Mid-term prep guide
classic network system
(??) - centralized distribution - safe programming -
style and encoding's impact on the meanings of M*A*S*H and AITF
(??) Depicted the lives of a mobile army hospital Collapsed home and work Portrayed professional problems as inescapable. Outside always visible (except in OR) Characters round into quasi-familial relationships Greater emphasis on cinematic technique Visual depth and greater variety of camera angles Multiple identifications and complex web of relationships Narrative spaces with stable moods, encoded by style (e.g. sound) Banter enshrined as ritual of workplace families (???)
MTM as corporate author
(???) Professional and personal growth of a single news producer in Minneapolis Dual-track stories involving home and work Replaced nuclear family with friends Rhoda and Phyllis Friends spun-off Storylines shift focus to work friends Cultural anxieties at work here?
hegemony
(cultural hegemony from wiki) Culturally, hegemony also is established by means of language, specifically the imposed lingua franca of the hegemon (leader state), which then is the official source of information for the people of the society of the sub-ordinate state. Therefore, in the selection of the particular information to be communicated to the sub-ordinate populace, the language of the hegemon thus limits what is communicated; hence, the source practises hegemonic influence upon the person or people receiving the given information. In contemporary society, the exemplar hegemonic organisations are churches and the mass communications media that continually transmit data and information to the public. As such, the ideologic content of the data and information are determined by the vocabulary with which the messages are presented — how the messages are presented; thereby determines the value of the information as "reliable" or "unreliable", as "true" or "false", for the recipient reader, listener, and viewer. Hence language is essential to the imposition, establishment, and functioning of the cultural hegemony that influences what and how people think about the status quo of their society Ouellette: struggle between dominance and consent waged through mass culture
PBS v. network quality
(is this what this term means?) Oullette: 3 networks devote 2 percent of time to news and public affairs, while PBS devoted a third of time to this material (including election, governmental, and town hall coverage) PBS: The Advocates (educational show, politically balanced debates), Networks: when PBS was created in 1967, networks still seen as a part of "vast wasteland"
least objectionable programming
- non controversial in content, trying to imitate other successful formulas -catering to the lowest common denominator to attract large audiences - this is impt to get to syndication, stay on the air for 5 years
"Quality television" vs. "relevance programming"
- quality: a sign to a mental concept. associated with feminity (?) (????) (MTM) -relevance: AITF 1. signs are in a degree arbitrary to reality (just culturally linked to concepts we've learned) 2. referentiality: signs refer to something real (not a concept.) stuff that exists you feel, that you've experience (???)
O&Os
-owned and operated stations -often in major cities (biggest market in the countries - NY, LA, etc.) -sell regional ads as well as national ones - where the money is made! (affiliates are any station with a broadcast license that's not an O&O, they pay for a package from network and then they make money off of local advertising) 70% of CBS' income came from owned and operated systems - class notes: network = stations hooked together by wires. networks had a cap on O&Os. started at 5, today is a percentage of national audience. - if networks are smart, they'll appeal to this urban audience. want the highest ratings here bc that's where they make their money. - one of the reasons for the phenomena of this urban appeal programming to be deemed "quality"
CPB's model of quality
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Creeber's taxonomy of drama formats
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Event TV
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Framing the history of slavery for the white imagination in Roots
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Masterpiece Theater as syndication or co-production
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McCabe's hierarchy of discourse
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NBC's quality strategy of the 1960s
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Narrative and character complexity as hallmark of MTM sitcom style
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Roots and the immigrant myth
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adaptation of Altmanesque style
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closed and open texts
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cultural capital
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culture as commodity
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culture as praxis, cultural struggle as class struggle
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deficit financing
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discourse
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dominant culture and incorporation
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duration's impact on identification and engagement
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exnomination
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flow
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guilty pleasures
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kinship and ritual as elements of 1980s quality
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mass culture as homogenization and the concealment of class
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multi-episode and seasonal narrative arcs
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myth and the "Tinker Touch"
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patriarchal shift in MTM dramas
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policy v. cultural elites
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polysemy and structured polysemy
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pseudoindividuality
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reasons for critical and scholarly embrace of CBS's early 70s "quality"
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relevance, realism, race, and referentiality
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serialization, textual openness, and paradigmatic complexity
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single play and flexi-narrative
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social realism, dramatic realism, documentary realism, and emotional realism
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taste and social distinction
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Audience v. audiences v. viewers
1. audiences - connotes passivity - just sitting there 2. blending all audiences together as "the audience" = undifferentiated mass. implies that everyone gets same meaning from it. implies that motivations are the same. reality: diff. people watch Tv for different reasons. "the mass" = mentally sloppy. implies mechanistic functions (but it's really not). if you use audience, at least use audiences 3. viewers - more activity connoted. engaged in process of viewing: not just a spectator, not just predictably responding to stimuli, viewers are socially situated in real contexts. viewer has a social identity and role in the house. viewing experience is diff. for class, gender, family role, etc.
