American serial television

Television aestheticians and cognitivists share an important endeavour.  Both groups are driven to explore the compelling emotional, cognitive and aesthetic appeals of contemporary television serials. In other words, whether we take up a broadly aesthetic perspective or cognitive approach towards TV, we are engaged in an ongoing act of appreciative engagement. We share a mutual fascination with the televisual works that captivate us, and an urge to address our sense of their potential significance or moment.
Our apparent commonalities, however, lead us not only in diverse directions, but often also into disagreements and mistrust. I write as someone committed to television aesthetics, who embraces the arrival of new perspectives, and recognises the usefulness of much cognitive work, but who nonetheless will admit to some uneasiness about the presumptions underlying cognitive science, and trepidation regarding its deployment within TV studies. This chapter is a preliminary foray into the two approaches side by side. But rather than comparing and contrasting, I aim to uncover something a little more nuanced and elusive: the distinctive sensibility of each perspective and the implicit values which inform it.
          The chapter proceeds by identifying some of the commonest notes of concord and discord between aesthetic and cognitive television scholars, uncovering differences of purpose, scope and values, in order to better appreciate the points of urgent distinction which separate the approaches, and to illuminate the hazards of speaking at cross purposes.
          So that I might grasp more positively the specific strengths and merits of each perspective, I briefly consider how a specific moment of television might seize the attention of its practitioners. I have chosen two moments drawn from recent US television series – The Closer (FOX, 2005-12) and Desperate Housewives (ABC, 2004-12) – that I argue are most sensitively and persuasively appreciated via cognitive and aesthetic perspectives respectively.
My exploration of these two examples leads me, finally, to revisit this book’s core focus – the television serial – via a consideration of ‘moment’. The ‘sense of moment’ in this chapter’s title consciously denotes two meanings of the word. The first is more commonplace: a moment is a short time, an instant. The second refers to importance, weight, significance. What is the ‘moment’ of a particular fragment within a long-running serial? How do cognitive and aesthetic approaches weigh this moment? As we shall see, cognitivists and aestheticians take up subtly dissimilar stances in relation to seriality and moment(s), and in each approach, the two meanings of ‘moment’ are differently interconnected. Attending to these distinctions helps us uncover something of the sensibility of each perspective. And in keeping with the values and sensibility of a television aesthetician, I ultimately aver that it is television programmes themselves, or the unique particularities of selected moments within them, which will guide us – if we let them – to choose the most appropriate appreciative approach in each case.

O objetivo principal deste artigo é discutir os elementos distópicos e utópicos presentes nas séries televisivas escritas ou produzidas por David Simon, como The Wire e Show me a Hero, com especial atenção à análise de The Plot Against America, adaptação recente realizada por David Simon e Ed Burns do romance homônimo de Philip Roth, que narra uma “história alternativa” em que os Estados Unidos elegem Charles Lindbergh como presidente e aliam-se às forças do Eixo na Segundo Guerra Mundial. Em primeiro lugar, estabelecemos a centralidade do conceito de distopia no debate político contemporâneo a partir da eleição de Donald Trump em 2016. Identificamos que o termo desponta subliminarmente no discurso de vitória da vice-presidenta eleita, Kamala Harris, representando a tendência apontada por Jill Lepore de reforço da polarização política. Em seguida, examinamos a discussão em torno do conceito de distopia, o que nos ajudará a fazer um levantamento, nas demais séries de David Simon, também de seus elementos utópicos, cujos limites temáticos e formais revelam-se exemplares de uma classe política alinhada ao Partido Democrata. Argumentamos que Simon se apoia em uma utopia do trabalho, da socialdemocracia e da família, e que cada um desses elementos se conjuga tanto às convenções do formato do seriado televisivo dramático contemporâneo quanto às transformações políticas do período pós-fordista e neoliberal a partir do final dos anos 1970.

