PRELIM II

The great migration

(Migration is the move from tradition TV to streaming) It is not a new phenomenon, but the pace has picked up in the last few years and is not slowing down by 2025 80% of viewing among 18-49 year old's will be spent streaming Accelerated by the explosion of premium originals on streaming services (15x the amount of content today vs. c5 years ago) ● 80% of viewing will be via streaming in 2025 among the core demo, a complete switch from 10 years prior Digital streaming is already the majority of adult 18-49 viewing

satellites

(not essential to the story but things that happen that add interest and maybe a little bit of backstory) (add texture)

NOT a challenge of measuring TV audiences

Product placement- what is sampling, audience fragmentation, multiple platforms, etc...

Scholars who study audiences grapple w debates btwn textual determinism and

Active audiences- how strong are the cultural affects vs what happens when we bring our own meanings and understandings

Elisa Giomi

All about Nancy from Weeds following female lineage of heroines driving popular culture; women occupying roles typically held by men, skills/behaviors/psychological traits that are typically masculine Do tough/strong women subvert or re-enforce gender expectations?"hypersexualization" is problematic Co-presence of toughness/violence and feminine/hyper-sexualized traits challenges traditional constructions of womanhood/gender binary system Nancy's radical qualities, crime/law + gender normsPot dealer establishes social deviance, destabilizing antiheroine figure Strategies to normalize/compensate for her transgression Nancy undergoes radical transformation as a criminal (naïve → smart)Transformation is complex, motivational aspectInitially, activity is the product of need, refuses to be known as drug dealerEnd: satisfaction with her job Longs for normal life, but returns to illicit business Season 6 - first time she is enthusiastic about her activity because she has kept herself from taking low-income jobsSeason 7 - comes to terms with drug dealer identity → development of self-awareness, freed from male protection Maternity as a motivating factor, female acting to protect her children - doesn't completely apply to Nancy, bc it has become not only a way to provide, but also a source of self-realization/enjoyable to her Non normative sexualityBeen with women, inclined to experiment, "consumerist" attitude towards sex Disrupts gender expectations - egocentric and carelessHeroines typically oriented towards social change, but Nancy's priority is wealth accumulation Need to make her more domestic/acceptable activities"values reversal" makes show complexSuburban dystopia being a suffocating communityNancy's friends hide corruption, psychosis, racism, class-ism, sexism - makes Nancy appear to be the good one, not a hypocriteLong time before returns to sexual activity after husband diesHer appearance represents femininity (class and race stereotypes; MILF stereotype & female empowerment) · The viral charge of Nancy Botwin in weeds (and popular culture's anticorps) · Chapter focuses on Nancy Botwin the lead female character in Weeds (black comedy that aired on cable showtime from 2005-2012) · Widow and suburban mother of two husband dies from heart attack & earns living selling marijuana · Occupying role that was traditionally male dominated, starting to display skills, behaviors, and psychological traits that were once masculine · Lawbreaker and woman · First naïve and helpless but becomes smart, learning how to avoid traps, police checks, etc · Body language changes too · Illegal activity as a product of need refuses to be labeled a drug dealer · The excusatio o Common denominator in many popular culture products and encompasses different textual strategies independent to provide justification for the female antihero featuring in typically male genres/roles/contexts o The narrative takes a lot of trouble to explain why she is in a man's world what she's doing there o Most common forms are indirect and stem from narrative configurations · Women become violent trying to protect their children · Crime becomes a source of self-realization and enjoyable

Contexts for complex television

Cable and satellite television Competition for audiences demands innovative programming Freer than network (US) to tell darker/riskier storiesPremium cable a space for disaffected film personnel More autonomy for showrunners DVD and online distributionEpisodic series less important: DVD and digital distribution establish orderWatching on demandBinge viewing Repeat viewing Increased legitimacy of some shows Upscale viewersInternational market Social media: allows for audiences' relationships with Other fansProducers Distinctionhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yv_ZD9uPLbUNetflix vs. HBO Video WatchMojoCultural impactCinematic contentHBO is reliable, Netflix is adapting to the futureOriginal TV showsAccessibility"The ability to think of one television series as a work of art exists alongside a belief that others are nothing more than noisy diversions clattering along the conveyor belt of commercial culture" (Chirstopher Anderson, 2008) ● Comparisons with lowbrow (especially reality TV) ● Showrunners as auteurs: "the belief in the artistic vision of a sole creator- "is the ultimate basis of belief in the value of a work of art." (Anderson, 2008) ● Reducing cable churn: churn rate is the number of customers who cancel subscriptions in a given period ● No advertisers or FCC ● Reviews and awards ● Quality of a show over other things that might be on ● HBO ○ When you sign up you will get the best television you can't get anywhere else 5. Accessibility: cost, platform, international, is it attached to other things (ie. HBO Max)

Two types of complexity

Centrifugal & Centripetal

Writing a tv role w/o a reference to race and then hiring the best actor for the part is...

