The article laments a perceived decline in intellectual conversations among the upper classes, attributing it to the rise of "prestige television." It claims that engaging discussions about arts, literature, and politics are being replaced by conversations centered around popular TV shows.
The author traces the evolution of American television from simplistic shows to more complex, intellectually ambitious series like The Sopranos, The Wire, and Mad Men. These shows, initially lauded for their quality, are now cited as a contributing factor to the shift in cultural conversation.
The article suggests that the accessibility and popularity of prestige TV have led some individuals to prioritize television over other forms of cultural engagement, such as attending plays, reading literature, or engaging in intellectual discussions. This is attributed partly to time constraints and the cost of traditional cultural activities.
The author concludes that this shift reflects a decline in intellectual engagement among a segment of society, with conversations focusing on easily accessible and less intellectually demanding forms of entertainment.
What do the chattering classes talk about? Social justice, politics, school fees and the arts – at least that is the old cliché. Yet nowadays, such people (I know the chattering classes is a pejorative term, but it is a useful one, I think, for the point of this argument) are as likely to talk about what they have been watching on Netflix as the state of private-school provision for the academically precocious in north London.
The exact phrase I’m looking for is prestige TV, a fairly hideous term that sounds like it was coined by a marketing department on an outward bounds course in the Catskills. It comes from America, you see, but is overwhelmingly present here; the cultural equivalent of giant ragweed.
Let me explain. In the early 2000s, American television came of age. No longer were the knockabout, lowest common denominator action thrillers of my childhood such as The Dukes of Hazzard and The A Team acceptable. Television drama began to think big and thus, often courtesy of subscription service HBO, series such as The Sopranos, The Wire and Mad Men were made.
What set these series apart was their intellectual ambition, their psychological acuity, their literary scope. Here was Don DeLillo or John Updike in televisual form. And yes, they were very very good, respecting the intelligence of their audiences, and proving that the medium was finally catching up with cinema.
But cinema got left behind, its power as a medium sadly diminished. And indeed if TV was the hot topic at dinner parties, what did that mean for the usual fodder of conversation? The latest Tom Stoppard play, the Booker Prize shortlist, the state of the Royal Opera House. Slowly, such things were failing to become “part of the national conversation”, as those without much free time were beginning to turn to television in order to get their cultural kicks.
This isn’t as far-fetched as it sounds. I have culturally aware friends who admit they can’t be bothered to engage with anything that requires intellectual scrutiny, a commute (lockdown made layabouts of us all) or most importantly in an age of dynamic pricing, deep pockets.
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