Leif Kramp untersucht erstmals umfassend die Gedächtnisrelevanz des Massenmediums Fernsehen sowie den archivischen und musealen Umgang mit der Fernsehgeschichte. Anknüpfend an die interdisziplinären Zweige der Gedächtnisforschung analysiert der erste Band die Bedeutung des Fernsehens seit Beginn des regelmäßigen Programmbetriebs in Deutschland und Nordamerika unter gedächtnistheoretischer Perspektive. Damit legt dieser Band den Grund für eine differenzierte Bewertung des Fernsehens als Medium des Erinnerns und Vergessens. Auf Basis einer breiten empirischen Erhebung bei zahlreichen Institutionen in Deutschland, Kanada und den USA befasst sich der zweite Band mit dem Status Quo und den Perspektiven der Verwaltung und Nutzung von Überlieferungen aus der Fernsehgeschichte. Kramp analysiert die maßgeblichen Problemstellungen, mit denen sich Museen und Archive konfrontiert sehen: von Fragen der Auswahl, Bewahrung und Zugänglichkeit von Fernsehüberlieferungen bis hin zu ihrer Präsentation und dem Medienwandel, und diskutiert Strategien für die Arbeit von Fernsehmuseen im digitalen Medienzeitalter.

The aim of the present study is to discuss the issues of morality, especially with reference to telling the truth and lies, in the American television series "House M.D." (2004-2012). According to the theory of clarificationism, as proposed by Noel Carroll (1998), narrative fictions of numerous genres, including television series, have the power to deepen our moral understanding by providing us with opportunities to apply our moral concepts to particular cases. As we watch or read a particular narrative artwork and fill it in with our emotions, moral learning takes place: however, we do not acquire new moral rules or codes, but we exercise and clarify the moral categories and premises we already possess. The author believes that some television series are able to grab the audience's attention by providing such moral and emotional dilemmas, and thus make the viewers exercise their moral understanding. One of the best examples of such series is "House M.D.", which makes the audience question and discuss the decisions made by the characters of the series - the decisions of moral and ethical nature, often related or dependent on people telling or not telling the truth.

This chapter executes a reading of the character of Walter White / Heisenberg ('Breaking Bad') through John Stuart Mill's 'On Liberty'.  This chapter pays attention to issues related to Mill's harm principle, freedom, individuality, individual sovereignty, individual spontaneity, collective mediocrity, authority, the tyranny of the majority, legislated morality, justice, and punishment.

espanolTradicionalmente, la figura femenina ha sido sobreexpuesta en los medios, por lo que su objetivificacion se ha convertido en una practica comun en la ficcion cinematografica y televisiva, que es aun mas visible en la publicidad, donde el cuerpo es mercantilizado. Sin embargo, tambien hemos sido testigos de la objetivificacion sexual masculina durante mas de una decada, ya que el cuerpo masculino ahora tambien es representado como un objeto de consumo y admiracion, y expuesto eroticamente por los medios. En el contexto televisivo actual, la consagracion de la television por cable en los Estados Unidos tiene como consecuencia la especializacion y personalizacion de sus contenidos, por lo que se disenan y ofrecen productos especificos para diversos publicos. Este fenomeno ha provocado que los canales de television construyan una identidad o marca de acuerdo con su propio publico objetivo y mantengan dicha linea en su ficcion. El canal de television Starz es un claro exponente en...

ENGLISH SUMMARY

The book "Worlds To Be Continued. Analysing Possibilities of Serial Narrativity" (in Czech "Světy na pokračování. Rozbor možností seriálového vyprávění") is built upon the assumption that fictional stories presented as serials have been a longstanding part of nearly everyday experience with narrative arts; capitalizing on the case of TV shows, it presents the intellectual framework, research background and analytical tools to effectively describe, explore and explain serial fiction.

The approach is theoretically grounded in serial fiction poetics, which aims to (1) present a systemic explanation of serial fiction, (2) capture a variability of artistic possibilities of serial narrative and, (3) offer tools for the analysis of actual serial works.

The original concept of seriality serves as foundation for the first and second aims; it remains as mere background for analytical hypotheses with regard to the third aim. Serial fiction poetics, as presented here, assumes the presence of a space-time continuum, which is created by the work through interaction with its audience. This is process is termed a fictional macroworld: narrated stories take place within its conditions and settings. Each episode of a serial constitutes an episodic world; seriality denotes a relationship between the state of affairs in a macroworld at the end of a current episode and the state of affairs in the macroworld at the end of the previous one. Depending on the intensity of connectedness between these two states and the relations of fictional characters to them, the book presents a typology of seriality, which serves as a functional and heuristic categorization, yet not as a substantive one.

