Are teens being corrupted by television? There are several answers to this question. Some think that television is educational while others think it causes students to be inactive in both physically and academically. But a lot of this has to do with what specifically teens are viewing.

There are various educational channels like the history channel, but is that what teens are excited to watch every Wednesday and Thursday nights? Maybe some, but many are more eager to watchreality shows on MTV like Jersey Shore, or the comedies like Glee.

Television can be very beneficial, depending on what one chooses to watch. But now a day’s teens do not choose the educational shows, they are more into the drama, action, and drama that is shown to them. Many teens choose to watch a show because everyone else is watching it and eventually they end up getting hooked.

Glee is a new comedy that is shown Wednesday nights on FOX. When Glee first premiered it had less than half the viewers that American Idol had. But once people were able to view it online, they started to actually like Glee. Now the show has averaged a total of 9.4 million viewers. But what makes it so popular? “It catches different aspects of a high student’s life, and shows it is okay to be different” said Junior Alexa Mendez.

Although some teens would much rather be watching Glee on Wednesday nights instead of using their time productively and doing their homework, many of Glees viewers are adults. Some teens may not find it as entertaining as MTV reality series Jersey Shore, which has become one of the most watched TV shows on MTV the past two years it has been airing.

Jersey Shore first aired in December of 2009, starting with an average of 1.372 viewers. By the end of just the first season Jersey Shore was MTV’s highest rated original series in two years. The show only rose from there, coming up with two more seasons to follow. The airing of the fourth episode of the third season set an average of 8.87 million viewers.

The series started off strong and continues to get more and more popular as episodes air. “The drama just provides entertainment, and makes the show so interesting” said Junior Laura Carrillo. The show may be very entertaining but it has no education what so ever. The show has actually been shown to influence some teens in negative ways.