Colorblind casting

Amanda Lotz (Trying to Man Up) "Cable Guys"

Complexity of characters Cable tv/niche audiences moved away from knowing hero would make right choice, whereas network tv stays away from anti-heros & provides a safety net Cable more willing to allow the seriality → crucial to constructing a gradual process of character self-discovery (contemporary masculinity) Why do we watch flawed protagonists? (from lecture) Relative morality, Alignment/sympathy, Charisma, Fascination, Moral reckoning Masculine mystique (Coontz) · Sensitive men take TV by storm · They steal, they cheat, they lie, and we wouldn't have it any other way- the timeless appeal of the anti-hero · TV's role: produce male leads. Shows shift attention to more mature complex characters · Tv shift to mature and complex characters · Men (self doubting, eccentric, unorthodox) · Dexter (you cant help but recoil from Dexter but love him too) o Skillful characterization and plotting to make it possible for audiences to understand him · No more safety net, right from wrong · Characters making wrong decisions · Male-centered serial · Viewers understand their misdeed and contradictions

Showrunner responsibility

Creative and managerial roles- balancing the 2

What method did Bird use to investigate assumptions about Native Americans?

Creative group work Groups of 4 divided by race and gender, 4 white m/f, 4 native m/f, 1 mixed race female, 1 mixed race male Need 1 white person, 1 woman, and 1 native person

What is windowing

Deficit financing, parceling out the show (timed release bw first run and syndication and international and DVD) to get the money back First run most expensive b/c of biggest audience

What do networks pay based on who pays for tv

Licensing fees- networks never buy outright (streamers do) OTT pays productions studios

(HBO Cultural impact Netflix v HBO)

Main features Netflix Vs HBOCultural impactNetflix: binge-watching as common way to consume mediaHBO: offered big budget productions that blurred TV and moviesMust watch scheduled dramas, watch immediately to avoid spoilersBoth: reimagined the television experienceCinematic vs casualHBO has the most cultural impactOriginal MoviesNetflix creates their own cultural movementCreates own cultural moments with big movie releasesRival to movie studiosHBO places more emphasis of star power as opposed to creativity like NetflixStar power → actors win awardsMovies aren't as big compared to TV movies operate on a smaller scale HBO is reliable but Netflix adapts for the futureNetflix wins this: adapt to younger viewers and changing timesOriginal TV showsNetflix: Accessible content for all demographicsHas something for everybody: young to oldPays attention to pop cultureVariety keeps viewers entertainedHBO: operates on a different levelSopranos, the wire, game of thronesHBO created a new golden age of TVBest TV ever producedCreates cinematic experience from homeAffects the pop culture narrativeHBO wins this roundAccessibilityHBO: Cant access the shows you want at a reasonable priceHBO GO needs a cable subscriptionHBO NOW needs a smart device and cannot go outside USAExtra costNetflixGood for casualGo-to platform for people on the goCustomized streaming experience for all subscribersStreaming guruNetflix wins?

Most expensive shows (from video we watched in class)

Most expensive showsStanger things (2016-)8 million in season 2, 6 million in season 1The big bang theory (2007-2019)Was one of the most watched showsCast were paid about 1 million an episodeSense 8 (2015-2018)Shot in different countriesWas cancelled because a lot of people did not watchWestworldSci fi and period dramas are most expensive and Westworld is a combination of both8-10 million for each episodeMarco polo (2014-2016)Was not popular enough to justify expensive costsMost expensive was lord of the rings

Promoting consumer goods in shows is called

Product placement

Four node model

Programs and Texts→ Audiences→ Context→ Institutions and Procedures→ ● Tv studies, but also important to media studies (can go in both directions) (change in one, change in all) ● Context= all stuff about economics, changing technologies, increased globalizations, easier flows of data ● Programs and texts= episode of show, series, all of the segment stuff Williams talks about, commercials, transmedia (dolls, video games, movies, spin offs, magazine) ● Audiences= what do audiences or players (video games), users (social media), what are they actually doing ● Look at it as a circuit of media (each node affects all of the others)

Why does measurement matter

Rating shape programming, networks want the most $, ads don't want to pay for audiences that aren't there

Masculinity mystique

Responsibilities to family and relationships wives and gfs (stephanie coontz) Balance demands of work life and being a good husband and father Don't blame wives, blame fathers

Seriality, Episodic, and Long arc

Seriality: The type of TV that most complex TV is... need to watch all of the episodes in order. ● Can't really miss one and follow ● seriality is narrative when it concerns a sequence of events perceived as being caused by each other ● Show ends on a cliffhanger so the next episode picks up with the same story ● Bridgeton, the morning show 1. Episodic tv: Can afford to miss one and still understand what is going on in the show ● Friends or Seinfield (each episode is new) 2. Long story arc: ● One thing happens in season 1 but doesn't come back until season 3

Considering who pays for tv, what do OTT services receive?