style
1. mise-en-scene: The elements placed before the camera Setting and Props Actors and Acting Costume and Make-up Lighting placement and blocking Often most obvious element of ideologically or discursively meaningful representations 2. sound: Voice Dialogue Gives voice to discourses Constructs character and conflict Voice over Focusing attention on narrative elements Policing alternate interpretations Authoritative Laughter (esp. non-diagetic laughter, laugh tracks, etc.) Music Poetic v. Prosaic Noise how we know about their feelings (hard to convey the inner state through only visuals 3. Camera work: Framing (parts of set you do and don't get to see) Movement (sense of space) Distance (close-up, medium shot, long shot, relative size of figure on screen) Focus and depth of field (blurring vs. sharp) Emphasizes Characters and Objects Establishes Point of View Constructs Emotional Relationships 4. Editing: Decisions to cut and not cut Juxtaposition of shots Duration of shots (both on set and in editing room) Establishes Spatial and Character Relationships (associations made with iconography) Can "Dialectically" Make Articulations (like if you cut from the czar to rooster, it says something about that association) Rhythm and Pacing
self-reflexivity, feminism, and the "politics of the signifier"
?? Lentz reading
A, B, C plots
A Plot The central case (Murder of the Week) Generally pursued by the leader Almost always resolved B Plot Secondary case, interpersonal, or bureaucratic issues: often comedic or romantic Generally pursued by a middle member of the hierarchy (romance plots more varied) Almost always resolved/contained C Plot Comic conflict, initiate story, or continuing story Left open
household flow
Altman: Nielsen ratings tell you that the TV is on and turned to a certain channel, but are people sitting there watching? studies done to prove that people are often watching Tv while doing other things (housework, cooking, eating, talking, hw, etc.). If half the time your TV is on you're not actually looking at it, that means the sound track is really important. remember this can be anywhere (doctor's office, student union, bar, etc.). Household flow characterizes TV in that programming is fragmented into short segments which reflect the limited continuous viewing time of anyone in front of TV.
cultural and economic functions of television sound
Altman: the soundtrack must: 1. keep you updated on the plot, score of game, etc. 2. let you know when something impt is going to happen 3. recognizable continuity of content and sound (one sport to another on weekend afternoons, etc.). if there is a break in continuity, risk that Tv will be turned off. 4. must go along with regular "flow" of the day. interrupt one kind of program to update with another if called for. news reports during Olympic coverage, etc. sound track definitions: labeling: labeling the menu-driven items of tv. operative for fragmented programming. You'll know Good Morning American came back on b/c you'll hear the labeling cues (if you're not watching) italicizing: This is what you've been waiting for! Come look at the tv now! sound hermeneutic: the sound asks where am i coming from? the image provides the answer, the source of the sound. internal audience: ex: listening to commentators at a sports game. italicizing function, editing function. they'll tell us what we need to know. the sound advance: internal audience often reacts before spectacle is revealed (applause card held up before emcee comes out) discursification: again, calling you back, but tailoring it just for you -- the "instant replay" is a great example
"Gray belt" shows
Alvey reading: neither hit shows, nor flops. programmer, scheduler VP of network: should I renew this show? He will probably look at demographics: what's the age, SCS of viewer. reason for star trek renewal (good demographics). critical acclaim and emmy's can also save a "gray belt" show. (reason why "hill street blues" was renewed.
"sea change" v. culmination for CBS in 1970
Alvey says it was more gradual, over time, but Sewell thinks it was big change, though roots of it were there before. they cancelled a bunch of "rural" sitcoms b/c they were underperforming in urban markets (even though they were doing really well overall) -- these urban markets were where their O&Os were and urban markets are wealthier, younger, professionals. this was all about the rise in importance of demographics -- not just how many people are watching, but what kind of person is watching.