(1) In the case of a separate seriality type, no fictional characters share the state of affairs at the end of the current episode with the state of affairs at the end of the previous one (e.g. The Twilight Zone, 1959-1964).
(2) In the case of a non-sequential seriality type, the current episode shares at least one fictional character with the state of the macroworld at the end of the previous one, without any open connection between these episodic worlds on the level of narrative causality (e.g. Columbo, 1968-2003).
(3) In the case of a semisequential seriality type, episodic worlds represent rather closed narrative units but they include at least one causal line of events, which continues in the state of affairs in the following episode (e.g. most of House, M.D., 2004-2012).
(4) In the case of a sequential seriality type, there are prevalent causal connections among episodic worlds on various levels (e.g. most of Dallas, 1978-1991; Pride and Prejudice, 1995; Stranger Things, 2016-?).
(5) Lastly, in the case of a disrupted seriality type, the standing linear composition of episodic worlds is problematized; instead of a line, it creates a network of relations among fictional elements in both states of affairs in a macroworld, where the currently valid state of affairs in a macroworld is being rewritten or retrospectively changed (e.g. Arabela, 1980-1981; Day Break, 2006; Lost, 2004-2010).

Worlds To Be Continued is divided into three parts, which are all based on analyses of a sample of roughly four hundred television serials from various countries and times.

1. SERIALITY AS A SYSTEM

The first part of the book gives a systemic explanation of seriality, using the five types top-down, and in these contexts, it describes ways of mediating information (a narrative outline) and issues of identifying fictional entities across episodes (a fictional macroworld arrangement). Both aspects turned out to be functionally related, and they expose a logic of an inner composition of seriality as a specific kind of fictional representation. The first part stands for a theoretical-descriptive dimension of the serial fiction poetics. It deals with relationships of seriality within a theoretical frame and, while considering its systemic transformations, it aims at a clarity of explanations.

2. SERIALITY AS A REGISTRY OF POSSIBILITIES

The second part of the book explores variable possibilities of serial narrative. It approaches the types of seriality from its material, bottom-up, as it explores preferred registries of artistic solutions both within the types of seriality and in the crime serial as a mode of fictional worldmaking. In these contexts, it studies (1) narrative process through an original question-based model of the analysis of a work, one which is not based on knowledge of a whole work, as in various other narratological concepts, because knowledge of this kind cannot be assumed in case of a serial work. The second part further focuses on (2) a fictional macroworld dynamics, which it explains through an original composite model, understanding a fictional macroworld as a dynamic interaction between various areas of a macroworld (microworlds and subworlds); this dynamics can be utilized to explain its happening. The second part of the book stands for a descriptive-analytical dimension of the serial fiction poetics. It deals with the art of seriality in a creative frame, explores registries of preferred artistic solutions, and aims at a productive depiction of a field of possibilities.

3. SERIALITY AS ANALYTICAL BACKGROUND

It was deemed necessary in the last, analytical part of the book to limit the range of types of seriality considered appropriate for research interest. Despite the descriptive potential of the typology, it represents a limiting set of categories for a dynamic analysis, disregarding the fact that one serial work often uses various types of seriality in a variety of patterns (e.g. Doctor Who, 1963-1988; The X Files, 1993-2016). What is specifically focused upon in the third part of the book are those tools which have so far constituted the basis for an analytical framework (narrative outline, fictional macroworld arrangement, question-based model of a narrative process, and composite model of macroworld dynamics) or its auxiliary categories (a cultural encyclopaedia, immersive spectatorship, and analytical spectatorship). The last two chapters attempt to offer the greatest possible degree of aesthetic sensitivity towards those works analysed and those explanations presented. An analysis of the serial 24 (2001-2010) explores tactics applied to achieve clarity and coherence within a very diverse system of narrative situates the work in the contexts of complex serials and those of action films of motion. The closing analysis of Mr. Bean (1989-1995) as a serial addresses the more general question of how can we systemically analyse the narrative and macroworld of serials that seemingly consist of a number of rather independent sketches. The third part of the book considers the analytical dimension of serial fiction poetics. It explores issues related to the explanatory potential of analyses of individual serial works within an aesthetic frame and aims at a maximum degree of adaptability in relation to the artistic uniqueness of these works.