Subscriptions from audiences

Not a factor in the success of Netflix's black library?

Success in Hollywood black media What is?: competition, hiring practices, organization (distributing power), and money brought in by black viewers

Phases of technological impact on media

Technology drives Chaos ● Convergence -TV/Digital, Music/Podcasting ● Symbiosis - Various Mediums working together ● Circuits - Consumer's control ("DTC") ● Brands - Value, Trust, Content, Engagement ● Economics - Business Model/s

● Ongoing debates between

a. Textual determinism b. Active audiences

Narrative strategy

behind the scenes:is a cultural and communication practice by which social justice practitioners collaborate with entertainment industry executives, writers, and producers to shape positive portrayals of marginalized communities and social issues in scripted and non-scripted entertaining narratives, critique negative portrayals, and produce and disseminate their own entertainment storytelling content.... The core belief embedded in narrative strategy holds that entertainment storytelling is meaningful to foster social change by shifting public opinion and perceptions—and fostering cultural conversation and public participation—all of which is necessary, ultimately, for supportive policy that expands equity and justice.

Centrifugal

narrative ○ About the story telling, expanding out from events into the bigger picture

Brian Steinberg:

· Brand block o a new commercial concept that runs before a movie starts, then continues without any further commercial interruption. o The ads allow WarnerMedia to sell the streaming service at a lower monthly price and give subscribers the chance to watch a broad array of films without too much distraction, Nielsen ratings accreditation suspendedTV networks alleged that Nielson changed protocols, resulting in undercounting of TV audience during COVID Usually did maintenance on people meters and couldn't get into houses to do that during COVIDWill still operate without its seal of approval from the industry"change-or-die challenge" How to measure TV viewers who no longer rely on watching TV shows in traditional fashion Trying to get companies to come together to figure out next best method for data collection; product integration?

Amanda Lotz New economies:

· Discusses the importance of product or brand placement in television shows · Deal created by an entity representing the advertiser and developed through negotiations with a network or studio" · Product must be "organic" meaning that the product must not seem out of place or be too obvious of a product placement

Ben Smith

· How Netflix beat Hollywood to a generation of black content · Didn't set up to build a library of black programming but now leading · Racism and the black experience · Netflix is a threat · Black Lives Matter collection · Didn't start with a vision · Orange is the new black (one of the first hits) · In reality, Netflix didn't necessarily have a higher proportion of Black people buying content than other studios. But it had a lot of people buying content, and an unusual approach of distributing the power to make decisions. There were five Black executives who could buy content in 2015, and some of them built relationships with Black directors and producers. One former employee said Black executives were sometimes pulled into meetings with Black directors or actors for show. · The Black God father (It's a portrait of the Black entertainment industry deal maker Clarence Avant, who played a central role in things as diverse as shaping Janet Jackson's career to spiriting Sean Combs out of Los Angeles after the murder of the Notorious B.I.G.) · Netflix original (Netflix connection) (hosted screening for black employees)

Michael Newman and Elana Levine

· In Michael Newman's article, "The Showrunner as Auteur," Newman notes how television shows are a product of human agency. Newman describes how some shows identify with the authors in terms of the show production, promotion, reception, and individual expression (Newman & Levine, 2012). · An auteur is an "artist of unique vision whose experiences and personality are expressed through storytelling craft" Became a term during convergence era (writing & non-writing roles; management + storytelling) Filtering of experience through fictionalized narrative situations - shows can be traced back to the personal lives of creators

Elizabeth Bird

· Indian as a cultural icon · Negotiating identity in a media world · We know that TV does not mirror reality (nor do people want it to) but it refracts back a sense of reality that speaks to people in different ways o Seinfeld became the most popular TV show in America not because it resembled the lives of its White, urban fans, but because it created a sense of recognition among them § Never developed an audience among African-Americans, did not succeed in Britain · Indians are found everywhere in the region, in any number of settings, yet to many white people they are apparently invisible o The media world is one they must negotiate o Although some like popular sitcoms the range of their favorite TV programs are different (with news and sports getting mentions, and appreciation for fish-out-of the water sitcoms like Fresh Prince) o What it is like to be an outsider o Indian living in a white world o Aware of the prevailing stereotypes for Indian through the media and decline them angrily o Study to show the media reception in creative directors (how people construct their notions of reality by using imaginative tools that are give to them through mediated images o White groups unable to image Indians not stereotypically § Cultural tool kit contains a limited array of possibilities worked together over time and across media that created this script · Dances with Wolves § Rejection with both humor and anger Study · 10 groups Homogeneous by gender, heterogeneous by race (white, native American mixed race o did conversations differ according to gender, race; did the design of the show proposal change around race and gender according to the groups? · Had to include characters: white, woman, native American · Homogeneous groups · Flowed quickly · White groups Relied on media tropes for native American characters · Native groups o Needed to find token white person; Relied on lived experiences o Men had more tension; women had to get to know each other first but were more willing to complete exercise

