The co-viewing conundrum

The rise of reality television at the beginning of this decade gave parents another palatable out for watching TV with their kids. Sure The Simpsons and sitcoms like Friends had served as common ground for some time, but tweens, and their families became enthralled by the novel antics of contestants on Survivor, Fear Factor and, more recently, the Idol franchise. Then along came Hannah Montana, High School Musical and iCarly, and the eight to 12 demo started tuning into Disney and Nickelodeon in record numbers again with parental approval. But with more and more live-action Hannah-esque fare finding its way on to kidcaster skeds, the upper-end of the demo is growing restless with the genre, graduating past these family-friendly comedies and moving on to arguably age-inappropriate fare such as The Hills, Gossip Girl and Twilight. It's a viewer migration pattern that threatens to leave the kids entertainment world as an industry geared towards solely serving six to nines and preschoolers.