The three parts of Worlds To Be Continued develop and transform, with respect to these three aims, which differ from each other but are also interrelated, only to answer the questions posed, in correspondence with the individual dimensions of serial fiction poetics, in ways that are at the same time systematic and aesthetically sensitive.

Good Girls is an original, comedy-crime drama created by Jenna Bans. It premiered on February 26th, 2018 on NBC as a mid-season entry.

From publicly-available sources, I determined (1) the creator’s track record of success and (2) the originality of the story’s premise.

Using a proprietary algorithm, I determined the size of the pilot episode script’s semantic network.

With these three variables, I identified 18 comparable dramatic series that appeared on the four major broadcast networks in the last ten seasons.

Based on my analysis, I predict that (1) Good Girls will not achieve a full first season, i.e. 20+ episodes (2) Good Girls has only a 1-in-6 chance of being renewed for a second season and (3) if renewed, the season will fall well short of 20 episodes.

Foreign fictional TV production aimed at teenagers, i.e. teen TV, is currently strongly influenced by the desire of television stations to capture the attention of the lucrative audience of Millennials. One of the characteristics of this production is an emphasis on the diversity of characters that populate the fictional world of the TV series. This article deals with a specific type of characters; LGBT+ teenagers who have shifted, in terms of action and importance in the narrative, from a marginalised group to the centre of attention of the audience, both in terms of the narrative function and the transformation of character personalities from pure stereotypes and TV tropes to complex protagonists. The author deals with the interconnection of marketing focus on Millennials and the representation of such characters and argues that one of the main reasons why these characters are currently so narratively focused on is, more than the success of human rights activists, an effort on the part of marketing departments of TV stations to reach a specific demographic.

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Esta é a primeira parte de um estudo em dois volumes apresentado por Maíra Bianchini, no qual a autora reflete sobre os desenvolvimentos históricos que abriram caminho para a criação e o crescimento acelerado, no contexto atual, dos serviços de vídeo sob demanda em streaming (ou seja, em fluxo de mídia pela internet), considerando os elos da produção, da distribuição e da exibição do mercado audiovisual.

Ao longo dos dois volumes, a autora analisa como o posicionamento estratégico destas empresas na criação de conteúdos originais avançou inicialmente na produção de séries televisivas, buscando a inserção no mercado audiovisual que mais cresceu em termos de reconhecimento cultural e comercial neste início de século XXI, enquanto as ações de distribuição e de exibição destes empreendimentos foram construídas a partir de uma evolução no segmento do vídeo doméstico, profundamente afetado pelas transformações tecnológicas da digitalização dos meios de comunicação. A Parte I apresenta noções básicas relativas à área da economia do audiovisual e às características deste mercado, bem como explora as particularidades dos segmentos da TV aberta e da TV por assinatura. A obra se concentra na história da televisão dos Estados Unidos, país predominante no estabelecimento das lógicas e da dinâmica competitiva que regem o mercado das séries ficcionais televisivas em âmbito global.

Since its 2012 debut Girls has received an extraordinary amount of attention and criticism from both academic circles and popular culture critics. It has been critiqued for its depiction of female nudity and its portrayal of female sexual subjecthood. At the center of these debates is how author–star Lena Dunham’s body is positioned and utilized aesthetically and politically. This essay examines the brand of body politics and mode of female sexual subjecthood that the series creates and performs. In order to track how Girls produces this body politics and female sexual subjecthood I position it in relation to earlier feminist television series and indie cinema. This essay argues that Girls’ particular brand of body politics and the mode of female sexual subjecthood it depicts is characterized by emotional intimacy, irony and reflexivity. Furthermore I contend that Girls’ gender politics is enabled by the series’ utilization of a low-key aesthetic and the “smart” tendency, more commonly discussed in relation to American indie cinema.

especially fascinating contention that the first season of American Horror Story (2011present) represents the film and television industry 'as a conventional [patriarchal] gothic villain' (p. 150). Hence, even when Men with Stakes apparently strays from its theme, Wright is in fact adding weight to her central argument that Gothic TV's 'interrogation of masculinity is intertwined with larger examinations of social institutions, cultural assumptions, and established forms of knowledge' (p. 5).