Jason Mittell

· Introduces the idea of complex TV o Narrative complexity is a new model of storytelling developed over last 2 decades, alternative to conventional episodic/serial forms that have typified American TV o Examples discussed are Sopranos, Seinfeld, X-Files - serially infused episodic TV o Narrative complexity: Redefines episodic forms under the influence of serial narration, not a merger of episodic and serial, but a shifting balance § Seinfeld Example: ongoing situations like Jerry' NBC sitcom pilot that offer backstories for "in-jokes" that happen in other episodes, but these ongoing plots do not demand much cumulative knowledge (don't really matter across episodes) § Simpsons: rejects continuity between episodes, returns to equilibrium at start of each episode (extremely episodic) · Time - 3 different temporal streams o Story time: how time passes within story world straightforward/chronological/linear o Discourse time: Flashbacks, retelling past events, repeating story events from multiple perspectives → reorder events, while assuming characters experienced them in a linear progression o Narration time (screen time): temporal framework involved in telling/receiving the story (Different for literature, people read over days/months; time is strictly controlled for tv/movies - commercial breaks, weekly installments; takes same amount of time for everyone to consume given narrative) · Series used to be considered successful if they were able to keep the story going for years and years - now with proliferation of channels/platforms/content & shrinking sizes of audiences, cult following can make a series economically viable and don't last as long · Normal model of consuming a bound serial is to move forward as time permits (own schedule), NOT as dictated by a forced schedule (weekly) · Active audiences · Emergence in late 1990s and continued growth through 21st century · (rejecting the need for plot closure within every episode that typifies conventional episodic form) · Complex tv's most defining characteristic is its unconventionality

Everett, Anna

· Scandal, Social Media, and Shonda Rhimes' Auteurist Juggernaut · Shonda Rhimes (Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice, Scandal, etc · Historic turn as the first African American showrunner ever (female or male) to have an entire primetime programming block of three consecutive hours for three different shows on one single night o A formidable network TV showrunner and auteur extraordinaire o Twitter activism o Colorblind casting practices o Audacious turning of America's scandalous miscegenation taboo on its head o Fans tweet out in real time while watching o Cultivated a sense of audience and fan possessive investment in her shows o First TV showrunner to leverage the internet, social media to involve her fans and her stars in emerging fan friendly culture of Shondaland § Disneyland o One of the most successful showrunners (black power could translate into green power) (green power of all underrepresented groups) o Women in charge / women of color/ racy sexualities (hereto and queer) o Changed with America (reaped the benefits of embracing and capitalizing on the nation's emerging minority/majority population shift) o Fans ID as gladiators (scandal) o Flawed women characters ("I am human, I am messy, I am not trying to ben an example. I am not trying to be perfect") (bad feminist)

Anne Donahue

· Skyler White on breaking bad · We want compelling, characters that are messy and moral ambiguity · Strong female leads are wanted · Skyler is the closest thing to a protagonist the series has o Prioritized the safety of her children, she tried to stand up to walter (despite the danger that came with it), continued to give her children a normal childhood as possible even when they tried to make her feel worthless o Godmother of the modern day strong female lead strength wasn't celebrated until the end of the series § Happened in part because of the new era of recaps and think pieces : reading more deeply into shows and engaged in bigger cultural discusses about them § Strong is a catchall for the way we describe a woman with a narrative that exists outside of a mans § More female character are being written that are more than just accessories to their male counterpart § Complex and three dimensional just as much capacity for good as for the opposite

James Poniewozik

· Streaming is a new genre · Full seasons released at once is something new and were starting to figure out their conventions and aesthetics · Is Netflix TV? o Full seasons are more than simply TV series as we've known them § Becoming a distinct genre § TV= cliffhangers, tune in next week, half hour or hour-long, real-time viewing + predictable schedules § Ad breaks · Streaming= reading a book (receive it as a seamless whole, you set your own schedule, but it's also like video gaming in that its immersive, user-directed, creates a dynamic · The suck! o Narcotic, tidal feeling of getting drawn into a show and letting it wash over you for hours o Can be competitive o Each episode becomes a level to unlock · Streaming= free time whenever o Schedule shows like Hollywood movies, · Weekly tv= constant tension and teasing you to come back next week · Streaming take 3 or 4 episodes to decide upon a committing to a season make or break vs. network shows pilot is the make or break · First season of the series to be the pilot not firs episode · Advantages: don't have to load up your first episode with gimmicks and can avoid the tedious network practice of repeating the pilot o Can pack series with story and incident and trust of viewers to not forget details o But can also mean lethargic, shapeless narratives that rely on the suck to keep viewers watching · Network tv shows can course correct midseason when ratings drop or a new character is rejected (online fan forms) (a tool) · Netflix advantage is that it has data on what people already liked to watch- · Streaming best for certain kind of plot heavy competent but not revolutionary drama

