TV: Introduction to TV Drama
Introduction to TV Drama: Blog tasks
Use our Media Factsheet archive on the M: drive Media Shared (M:\Resources\A Level\Media Factsheets) or on Google Drive here (you'll need your Greenford Google login) to find Media Factsheet #164 on Television Serial Drama.
Read the whole of Factsheet and answer the following questions to show your comprehensive knowledge of the television drama genre:
1) What is serial television drama? Write your own definition.
a serial drama is a show that it tells a story, and delivers narrative resolution, in a number of parts over a
2) List five of the TV dramas discussed in the history of the genre on page 1 of the factsheet. How has the genre evolved over time?
period of time.
2) List five of the TV dramas discussed in the history of the genre on page 1 of the factsheet. How has the genre evolved over time?
the traditional drama series; 'continuing drama series’, a term they also use to describe their other long runners: Casualty, Holby City, and Doctors.
Independent television drama companies were the
first to record their dramas exclusively on film-Drama series’ such as ABC’s The Avengers (1961-1969) and Danger Man (1962-1968)
Until the early 1980s most US television drama series followed a set narrative structure, comprising of a story of the week delivering narrative resolution at the end of the episode. Whether a cop show like Starsky and Hutch (1975-1979) or an action caper like The A-Team (1983-1987)
Crime stories ran over several episodes before offering any closure, and sometimes offered no satisfactory resolution. Story and character arcs were introduced across a whole season of episodes, giving it a more serial quality that American audiences were used to seeing in shows like Dallas (1978-1991; 2012-2014) and Knots
Landing (1979-1993).
Police Procedural (crime): 24 hours in police custody, Dahmer-monster, Money heist
Medical: the Resident, Chicago med, scrubs
Period (costume): peaky blinders, the last kingdom, blood ties
Science-fiction/fantasy: star trek, upload, for all mankind
Family: boy meets world, cobra kai, ted lasso
Teen:euphoria,elite, ginny and georia, vampire diaries
4) Why is setting so important for TV drama?
Serial dramas play out in a ‘precinct’ or communal location inhabited by the ensemble cast of characters. This allows the drama to develop over a long period of time, weathering the comings and goings of the cast members by replacing one archetypal character with another. Bringing in new characters also prevents the show from going stale. Even heavily serialised dramas like Lost are defined by their location and, over time, bring in additional characters while shedding others.
As broadcasters seek to ensure that their most successful brands run for as long as possible it is necessary to populate them with a large cast of characters, Likewise, to reflect modern audiences, there is a greater presence of strong females as well as black and ethnic minority characters. Increasingly, gay, lesbian and transsexual characters are also represented in television serials
6) What is a multi-strand narrative? Give an example of a TV drama that features a multi-strand narrative.
Television serial drama lends itself to multi-strand storytelling. Medical dramas like Casualty usually have two or more stories running concurrently in an episode, in addition to any serial beats. A heavy serialised drama like Downton Abbey serves its large cast of characters by playing out multiple stories in the space of an episode and developing these stories across a whole series.
Operating in a tough, commercial environment, drama producers need to hook and maintain their audience with every episode. As a result, they employ a teaser at the beginning to hook the audience and keep them watching. This is also referred to as a cold opening to generate enigma or intrigue before the title sequence or first commercial break (which in the US are frequent).
as Todorov believed that narratives moved in chronological order with one part following another, they have a clear beginning, middle, end. this links to Tv drama as there is certain shows which have that structure within one episode or some shows that have storyline which ends at the end of a season/series.Television drama employs many of the same narrative devices used by film. Generally, stories move through Todorov’s narrative stages though often without the return to equilibrium at the end of each episode. Most police procedurals, however, provide narrative resolution (and reassurance) to fulfil the audience’s need for answers.
9) What is the typical form for TV dramas and how are the programmes typically distributed to an audience?
With BBC 3’s move to an online only platform, and the rise in the popularity of streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime, the form and content of the serial drama is likely to evolve further. As audiences consume content in different ways serial dramas may become more diverse and targeted toward niche groups. Online programme makers are starting to create more short form content, leading to drama serials that run for much less than 60, or even, 30 minutes.
10) How have subscription channels (such as HBO) and streaming services (such as Netflix and Amazon Prime) changed the form and content of TV dramas?
HBO has moved on to more audlut content. For example tv shows like euthphoria which explores abuse, violence, sexual content, drugs and a bunch of other challenging content, this may be because there has been an increase in these tv dramas going popular
11) Choose a TV drama and do your own analysis of it using the SETTING / CHARACTERS / NARRATIVE / FORM headings as featured on page 3 of the factsheet.
EUPHORIA
SETTING-Euphoria high-East Highland High School, the school that most of the main characters of Euphoria attended, is actually Ulysses S. Grant High, a public high school located in Los Angeles' Valley Glen neighbourhood.
CHARACTERS- follows the personal lives of a group teenagers in high school and the challenges that they face e.g. parties, drugs, drama, mental health, abuse and
NARATIVE- Euphoria follows teenagers in the fictional town of East Highland, California, who seek hope while balancing the strains of love, loss, and addiction.
FORM- HBO
12) How might the TV drama genre evolve in future?
Following the publishing of the Government’s white paper on the future of the BBC, the corporation is now under pressure to create shows that are more ‘distinctive’ and different to what commercial channels offer. This has led some to speculate that the BBC may be forced into producing shorter runs of medical dramas like Casualty and making less crime shows. As a public service broadcaster, the BBC is also likely to take a few more risks in creating serials outside of the tried and tested genres. However, as the landscape changes it is unlikely that the
audience’s thirst for serialized drama will diminish any time soon.
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