Intro to TV Drama

 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.

 Its a series that tells a story over a period of time through episodes and in the end come to a narrative resolution. 

   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?

Doctor Who, Poldark, Upstairs Downstairs , HeartBeat, Downtown Abbey

Period Drama(a staple in the UK for British audiences), Scifi(popularised in the 60s), family and Teen, those main genres took a turn to sub-genres.

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) - Brooklyn nine-nine

 Medical - House M.D

4) Why is setting so important for TV drama?

The dramas play out over a specific communal location or "precinct". So instead of following one or two main characters the show is mainly based around the location. 

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

New characters are brought in so the show doesn't go "stale" , they bring in these new characters and shed the old ones. 

Some audience pleasures that can be linked to characters in TV dramas are Vicarious and Voyeuristic as the audience may see themselves through them and find gratification pretending they're in the same situation. 

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

When the narrative structure follows more than one storyline. 

Example - Eastenders

7) What is a cold opening?

When a drama jumps directly into a storyline 

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

At first everything in the narrative is balanced(equilibrium), there is soon a disruption in the narrative causing it to be unbalanced(disequilibrium), recognition of the problem, narrative resolution(where balanced is restored) and finally a new equilibrium is reached 

9) What is the typical form for TV dramas and how are the programmes typically distributed to an audience?

In the US their dramas spand over 24 one hour episodes, they are distributed on subscription cable channels such as HBO

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?

Cable channels and services like Netflix and Amazon Prime also often commission shorter runs (between six and thirteen episodes) and do not need to stick to rigid running times.

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.

Sweet Home:

Setting - In an apartment block , Seoul,  South Korea

Characters - Initially follows solely the main character Cha Hyun-Su and his interactions with the residents of the apartment complex when he first moves there 

Narrative - Multi-strand narrative , follows not only the main character but the residents of the complex when a disaster hits their doorstep. 

Form - Distributor , Netflix

            Running Time , 44-60 minutes

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

In the future I think that TV drama will evolve to reflect the times as it always has. Weather society progresses or regresses to old ways, the media will always follow