and opinions are not being held back. Several comments proclaim I love TLC, but an equal amount are saying Wear what works for your life. Obviously if you have babies throwing up on you, designer clothes would not make sense for your life now (unless of course you have dollar bills to throw out the window). That's real style. The viewers of TLC are highly opinionated and wont back down from an what they believe. Another woman said, I don't like the show, I will wear what makes me comfortable I am a stay at home mom running after two kids, and you sure can't do that in a designer

The Pitch!

The Premise!
Mob Life is a show that goes behind the scenes of flash mob culture. The series features one or two specific flash mob organizations, with a general focus on the specific processes that go into making a surprise flash mob. The show is comprised of interviews with flash mob organizers, participants, spectators, and business owners, as well as plenty of original footage of the actual dances and spectator reactions. Each episode focuses on a different aspect of flash mobbing. For example, one episode covers the legal and financial aspects of it, analyzing the need for monetary investment and land use permissions in the production of a flash mob. Another episode examines the power of flash mobs as an advertising mechanism. There are a few recurring characters that will appear in roughly 30% of the series' episodes. Kelly Singer is a professional flash mob organizer who is very passionate about her work. She is also a short-tempered perfectionist. The series has several dramatic interactions between Kelly and her number two, Jessica Benson. Jessica is an avid flash mobber who does it purely for fun. The relationship between these two acts as a representation of the binary between the physical and mental effort required to create a flash mob and the joy and happiness that can come from it. The final recurring character is Marcus Vandelay, a first time flash mobber who goes from zero dancing experience to a flash mob enthusiast by the end of the season. He is reluctant at first and chooses to join Kelly's group at the request of a friend. Each episode focuses on new characters and flash mobs, but these three people and their specific flash mob group are the primary focus of the series.

Why TLC!
TLCs most salient programming themes are family, personal stories, life lessons, and cultural insight. Mob Life seeks to fit into these themes, but specifically incorporates the themes of life lessons and cultural insight. In each episode, the processes and difficulties of executing a successful flash mob forces participants, who each have varying experience in flash mobbing, to negotiate their relationships with other participants, to learn teamwork and make personal decisions. Moreover, while each episode will feature a new flash mob, it will also feature a new location and new surroundings. This will allow for cultural

insight, as new group members will have mostly come from these respective locations, observers will more than likely be residents of these towns/cities, and the performance setting itself will change. These constant changes will all add an entirely new element of cultural interest and insight to the viewer. TLC has already tapped into this mode of reality TV. In 2006, the network launched Miami Ink as a way to feature an interesting lens into the Miami scene. In an interview, TLCs then VP of production Michael Klein said, "With our show, we're focusing on five individuals in South Beach who're really entrenched in the South Beach lifestyle. It's their world through their eyes. The tattoos are sort of our way into that world." Miami Ink is now virtually NY Ink, which features the main character of Miami Ink who has moved to New York. This allows audiences to gain insight into an entirely new cultural arena outside of the tattoo parlor. We seek to launch Mob Life as a similar mechanism into an exploration of various lifestyles, scenes, and cultures throughout America. Cultural shifts will be faster paced, proving almost as snapshots of different peoples. Nevertheless, the most interesting aspects of the show will be how the main

characters respond and relate to the new and diverse flash mob members, how the new flash mob members respond to the main characters, and the general practice of flash mobbing itself. Mob Life will explore the incredible culture of flash mobbing in a way that the general public has never been exposed to.

Time Slot!
Mob Life will run at 9/8 C on Wednesday nights. This time slot is immediately before Toddlers and Tiaras, which is currently one of TLCs most popular shows. Thus, these two shows can potentially be featured together in network advertisements, so as to help gain interest from audiences that are intrigued by dramatic programs. Furthermore, airing Mob Life beforehand will ensure that the show is exposed to the maximum amount of viewers when it initially airs.

Appendix!

9/8c Monday
Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday
LiVle People Big World DUI Cake Boss: Next Great Baker What Not to Wear

10/9c
Candy Queen

Dont Tell the Bride Toddlers & Tiaras Cell Block 6: Female Lock Up Brides of Beverly Hills Extreme Christmas Trees All-American Muslim

Say Yes to the Dress

TLC Web Site

Show Facebook Pages

TLC Facebook Page

TwiVer

YouTube

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