Advising and Ordering: Daytime, Prime Time

The patterns of advice-giving and receiving and order-giving and receiving among television's dramatic characters provide an efficient and economical way in which to study the relationships between knowledge, activity, and sex of characters seen on the home screen. In addition, the study of these patterns allows comparison of the dramatic world of daytime TV addressed primarily to women with that of prime time. This article is a summary of some of the findings from a study on the advising and ordering patterns of men and women in soap operas and evening dramas. This journal article is available at ScholarlyCommons: http://repository.upenn.edu/asc_papers/55 Advising and Ordering: Daytime, by Joseph Turow Women characters in teleuision dramas sometimes advise and direct men-but usually on “feminine” matters. Prime Time The patterns of advice-giving and receiving and order-giving and receiving among television’s dramatic characters provide an efficient and economical way in which to study the relationships between knowledge, activity, and sex of characters seen on the home screen. In addition, the study of these patterns allows comparison of the dramatic world of daytime TV-addressed primarily to women-with that of prime time. This article is a summary of some of the findings from a study on the advising and ordering patterns of men and women in soap operas and evening dramas.1 A sample of 12 hours of daytime and 12 hours of prime-time programming was analyzed. The general characteristics of the programs and of all the speaking characters were noted. At the same time, every advising and ordering interaction (“episode”) between the sexes was systematically observed and coded for (a) the name or label of the giver and receiver (whose characteristics were recorded along with those of other speaking characters), (b) the general area of the knowledge discussed, and (c) the correctness of the advice or order in the episode. Areas of knowledge were grouped into (a) traditionally “feminine” categories such as love, the family, the home, personal problems, and the arts; (b) traditionally “masculine” categories like business, law, government, crime, and coping with danger; and (c) “neutral” categories, which were defined as directives given in non-business contexts or simple dealings between the interactors and a third party (examples: “Close the door!” or “Tell Murray to close the door!”). The giving of advice and orders by doctors was coded as an area of male expertise, while knowledge about health in a nonprofessional or business context was coded as an area of female expertise. Table 1 shows the number and classification of all advising and ordering episodes by the sex of the advice and order-givers and by the subject category of the directives given. Since this study was only concerned with advising and ordering between the sexes, all directives by males were received by females and vice versa. It should also be noted that for purposes of the pres1 The data presented here are taken from a larger investigation of the effects of audience change on T V program content. An exposition of the full study may be obtained from the author. Joseph Turow is a Ph.D. candidate in Communications at the University of Pennsylvania.