Tim Peterson

· Subscriptions plus advertising have become the streaming equivalent to traditional TV's dual-revenue model of advertising plus carriage fees.

Laura Grinstaff

· The new media environment has resulted in a rise in digital television. It has led to a dispersal of programming across interfaces and delivery systems TV is now inseparable from other media streams · Television is now available to carry around on cell phones, tablets, and personal video recorders (mobile privatization) · Video cultures has become a new term inside of television · No one knows what audiences ar seeing, much less thinking, and more · We don't know how people are engaging with video culture (contexts, patterns, etc) · Why and what are hard to study · New media environment, characterized by digitalization, convergence, choice, interactivity, intertextuality, and extraterritoriality presents both opportunities and challenges for the study of TV and TV audiences · Present in multiple locations and platforms not only in the home but in all public and private spaces · Not only used for entertainment and leisure but for surveillance and social control · Allows people to watch their favorite shows but also shop, bank, vote, and shift programming to the internet · Industrial approach o Audience is a commodity measured and sold to advertisers by media companies o Measurement, ratings · Reception studies approach o Viewers interpret tv texts under specific socio-cultural traditions o Different attention to material context (under what circumstances do people watch/use television?) + symbolic content (what meanings do viewers make of what they watch?) o "Audiencing" - active meaning makers, not an effect of the text Fans/fendoms approach Fandoms move us away from notions of "audiences" towards notions of "publics" ·

Nielson & Ratings (Variety) (Brian Steinberg)

· Tv networks are eager to show they still have viewers that appear to be moving to streaming outlets · Changed protocols during COVID o Resulted in undercounting of TV audience o Networks not satisfied · industry organization decided to suspend its backing of the company's national ratings service and also cancel an agreed-upon hiatus for its support of Nielsen's local TV efforts as well. · Seek a hiatus for its national ratings so it could work to upgrade them with less public scrutiny · Pause has been denied · Remains the currency of choice for media companies, advertisers, and agencies · Issue of how to measure TV viewers who no longer rely on watching TV traditionally o More consumers migrate from linear TV experiences to on demand binge sessions tracking is harder § Media giants to cobble together new measurement techniques that show how much viewership they accumulate as TV fans move from one screen to another § More data tools (set top box patterns, shopping behavior, web tracking) has allowed many of the networks to build proprietary measurement products that let advertisers such as AT&T, Pepsi, etc. find pockets of customers § Each media company has crafted its own system · Finding new measurement solution will require many different parties to come together

Sapna Maheshwari and John Koblin

· Why traditional Tv is in trouble · NYT · Upfronts (networks draw advertisers to NYC for presentations and parties) dazzle marketers and loose · New shows and top talent will be pitched followed by lavish evening affairs · Kick off weeks of negotiations (networks aim to get advertisers to commit to billions of dollars in spending) · Serious ad upheaval (ratings are on the decline among young people (some don't even own tv) · Hard to keep up with the many devices and apps people now use to watch tv shoes · Advertising on tv has long been the best way for marketers to reach a large number of people at once (changing) · Even declining in unexpected areas like national football league · Tv is still good value to paid advertisers hottest · Hottest shows reaching older viewers which is a challenging for brands that want teens and millennials · Google YouTube popular with younger viewers even though it has offensive content (racist videos) · Marketers diverting more money into tech giants like google and Facebook both expanding their video ad business o Target ads · Ads also annoy viewers & they are moving elsewhere o Companies trying to reduce ad time, charge more for less spots

● The role and aura of the showrunner meets two simultaneous needs: "The showrunner-auteur as:

○ (1) a production practice; and ○ (2) a term in the discourse of television's legitimation, promoting the author-function of the showrunner as a guarantee of value" (Newman and Levine, p. 40)

Uprfronts

○ Advertisers pay in advance ○ Discounted rate ○ Networks deliver promised audience ○ Predictor of advertiser confidence in TV

Kernels

○ Called kernels (big story elements that change the narrative in a significant way) ■ Essential to the narrative, change it in a way

