US television has recently enjoyed an increase in the production of complex, long-form dramas. Cable channels have successfully utilised their subscription-based model to generate a specific, niche audience. These audiences are attracted to networks such as HBO due to their regarded high ‘quality’ of programming. The value of ‘quality TV’ is regularly debated. Critics and academics often place value in the texts. This essay will argue, however, that despite the value judgements critics and academics make about television programs, the true value of ‘quality TV’ lies in the niche audience it is exposed to.
In recent years, the subscription cable network HBO has earned a reputation as “the vanguard of ‘quality television’” (Wells-Lassange 2013 pp.415). Wells-Lassagne argues that since the popularity of The Sopranos (1999-2007) HBO has defended its reputation amongst critics and audiences alike. The network’s history of miniseries adaptations targets a niche audience who are willing to pay for high-quality television programs. HBO reached new audiences with the production of book adaptations Game of Thrones (2011-) and True Blood (2008-). To be part of a niche audience is valued by many people. The social benefit from being part of a fan group is immense, with the rapid expansion of a multitude of online fan communities linking people across the globe. Fan culture is an increasing presence in society, and programs such as Game of Thrones and Lost (ABC, 2004-2010) have a cult-like following. These audiences are highly engaged, and participate in interaction with other fans of the show. The Lost ‘fandom’ attempted to unpack the series and solve the mysteries of the program through online message boards. This online community placed t...
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... of Television Studies, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 58--71.
Schwaab, Herbert (2013) ‘Unreading Contemporary Television’, After the Break: Television Theory Today. Edited by Marijke de Valck and Jan Teurlings, pp.21-33. Amsterdam University PressL OAPEN Library.
Vermeulen, T & Rustad, G 2013, 'Watching television with Jacques Ranciere: US ‘Quality Television’, Mad Men and the ‘late cut’', Screen, vol. 54, no. 3, pp. 341--354.
Wells-Lassagne, S 2013, 'Prurient pleasures: Adapting fantasy to HBO', Journal of Adaptation in Film & Performance, vol. 6, no. 3, pp. 415-426.
WinterIsComing.net, 2014, 'Game of Thrones crosses the 7 million mark with record ratings from "First of His Name" - WinterIsComing.net - News and rumors about HBO's Game of Thrones', accessed June 6, 2014, from .
This essay will discuss how national attitudes towards the working-class and the impoverished are represented in American Television. The purpose of this paper is to comprehend that television shows are not solely designed to entertain consumers but also contain a hidden agenda whose task is to protect certain ideological perspectives and therefore constant framing strategies take place. The paper will commence the analysis by discussing how males and females are represented in the television show Friday Night Lights, secondly it will look at the
5 Feb 2014. Fiske, John. The. Television Culture. London: Methuen & Co. Ltd, 1987: Ch. 78.
Even with these weaknesses, Postman makes a significant contribution to enlarging our understanding of television and the epistemology it establishes. He may be too fond of typographic America, but he has some very important things to say about how television works, and we should be paying attention.
The many evils that exist within television’s culture were not foreseen back when televisions were first put onto the market. Yet, Postman discovers this very unforgiveable that the world did not prepare itself to deal with the ways that television inherently changes our ways of communication. For example, people who lived during the year 1905, could not really predict that the invention of a car would not make it seem like only a luxurious invention, but also that the invention of the car would strongly affect the way we make decisions.
Nelson, R. (2009). Modernism and Postmodernism in Television Drama. In: Creeber, G Televisions: An Introduction to Studying Televsion. 2nd ed. London: British Film Institute . p.90.
Booth, Paul, and Peter Kelly. “The Changing Faces of Doctor Who Fandom: New Fans, New Technologies, Old Practices?” Participations Journal of Audience & Reception Studies 10.1 (2013): 56–72. Web. 6 Apr. 2014.
In an article ' The Plug-In Drug ' the author Marie Winn discusses the bad influence of television on today's society. Television is a ' drug ' that interfere with family ritual, destroys human relationships and undermines the family.
Being There is the story of Chance, a simple gardener turned American media hero. He seems to know nothing but television and gardening. His thoughts and judgments are products of television and his gardening experience. Yet through his simple mild mannered ways he unintentionally becomes the center of America’s business news. The author of Being There, Jerzy Kosinski said “To read a novel is to practice for real life. Fiction doesn’t change anybody’s life, it merely hints at the different ways of looking at oneself, at others, and at society” Since Chance was not able to read, television shows were his novels. Television was his practice for real life.
Tikkaken, Amy, Erik Gregersen, Swati Chopra, Darshana Das, and Grace Young. "Television (TV)." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, 01 Dec. 2006. Web. 16 Feb. 2014.
For an unusual access into the history of television, there is nothing much that got in the way of that; story telling was all that is to it. The Sopranos could not have existed but thanks to HBO’s pay-subscription model. Each and every one of these stories, woven through several episodes, is meant to entertain and amuse, but also to challenge and provoke an audience. They can, at best, provoke the viewers; if not to the point of discussions, probably to the point of reasoning about who we are, how we exist, and what is it about our society we live in and the individual circumstances that make it
Vande Berg, L.R., Wenner, L.A., & Gronbeck, B. E. (1998). Critical Approaches to Television. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.
So why did it achieve such never before seen levels of success for a fantasy novel where others did not? How did these novel based films be capable of impacting not only several facets of popular culture from TV shows, movies, clothing, merchandise, and music but sparking an international wide interest in fantasy. Making franchises such as Harry Potter and Game of Thrones household names in the entertainment industry. All these questions will be used to construct the project. Nevertheless, specifically, I will argue that the film’s success and adaptation into becoming popular culture stems from; its pre-existing large fanbase, and newly formed technological production capabilities and internet media outreach.
Nightingale, V & Dwyer, T 2006 ‘The audience politics of ‘enhanced’ television formats’, International Journal of Media and Cultural Politics, vol. 2, no.1, pp. 25-42
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On the other hand, there is an opinion that “TV shows and films have, and are given, cultural values and uses that are not easily (if at all) re...