⁍ TV makers are seeking to make dry topics like registering to vote, filling out the census and finding polling places feel vital and fun.
⁍ In ‘Black Ink Crew,’ a reality show about a tattoo parlor in Harlem, the Black owner registers to vote for the first time and designs a tattoo to mark the occasion.
⁍ Many of the shows are aimed at millennials and Gen Z, who together outnumber baby boomers for the first time in the U.S. electorate.
– With Election Day less than two weeks away, there’s no better time than now to get out the vote—and TV shows are getting in on the action. “We’re seeing a reshaping of how Americans are encouraged to think about civics, not only through a 30-second PSA (public service announcement), but also through integrations into storylines on some of our major shows,” Steven Levine, director of the Civic Alliance nonprofit, tells Reuters. In Black Ink Crew, a reality show about a tattoo parlor in Harlem, a black owner registers to vote for the first time and designs a tattoo to mark the occasion. In One Day at a Time, a Cuban-American family comedy, a census worker comes to their home. Kal Penn, who’s launching a comedy show on Freeform focused on voting, tells Reuters that “it’s very important for the show to be funny and non-partisan.” Trevor Noah, meanwhile, has gotten more than 100,000 people to sign up to be poll workers on the Daily Show.
Source: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-television-feature/us-tv-shows-try-a-new-election-playbook-making-voting-part-of-the-story-idUSKCN26E234