Rod Serling's landmark show "The Twlight Zone" explored controversial issues in an abstract manner, using the "science fiction" genre and modes of cinematic convention to address political injustice. The show managed to both be morally engaging and commercially appealing, due to Serling's experience in the industry, and the resources provided to the team by MGM, and created a devoted audience whose engagement with the series was met at a myriad of levels.

Fairy tale has been used as a medium to deliver moral values and support ideologies such as patriarchy throughout time. This can be seen from how the characters must fulfill cer tain characteristics based on the stereotypical idea of gender. For example, the wise king, the brave knight, and the damsel in distress. Fairy tales used to be told orally; however, as time goes by, fairy tales have transformed into storybooks, movies, and even television series. is one among the television series based on fairy tales. However, it appears that the ideology being delivered by this television series is different from the classic fairy tales. Using Greimas's Actantial Model diagram and Millet's categorization of gender behavior, the paper shows how the television series Once Upon A Time reconstructed its female characters, such as Snow White and Cinderella. The diagram shows that Snow White is no longer the object of the story, while Cinderella's characteristics do not fulfill the stereotypical idea of women based on Millet. Through this research, I want to show that the patriarchal ideology is no longer being delivered through modern version of fairy tales like Once Upon A Time.

Análisis de Fargo: la serie La fragilidad del dominio a través de los personajes femeninos Resumen: En el presente trabajo se analizará la segunda temporada de la serie Fargo en base a algunos de los personajes femeninos más destacables. El punto de unión entre todos ellos será la fragilidad y cambios en el poder en relación a los acontecimientos que se les irán presentando. Para ello se tendrá en cuenta todos los elementos fílmicos disponibles para remarcar el aumento o reducción de dominio. TRABAJO FIN DE GRADO Apellidos y nombre: Talegón Martínez, Ignacio Correo electrónico:

Difficult Women analyses select case studies from international TV dramas to examine the unresolved feminist issues they raise or address: equal labor force participation, the demand for sexual pleasure and freedom, opposition to sexual and domestic violence, the need for intersectional approaches.

Drawing on examples from The Killing, Orange is the New Black, Big Little Lies, Wentworth, Outlander, Westworld, Being Mary Jane, Queen Sugar, Vida, and other television dramas with a focus on complex female characters, this book illustrates how female creative control in key production roles (direct authorship) together with industrial imperatives and a conducive cultural context (indirect authorship) are necessary to produce feminist texts. Placed within the larger context of a rise in feminist activism and political participation by women; the growing embrace of a feminist identity; and the ascendance of post-feminism, this book reconsiders the unfinished nature of feminist struggle(s) and suggests the need for a broader sweep of economic change.

This is a pre-publication draft of my piece on NBC's Hannibal. The full version -- with page numbers and an additional epilogue that addresses the cancellation of the show after its third season -- can be found in Däwes, Ganser, & Poppenhagen, _Transgressive Television. Politics and Crime in 21st Century American TV Series_, Heidelberg: Winter, 2015.

The television series Dexter is characterized by unfolding a discourse which, though belonging to a specific genre the psychokiller, is noticeably different in the ways in which the world and the conduct of the serial killers are represented. This article attempts to analyze the motives why the subject spectator empathizes and sympathizes with this peculiar serial killer, building a bridge between fictional reality, and present social reality portrayed by lack of safety, uncertainty and the upheaval of the values built by the modernist society on the idea of justice.


