3520 TV Theory Lecture 3: Core concets and issues in TV theory

1. 3520 TV Theory Lecture 3: Core concets and issues in TV theory

2. Flow • Core observation: R. Williams' encounter with American commercial television • Thesis: “the real experience of television is not one of discrete items but of continuous flow” • Key examples: competitive & commercial networks, some dedicated channels • Scientific context: understanding the impact of early television • Priorities for research: trans-program units, schedules

3. The moving image • Core observation: absorbing and distracting qualities of the (edited) TV image • Thesis: TV is “more real than the real thing” • Key examples: music video, commercials, trailers • Scientific context: medium theory, post-modern theory • Priorities for research: Textual image-based analysis; problem of sound’s status

4. Aestheticisation Core observation: comprehensive manipulation of the image in recent TV Key examples: music video, spreading within factual programming Scientific context: postmodern theory, institutional theory of "televisuality" (Caldwell) Priorities for research: discussion of the aesthetic properties of aestheticisation, critique of its institutional basis

5. Narrative • Core observation: TV narration lacks clear closures and focused progressions • Thesis: TV presents the never-ending narrative, dissolved in time • Key examples: series (Dallas, Cosby Show, serials (24) • Scientific context: semiotics, narratology, genre studies • Priorities for research: textual, special emphasis on the issue of segmentation

6. Live-ness Core observation: historical dominance of live modes of broadcasting Key thesis: “imagined community” Key examples: news "witnessing" (Ellis), “no sense of place” (Meyrowitz) Scientific context: medium theory, social theory on the reconfiguration of time and place Priorities for research: the conventions of authenticity, immediacy, “window on the world”

7. Sociability • Core observation: in non-fictional television, everyday and informal behaviors are not just a means but an end • Key examples: talk and live programming • Scientific context: Interpretive sociology, phenomenology (Scannell) • Priorities for research: mediated roles and social interactions; politeness, play, contests

8. Individualisation • Core observation: the tendency toward behaviors that seem less role-bound, closer to the singularity of persons • Key examples: news anchoring, factual and informative genres • Scientific context: medium theory, the "middle region" thesis (Meyrowitz) • Priorities for research: how TV technology exposes persons, its effect on address, interactions and the framing of topics

9. Interactivity Core observation: digitalisation transforms TV from a one-way to a two-way medium Key examples: digital TV, SMS/MMS-based TV Scientific context: theories of interactivity, “age of plenty” (Ellis) Priorities for research: diagnoses of “time famine” and “choice fatigue” (Ellis), critiques of “interactive pizza (Caldwell) Teleision as cause,

10. Theories of institution • Main proponents: production studies, “political economy” • Basic issue: How is TV shaped by its institutional contexts? • Example: Increasing US competition produces the “televisual” style (Caldwell) Teleision as cause,

11. Theories of institution II • TV as embedded in production, organisation, and policy contexts • Tendences toward national specificity vs. transnationalisation • Problematic issue I: determination vs. autonomy • Problematic issue II: Institutional factors vs. wider societal factors (Scannell) Teleision as cause,