● Long story arc

○ Controlled narrative that unfolds over time ○ Show runners plan a season

● Windowing

○ Network ○ Syndication: local stations, cable, OTT ○ International ○ DVD

● Deficit financing

○ Networks pay 60-70 percent of production costs

Cumulative narrative

○ Not just continuity ○ Getting a richer deeper sense of what is going on as the events happen

● Scholarly approaches have been concerned with

○ The effects of television on audiences ○ How audiences make sense of television ○ How representations shape our views of the world

● Come up with at least 3 reasons we want to watch Walter/antiheros (Lotz) (Cable Guys)

○ Why do we watch flawed protagonists ■ Relate morality ■ Alignment/sympathy ■ Charisma ■ Fascination ■ Moral reckoning (Lotz Cable Guys)

The serial form

○ Within that events happen ○ Called kernels (big story elements that change the narrative in a significant way) ■ Essential to the narrative, change it in a way ○ Called satellites (not essential to the story but things that happen that add interest and maybe a little bit of backstory) (add texture)

Characters as "bad feminists"

● "Rhimes's flawed 'sheroes' seem to embody Roxanne Gay's notion of a bad feminist whose cringe-worthy bad choices play out weekly on primetime television. As a black woman, Gay's revelation about her own ambivalence towards feminism makes sense and must resonate with Scandal fans: "I embrace the label of bad feminist because I am human. I am messy. I'm not trying to be an example. I am not trying to be perfect." (Everett, 2015, p. 38)

Centripetal

● (character) ○ Narrative goes into the characters (backstories, history, past relationship, to try to find deeper into them) (intemicacy and interiority of the characters) ● Not only a property of text but how it makes demands on the audience ● Audiences are much more intelligent and drawn that made demands on them

Nielsen Television Audience Measurement in the US

● 120 million TV households ● 302 million viewers (2+ years of age) ● Sampling: ○ 40,000 households ○ 100,000 people (approx.) ○ Attempts to reflect the demographics of the US as a whole: "representative sampling" ○ People meters and portable people meters ○ Zero TV homes

The way we consume media has changed

● 1970s (SIMPLE) ○ Antenna + TV ● Early 2000s (Evolved) ○ Antenna + TV ○ MVPD, Set Top Box ○ Live TV + VOD ● Today (fragmented, complex) ○ Antenna for local + TV ○ MVPD, Set Top Box ○ Live TV + VOD ○ Broadband ■ Smart TV + Connected Devices ■ vMVPD + AVOD ■ SVOD + TVOD The way we watch TV has changed completely. You can see in the 70's, it was simple with just a TV and antenna. In 2000s we added VOD, people could record TV and watch it later. Now today we have all of that, an explosion of streaming services as well as "vMVPDs" or Virtual MVPDs. To put simply, there's more ways to watch, whenever and wherever people want to watch content

Shonda Rhimes

● According to the Everett article and maybe your own experience, what somewhat unusual characteristics are her shows known for? What makes her shows interesting? ● African American women in lead roles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUmLE6LvuVY ● "Colorblind" casting ● Women-centered narratives ● Gay and lesbian characters ● Sexy ● Interracial romances ● multilayered storylines ● fashion thursday night on ABC

Showrunner (noun)

● An industry term describing the person or persons responsible for overseeing all areas of writing and production on a television series and ensuring that each episode is delivered on time and on budget for both the studio that produces the show and the network that airs it

Complex TV: Centripetal characteristics (character)

● Antiheroes and flawed protagonists: Walter White in Breaking Bad ● Jessie isn't actual kid but protects him as one ● Jane is reason for heroin (get rid of problem for son) ● Sees they are on heroin ● Morally trajectory

What are the challenges of the show runner role?

● Balancing creative and managerial roles ● "Quality scripts (and shows) on time" ● Precarious career trajectory, burnout ● Negotiating multiple relationships ● Being taken seriously as a professional (women and people of color) ● Dangers of being an auteur ● Adapting to new media: ○ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gz4VTC54ZF8 ● "Whether you believe season two [of True Detective] is just a bit messy or a major belly flop, it's worth asking, what happened? What it may come down to is the limits of something that seemed to define this genuinely great era of high-end television: the heroic showrunner auteur. Instead of being products made by committee, these new character-driven series were crafted by mavericks and intellectuals who compressed all their experience, all their neuroses, into their storytelling" (Scott Timberg, Salon.com 2015)

How I Met Your Mother (2005-2014)

● CBS series made by twentieth TV ● After the first run, licensed in 2008 to Lifetime for $750,000 per episode, plus three 30 second spots in each episode to sell to national advertisers (approx. $200,000 per episode) ● Twentieth TV also syndicated to local stations ($350 million total) ● Total: almost half a billion dollars (not including international distribution or streaming)

What made Netflix successful in building a library of shows with black content?