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This book offers the first comprehensive study of recent, popular Italian television. Building on work in American television studies, audience and reception theory, and masculinity studies, Sympathetic Perpetrators and their Audiences on Italian Television examines how and why viewers are positioned to engage emotionally with—and root for—Italian television antiheroes. Italy’s most popular exported series feature alluring and attractive criminal antiheroes, offer fictionalized accounts of historical events or figures, and highlight the routine violence of daily life in the mafia, the police force, and the political sphere. Renga argues that Italian broadcasters have made an international name for themselves by presenting dark and violent subjects in formats that are visually pleasurable and, for many across the globe, highly addictive. Taken as a whole, this book investigates what recent Italian perpetrator television can teach us about television audiences, and our viewing habits and preferences.

Alfred Hitchcock’s genre-defining 1960 classic Psycho, three Psycho sequels (1983, 1986, and 1990), the television pilot Bates Motel (1987), Gus Van Sant’s much-maligned Psycho remake (1998), and the new television series Bates Motel (2013-) attest to an ongoing fascination with the story about the murderer Norman Bates and raise pertinent questions as to the narrative possibilities of innovative reproduction. The individual entries to the franchise function as serial installments in an ongoing narrative and draw attention to the impact remaking has on dynamic processes of meaning-making over time. This essay focuses on the most recent addition to the Psycho franchise: A&E's Bates Motel. It examines the new television series’ self-description as a contemporary prequel, and discusses aspects of the series that will shed light on both the cultural functions and narrative possibilities of Bates Motel within the Psycho franchise and the practice of remaking as such.

The focus of this research is politeness theory and politeness strategies, in particular the notion of sarcasm in communication and how it is used in American sitcoms. The research also relates to the notion of ‘face’ and how facework is managed in interaction. Such research in this field is important because of growing interests in linguistic politeness theory and conversational theories. The study also addresses the usage of sarcasm in current modern-day media, in particular television programs from the turn of the century in America. The approach used in this research involves using current politeness theories and applying it to extracts taken from modern-day media. The findings in the research suggest that American sitcoms present the viewers with characters who adopt sarcasm in conversation as a politeness strategy in facework management often producing a hidden meaning in their utterance. The main conclusions drawn from the research indicate that the hidden meanings in the messages, portrayed as sarcasm in conversation, have negative connotations but provide entertainment for the viewers of the sitcoms.

The proliferation of networks using narrowcasting for their original drama serials in the United States proved that protagonist types different from conventional heroes can appeal to their target audiences. While this success of anti-hero narratives in television serials starting from late 1990s raises the question of “quality television”, developing audience measurement models of networks make alternative narratives based on anti-heroes become widespread on the U.S. television industry. This thesis examines the development of the anti-hero on the U.S. television by focusing on the protagonists of pay-cable serials The Sopranos (1999-2007) and Dexter (2006-2013), basic cable serials The Shield (2002-2008) and Mad Men (2007-2015), and video-on-demand serials House of Cards (2013- ) and Hand of God (2014- ). In brief, this thesis argues that the use of anti-hero narratives in television is directly related to the narrowcasting strategy of networks and their target audience groups, shaping a template for growing networks and newly formed distribution services to enhance the brand of their corporations. In return, the anti-hero narratives push the boundaries of conventional hero in television with the protagonists becoming morally less tolerable and more complex, introducing diversity to television serials and paving the way even for mainstream broadcast networks to develop serials based on such protagonists.

Keywords: Anti-hero, Quality Television, Narrowcasting, Cable Television, Video-on-Demand, Serial

