Talking point: Television

This week's talking point is television. Before getting together with the members of your conversation group, go over the questions below, so that ideas can flow more easily when you meet up with your friends and you can work out vocabulary issues beforehand.

• How many hours of TV do you watch a day?
• Tell your friends about a programme you love and a programme you dislike.
• Do you ever watch TV programmes on a PC, a tablet or a phone?
• Are there any TV programmes you switch off as soon as they start?
• Are there any TV programmes you only watch because the rest of your family like them?
• Do you ever watch cartoon series on TV? If so, which one(s)? What do you think of them? And when you were a child?
• Is there a TV series that everyone is watching in your country? Have you seen it? What is it about?
• Are you hooked on TV series? Do you know anyone who is?
• Have you ever binge-watched a TV series?
• How popular are American series in your country? What's the reason for their success?
• Do you know any internet sites where you can watch TV series and programmes from other countries?
• Do you think there are enough quality TV programmes to fill all the channels available?

To illustrate the point watch this video about three very famous scenes of Mad Men.



scene 1
Advertising is based on one thing, happiness. And you know what happiness is? Happiness is the smell of a new car. It's freedom from fear. It's a billboard on the side of the road that screams reassurance that whatever you are doing is okay. You are okay.
It’s toasted. I get it.

scene 2
But there is a rare occasion when the public can be engaged on a level beyond flash – if they have a sentimental bond with the product. My first job I was in house at a fur company, with this old pro of a copywriter, a Greek, named Teddy. Teddy told me the most important idea in advertising is “new.” It creates an itch. You simply put your product in there as a kind of calamine lotion. He also talked about a deeper bond with a product: nostalgia. It’s delicate, but potent. Sweetheart. Teddy told me that in Greek, nostalgia literally means the pain from an old wound. It’s a twinge in your heart, far more powerful than memory alone. This device isn’t a space ship, it’s a time machine. It goes backwards, forwards. It takes us to a place where we ache to go again. It’s not called a wheel, it’s called a carousel. It lets us travel the way a child travels. Round and around, and back home again. To a place where we know we are loved.

scene 3
Client: Is that all?
Don: You're a nonbeliever. Why should we waste time on kabuki?
Client: I don't know what that means.
Don: It means that you've already tried your plan, and you're number four. You've enlisted my expertise and you've rejected it to go on the way you've been going. I'm not interested in that. You can understand.
Client:     I don't think your three months or however many thousands of dollars entitles you to refocus the core of our business —
Don: Listen. I'm not here to tell you about Jesus. You already know about Jesus. He either lives in your heart or He doesn't. Every woman wants choices. But in the end, none wants to be one of a hundred in a box. She's unique. She makes the choices and she's chosen him. She wants to tell the world, he's mine. He belongs to me, not you. She marks her man with her lips. He is her possession. You've given every girl that wears your lipstick the gift of total ownership.
Client: Sit down.
Don: No. Not until I know I'm not wasting my time.
Client: Sit down.