Introduction to TV Drama

1) What is serial television drama? Write your own definition.

A serial television drama tells a story throughout several episodes and provides a narrative resolution over 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?

Hill Street Blues

Dallas

Knot's Landing

Lost

Breaking Bad

3) List the sub-genres of TV drama featured in the factsheet. Come up with your own example of an existing TV drama to fit each category.

Police Procedural (crime) - Project Power

Medical - New Amsterdam

Period (costume) - Peaky Blinders

Science-fiction/fantasy - Hawkeye

Family - Anne With An E

Teen - One of Us Is Lying

4) Why is setting so important for TV drama?

It allows the drama to develop over a long period, weathering the comings and goings of the cast members by replacing one archetypal character with another.

5) How do TV dramas typically use characters? What audience pleasures can be linked to characters in TV drama? (Hint: Uses & Gratifications theory!)

Personal identity - Viewers can relate to a character

6) What is a multi-strand narrative? Give an example of a TV drama that features a multi-strand narrative.

Multi-strand is telling a story from several main characters' perspectives who all have their own small storylines within the narratives. These storylines usually collide together and overlap and the audience sees themselves from their own perspective.

Game of Thrones

7) What is a cold opening?

A cold opening is usually an isolated incident in the first few pages of a TV script that displays the tone and genre of the series.

8) How can Todorov's theory of equilibrium be applied to TV drama serials?

Generally, stories move through Todorov’s narrative stages though often without a 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?

The length of a ‘season’, as well as the length of individual episodes, vary according to the institution producing and distributing the programme. In the US, the commercial networks (ABC, CBS, NBC) schedule most of their drama serials in blocks of twenty-four one-hour episodes, effectively spanning half the calendar year.

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?

Drama serials presented on subscription cable channels, such as HBO, AMC and Showtime are not governed by the same considerations, hence their dramas allow for a lot more adult and challenging content.

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.

Breaking bad:

Setting - Albuquerque, New Mexico

Characters - Walter White, Jesse Pinkman, Gus Fring, Jane Margolis, Saul Goodman

Narrative - Set in Albuquerque, New Mexico, between 2008 and 2010, Breaking Bad follows Walter White, a modest high school chemistry teacher who transforms into a ruthless kingpin in the local methamphetamine drug trade, driven to financially provide for his family after being diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer.

Form - Netflix is the distributor and each episode is around 45-50 minutes

12) How might the TV drama genre evolve in future?

As audiences consume content in different ways serial dramas may become more

diverse and targeted toward niche groups.