A educação deve ser pensada de forma ampla. O aprendizado dá-se não somente no âmbito dos muros da escola, mas também com a tecnologia, com a família, com os amigos e com o convívio em sociedade e, ainda, com, para e através dos meios de comunicação. Vive-se em meio às Tecnologias da Informação e Comunicação e faz-se necessário entendê-las e inseri-las no cotidiano, seja na educação formal ou informal, tanto como fonte de conhecimento ou como ferramenta para a geração de novos conteúdos.
O uso das mídias e das tecnologias tem exigido cada vez mais espaço nas práticas cotidianas, transformando não somente as relações interpessoais, mas também o processo de ensino-aprendizagem. As possibilidades trazidas pelas novas tecnologias têm propiciado, além disso, um novo olhar para a educação, fazendo com que pesquisadores desenvolvam trabalhos especialmente focados na acessibilidade dos conteúdos. A inclusão, neste contexto, vem ganhando alternativas e ferramentas cada vez mais modernas, ampliando e facilitando a formação dos sujeitos. Percebe-se, a partir das pesquisas aqui apresentadas, que as novas tecnologias e as ferramentas midiáticas estão se tornando muito mais do que somente um espaço de socialização, mas, principalmente, o ponto chave para o desenvolvimento de estratégias de aprendizagem e transformação social.
O uso do computador, da internet, da televisão, da ficção seriada, das histórias em quadrinhos, do cinema, dos ambientes virtuais e hipermídia, das redes sociais temáticas e de tantos outros meios e formatos apresentam-se além de simples produtos ou tecnologias. Todas estas alternativas, e também os usos destas mídias, chegam para mudar a concepção da aprendizagem formal e da necessidade exclusiva de um espaço institucionalizado para o ensino. As tecnologias e todas as ramificações derivadas estão a todo o tempo ressignificando os papéis dos atores envolvidos no processo de ensino-aprendizagem. O aprimoramento e a criação de novos formatos têm se mostrado urgente e emergente frente aos desafios que estão surgindo em detrimento do acelerado desenvolvimento tecnológico e, especialmente, das novas práticas de consumo das mídias pelos sujeitos.
Diante deste contexto, os primeiros quatro capítulos deste livro apresentam pesquisas com foco nas relações e no processo de aprendizagem pelos sujeitos, sejam eles crianças, jovens ou adultos, e também nas práticas e nos usos das mídias. Do quinto ao último capítulos questões relativas à acessibilidade, às ferramentas de ensino-aprendizagem e ao desenvolvimento de ambientes hipermídia são abordadas a partir de diferentes e inovadoras vertentes.

The main thesis of this paper is that TV fiction, given its serialized nature, is better equipped to develop a “structure of sympathy” (Smith, 1995, 5) that allows us to identify with morally defective characters who commit crimes, who abuse and deceive; the type of person that would repel us in real life. The possibility of expanding a story over many hours allows, as will be discussed, an emotional structure to be constructed that “forces” us to sympathize with protagonists who are not only dramatically complex but also morally contradictory. In other words, what we will investigate is how this moral contradiction influences the narrative engine in many of the most influential contemporary TV series and we will unravel the emotional responses demanded of the viewer.

Julia Leyda focuses on the sitcom Arrested Development and the ground-breaking drama Breaking Bad. Both shows portray the moral and ethical laxity—in the business world and in US-American society and the family—that would later be invoked as the fulcrum of popular understanding of the economic crisis. However, both also depict the commonplace neoliberal appeals to self-improvement and individual responsibility that provided justification for the risky financial behavior that fueled the housing boom and ultimately brought down the economy. Leyda examines the ways in which the material and emotional spaces of the home were opened up to public scrutiny during the early years of the millennium, revealing the ways in which financialization had begun to permeate televised domestic spaces in the USA.

In this study we develop an empirical model to explain failure rates of new television series. Specifically, we test the ability of three factors to predict the success of new dramatic series appearing on 31 cable networks over the last 10 years. Those factors are the originality of the story, the track record of its creator(s), and the cognitive complexity of its pilot episode script—all of which are known well in advance of a network’s decision to greenlight a new series. As predicted, we find that all three variables—both individually and in combination—strongly predict the success rate of new dramatic series in their first two seasons.

This introduction to the special issue on "American TV Series Revivals" provides the definitions, broader historical context, and theoretical framework of televisual repetition and innovation for understanding contemporary TV series revivals.