● Competition: Drawing attention to new original programming ● Organization: Distributed power to make decisions to buy and commission shows ● Hiring: 5 Black execs (2015) who built relationships with Black writers, directors, and actors ● Money: ○ The power of audience size ○ Black content was "efficient"

New forms of masculinity: Contexts

● Complex TV ● Post-second-wave feminism ○ the "masculine mystique" (Stephanie Coontz) ○ Responsibilities to a family ○ Relationships with wives and girlfriends ○ Blame fathers, not wives ● New economic conditions for middle classes ● "The protagonists understand that many of the patriarchal aspects of masculinities common to their fathers' generation have been made unacceptable; unable to embody an alternative and frustrated by the older generation's unwillingness to acknowledge the bankruptcy of its legacy, they remain perplexed by who they are to be" (Lotz p. 75)

How do we account for the rise of the showrunner role?

● Complex television ● Serialization ● Cable ● Glimpses of creative process ○ DVD commentary, social media, comic con, etc ● Internet and social media= celebrity ● Tweeting showrunners "project their star texts and interact with audiences, offering a sense of authentic and perpetual access to fans, seemingly bypassing the more polished images filtered through publicists" (Newman and Levine, p. 56) ● TV as art: ○ The auteur ○ Elevating TV as a medium ○ Creating distinctions: with what? ○ Emily Nussbaum in New York magazine, 2009: "[The 2000s were] most centrally and importantly the first decade when television became recognizable as art, great art: collectible and life-changing and transformative and lasting. As the sixties are to music and the seventies to movies, the aughts [2000s]—which produced the best and worst shows in history—were to TV. It was a period of exhilarating craftsmanship and formal experimentation, accompanied by spurts of anxious grandiosity (for the first half of the decade, fans compared anything good to Dickens, Shakespeare, or Scorsese, because nothing so ambitious had existed in TV history)."

New forms of masculinity: Contexts II

● Complex tv ● Post-second wave feminism ○ Employment, housing, ■ The "masculine mystique" ● Men must be financially successful & emotionally available ● responsibilities to family ● Relationship with wives and girlfriends ● Blame fathers, not wives ● New economic conditions for middle classes ● Skyler: YouTube clip ○ Someone has to protect this family from the protector ○ Women have to pick up the pieces

What do showrunners do?

● Creative AND managerial role ● Responsible for production and budgets ● Brand manager in transmedia environments

Complex show

● Curb ● Black mirror ● Dark ● Offer an alternative to conventional television narrative form ● Emergence in late 1990s and growth throughout the 21st century ● Redefines episodic forms under the influence of serial narration not necessarily a complete merger of episodic and serial forms but a shifting balance ● Rejecting the need for plot closure within every ep ● Serial techniques ● Character development and intimacy ● Defying television serial conventions ● Finite shows

What are the costs of making TV?

● Development costs—HIGH RISK ○ A studio pays to buy a script ○ Only 1 in 10 scripts get made into a pilot ○ Pilots cost around $1m to produce ○ Only 20% of pilots get produced into series ● Production costs ○ Salaries, sets, directors, costumes, props, lighting, cinematography, sound etc. ○ Post-production: graphics, animation, digital effects, titles etc ● Marketing and distribution costs ○ Publicity, marketing ○ DVDs and other merchandise ● Overhead costs ○ Production company admin staff, real estate, technical equipment, office furniture, general production expenses, etc

Television Studies Audience Research

● Focuses on the audience as constituted through real life viewing practices ● Bases interpretative work on the material specificities of actual viewers: "To get close to those studied as a way of understanding what their experiences and activities mean to them"; ● Can include a range of methods; ● Emphasizes particularization over generalization, the concrete over the abstract, "thick" detail over "thin" survey.

Is streaming a new genre of television?

● It's not a pilot ep, first season is the pilot and if it doesn't get an audience it gets canceled ○ Imagine a whole first season ○ Tell at least one big story ○ Even if it is not a success ○ "The suck" ○ New narratives for time-shifters and binge viewers ○ De-emphasizing the pilot ○ No mid-season recalibration ○ No "digestion time" between episodes

Lotz

● Male-cantered serials are compelling protagonists ● Depth and nuanced characterizations that make the audiences root for them even tho they do bad things and are bad men ● The flaws and failures make the series and characters so compelling ● A great drama has writers who are constantly challenging you as a viewer ● Protagonist of the male centered serials create a viewing pleasure that is not about id with the character but about the stimulation of considering one's own moral compass or of parsing the mixed emotions of the show that draws the audience in ● What is it to be considered a male ● Male struggles

Why measurement matters:

● Networks want most money for commercial slots VERSUS advertisers don't want to pay for audiences who aren't there ● Ratings shape programming

Quality TV= Complex TV?