Azione pura quasi scarnificata, ritmi che non lasciano riprendere fiato, narrazione frazionata in episodi conseguenti tra loro o chiusi ciascuno in sé, abilità nel rendere sempre imperdibile il successivo appuntamento: sono queste le caratteristiche principali dei telefilm, i prodotti di fiction seriale catodica capaci – più e meglio degli altri tipi di show televisivi – di avvincere gli spettatori e trattenerli davanti al piccolo schermo, riuscendo a entrare addirittura nel ciclo stesso delle loro (nostre) esistenze quotidiane (potere della serialità!).
I telefilm più amati e conosciuti, quelli dalla qualità media più elevata produttivamente e artisticamente, arrivano senza dubbio dagli Stati Uniti; e, dagli anni ’50 a oggi, hanno conquistato i palinsesti televisivi di tutto il mondo, proiettando i valori dell’american way of life nelle coscienze di miliardi di uomini e donne, in modo ben più insinuante ed efficace di quanto non sia riuscito a fare il cinema hollywoodiano.
E proprio il telefilm si propone come lo specchio migliore nel quale gli americani riflettono la loro stessa immagine, innanzitutto mentale, e attraverso il quale emergono le loro pulsioni nascoste e le derive dell’immaginario nazionale. Serie televisive «commerciali» come, per esempio, Ai confini della realtà (The Twilight Zone, 1959), Star Trek (id., 1966), X-Files (The X-Files, 1993) o Buffy (Buffy - The Vampire Slayer, 1997) dicono molto di più – e lo dicono in modo più chiaro – sui tanti volti del «modo di vita americano» e sul suo inevitabile lato oscuro, rispetto a presuntuose ricognizioni «d’autore» e a seriosi trattati. Probabilmente, poi, è proprio il genere fantastico – in un format tipicamente postmoderno com’è il telefilm (caratterizzato dal pastiche e dalla contaminazione) – a saper metaforizzare al meglio le molteplici spinte, contrastanti e spesso irrazionali, che attraversano la società americana nella seconda metà del XX secolo.

This special issue seeks to make an original contribution to seriality studies. It explores narrative, cultural, and historical dimensions of serial narratives in an effort to come to terms with their changing forms and functions within the field of popular culture. Altogether 13 essays from leading and emerging scholars in the fields of film and media studies, literary studies, cultural history, ethnography and American studies address questions relating to the production and reception of serial narratives in the past and present. How can the evolution of serial forms be understood within particular theoretical frameworks? How does the sprawl of serial narratives across different media challenge established notions of authorship, narrative closure, and cultural legitimacy? How does it work to increase audience loyalty and engagement? How do authors and producers respond to new modes of consumption that differ from the ritualized experience of daily, weekly or monthly installments? Do DVD sets, VOD services, and streaming demand new narrative strategies and storytelling techniques to satisfy the binge or repeat viewer of television series? What effect has the “second screen” on viewing experiences and (the semblance of) audience participation?

This is a copy of my PhD thesis, completed in 2011 at the University of Exeter. It represents a new history of Home Box Office, and particularly considers the importance of analysing the early history of the company for understanding its later success as a quality programming brand.

As the thesis was researched and written between 2007 and 2011, its historical scope only goes up to 2007, with some mention of later series. It doesn't cover Game of Thrones or other recent HBO series, but I'm happy that certain trends identified in the thesis are still going strong.

Feel free to contact me for questions about the thesis.

This article reflects on the recent prominence of direct address--characters speaking directly to the camera--within new television. With particular reference to Phoebe Waller-Bridge's _Fleabag_ (BBC Three, 2016-19), the phenomenon of direct address is in this context situated amid the broader history of pictorial art, especially painting and the problem of theatricality first introduced by Denis Diderot in the eighteenth century and taken up in the last century by Michael Fried. The article concludes by showing how Fleabag's use of direct address both fits neatly into this art history and moves beyond it, showing especially how Fleabag's use of direct address substantially comments on modernity, on the status of art (especially new television), and even on the status of religion.

This chapter analyzes swear/taboo words in US TV series, combining analysis of use (in TV dialogue) with analysis of creation (interviews with screenwriters) and consumption (questionnaires with learners of English as a Foreign Language). Results from the Sydney Corpus of Television Dialogue show the frequency and distribution of particular word forms and highlight the extent of variation within the data. Viewers are most likely to encounter the forms god, hell, damn and ass, especially in uses such as (oh) (my) god; wh- the hell; damn as adjective or adverb, and the structure possessive pronoun + adjective + ass. Questionnaire results indicate that advanced learners of English can be aware of the (non-)use of swear/taboo words. The interviews with screenwriting professionals suggest that swear/taboo words are used for a host of different functions, in particular for the creation of realism. The results of the combined perspectives are discussed with a view for implications for language education.