● No: What is the difference ● Quality is a. A value judgment b. Lacks specificity

What are the variables that a brand marketer needs to consider deciding on what platforms to leverage?

● Price ● Targeting ability ● Ability to leverage first party data ● Scale ● Ability to choose content, versus buy programmatically ● Specific Content ● Context of Show- overall, within program ● Ad experience/ad load/interactivity ● Measurement

Alternative forms of monetizing legacy TV

● Product placement ● Integration ○ Yoplait example ● Branded entertainment ● Single sponsorship (sports)

TV Industry History of Economic Model

● Programming/Storytelling is" financed by/funded by" advertising ● First, one advertiser per program in radio and TV Evolved to "Magazine format" with multiple advertisers ● Led to first era of consumerism/engine for the economy (1960's+) ● Great Programming/editorial ● Consumers dependent on programming and the advertising ● Brands/Advertisers dependent advertising and the programming ● Dominant model for many years - but is that has changed

Complex Women: Excusatio

● Rape revenge ● Looking for daddy ● Family responsibilities ○ Money ● Protection (mama bear) Why do we like her? ● Issue of relative morality ● People around her are really bad ● Idea that she's charismatic, attractive, etc ● Sexually objectified: MILF ○ Milf weed ● Has to operate on male turn survives using her sexuality ● infantilized, needs protection (by the powerful men around her) ● Reproductive and a mother (her role is that she is reproductive - set of family motherhood is central to reason to be involved) Complex women: Gendered frames ● Sexually objectified: MILF ● On male turf: survives using her sexuality ● Infantilized, needs protection ● Reproductive and a mother

Challenges of measuring contemporary audiences

● Sampling: underrepresentation ● Audience fragmentation: sample size decreases because of many options for viewiing ● Multiple platforms for delivery: how to capture those audiences ● Commercial skipping: cant count ● Multiple screen viewing: attentiveness, are people actually engaging with the content ● Engagement and buzz: large audience does not mean attention ● Covid underreporting: can't get into people's homes for box upkeep, thus underrepresented audiences for a year

Complex TV: Centrifugal characteristics (Narrative)

● Shows that have particular textual features ● Shows that make significant demands on their audiences ● Shows that respond to: ○ Audience fragmentation ○ New distribution technologies ○ New distribution technologies ○ New economies ○ New economies ○ New roles (the showrunner)

Complex TV:

● Shows that have particular textual features ● Shows that make significant demands on their audiences ● Shows that respond to: ○ Audience fragmentation ○ New distribution technologies ○ New economies ○ New roles (the showrunner) What about it makes it complex? ● Two types of complexity ● Centrifugal ○ Movement outwards ○ Narrative ● Centripetal ○ Movement inwards ○ Character

Even if you hate Skyler White on Breaking Bad, She Changed TV Forever

● Strong female leads evolved ● We want female characters like Skyler White ● Now we have a tolerance a craving for shows with strong female leads ● Skyler = protagonist ○ Prioritizing the safety of her children, stand up to Walter (dangerous), and gave her kids a childhood ● the godmother of the modern-day strong female lead ● wasn't celebrated until the end of the series ● happened: new era of recaps (no longer just an accessory to male counterpart

Key economic players in TV industries:

● US= commercial system ● What are the products on sale? ○ Content ○ Audiences ● Who pays for TV?

Bird: "Imagining Indians"

● What did she find? ○ White groups (2 female 2 male)- portrayals of Native Americans very one-dimensional, relied on pop culture to inform, strong silent type o American Indian groups (2 female, 2 male)- Native characters based on their lived experiences and trauma) o Mixed groups (1F 1M)- women more open and willing to listen but didn't get very far in developing a story, men more confrontational and got pretty much nothing concrete down

Female character (Nancy Botwin on Weeds)

● Widow and suburban mother of two after husband dies from a heart attack (sells weed for a living) ● Raises 2 sons Silas and Shane Steboe ● She gets remarried 3x each husband dies lovers both male and female ● Spends time in jail in RV ● Role traditionally would have been male ● Skills, behaviors, psychological traits that were once masculine ● Disrupt femininity

Discrimination gets worse at the upper levels (2020)

● Women represent 50% of staff writers, 53% of story editors, 49% of executive story editor, 42% of co-producers, 41% of producers, 51% of supervising producers, 38% of consulting producers, 34% of co-exec producers, 17% of executive producers, and 24% of showrunners ● People of color make up 45% of staff writers, 38% of story editors, 47% of executive story editors, 37% of co-producers, 20% of consulting producers, 23% of co-executive producers, 12% of executive producers, and 12% of showrunners ● Despite the fact that 56.7 million American's identify as disabled, writers with disabilities make up less than 1 % of employed TV writers