Britishness as quality
Britishness is perceived as higher class (even if it might not be in actuality). connotations are culturally high. civilization is older, more distinguished. lens of looking at Britain: we can look at their class conflict, and therefore look at our own in an indirect way. (re-inscribes the US class struggle). genius of historical fiction: represent a battled class system and say thank goodness we don't have that! while at the same time drinking in the traditions of your class (who is watching the show too) -- you get to both enjoy and deny the class system.
bi-polar audiences
CBS had a problem around 1970, but they had the highest ratings: basically, too many kids and old ladies. this age gap led to the term "bi-polar" because they were missing a huge, lucrative chunk of the market: young, middle aged audience was watching other shows.
rube-shucking
CBS's top-rated "country" schedule: Dominated by long-running shows like The Beverly Hillbillies, Green Acres, The Red Skelton Show, and Hee Haw. Enormously popular→CBS No. 1 In 1970 CBS overhauls schedule Cancel rural shows Replace with new types of situation comedy Rural sitcoms underperformed in urban markets CBS's poor performance in big city markets was a problem for two main reasons. O & Os: 70% of CBS's income Demographics & Ratings
imagining the working woman as Go-Getter
D'acci: go-getters are aggressive, self-motivated, goal oriented, and less influenced by men in their lives. image of a "pretty vp, swinging along in a tailored suit" became the stereotype for this concept. 43% of women identified with this term in Nickles' study. even women who are homemakers can think like a working woman and see themselves as this. this marketing strategy is the solution to the fragmentation of the market (divorce, single women, not as many nuclear families). keep in mind that this marketing campaign was mostly tailored for white working women. - many shows catered toward this demographic in 70s and 80s
narrative
Distinction between Story and Plot Story is "what happened," the order of events in the story world Plot is the "telling," how the audience is made aware of these events - if info is withheld, can make program surprising, we make sense of the plot to know the story, can help make a program more pleasurable The controlled flow of information engages the audience Speculatively, Emotionally A Plots, B Plots, C Plots Story Arcs Paradigmatic: The model Recurring set of characters, settings, and situations Meaningful somewhat independently of individual episodes Syntagmatic: Events within episodes or story arcs Allow for contained engagement with discourses Can alter paradigm
color programming and the youth market
Dual appeal for shows: African-Americans and socially liberal white Americans, presumed to be young Representations of racial harmony and empowered women who could make it on their own (Julia) "Hip" characters and themes to appeal to youth culture. e.g. The Mod Squad Social Satire: Flirting with counter-cultural elements came in sketch comedy e.g. Rowan and Martin's Laugh-in and The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour advertisers want younger viewers bc they're less set in their buying habits, have more brand loyalty later on, they'll live longer and continue to buy your product. color programming appeals to a wealthier demographic. NBC is first to go w/ full color line up. Radio Corporation of America owns NBC and is the owner of patents and biggest production of color TV - by making NBC all in color, helping to sell color TVs. * Star Trek is a great example of color programming at youth market. Color show on NBC (all color network) - wanted people to buy color Tvs! Star trek helped to sell them.
cultural incentives for multiple leads
Ensemble diversity and demographic pluralism More points for audience appeal Teen characters to draw teen audiences. Some racial diversity Countering criticism of "whitewash" Programs depict order and integration
self-reflexivity as quality
Feuer: self referentiality. disrupting ideological invisibility of TV, valorizes itself and viewers at expense of TV itself. networks being criticized. taking pleasure of this as a quality viewer (it's distinct from regular program and regular viewers). elitism - makes you feel special for being in on it.
little epiphanies and laughter of recognition
Feuer: wants to praise MTM for its mode of humor, being "human," for thinking about human psychology and the human condition. epiphanies: realizations, moments of insight, humor comes from psych. insight into the human condition. - laughter of recognition: "i do that stupid thing too!" "I feel that too." "I can be selfish like that" -socially liberal aesthetic of trying to understand and sympathize with others. - in contrast to insult humor (all in the family), physical comedy (slip on banana peel, facial expressions), referentiality (jokes about tv)
vulgar taste
French sociologist Bourdieu. compare elite haute cuisine and working class food. sure, the cuisine is more nutritious (and you have to be of a certain class to enjoy), and you might be fine with fewer calories at your office, but the construction worker needs ribs and beans (more practical, fulfilling, anyone can enjoy)
Class as taste in Cheers
Hilmes: NBC was attempting to get the "quality" audiences of upscale urbanites without losing the mass market. high culture and working class together in intimate space, watch them interact. (??? more?)
industrial and cultural functions of polysemic class-based humor
Hilmes: every episode of Cheers as a resolution between high and low class based humor (usually someone going too far in either direction), at the end, the group triumphs and is more important than the cultural distinctions. importance of "workplace family." maybe different values, but we're all the same underneath. - economically, it's mixed up: Sam is wealthiest one - owner of the bar, but dirt under his nails attitude. Diane is a college graduate but working as a waitress after engagement ended. even though Diane might have more "cultural knowledge" she is still working for Sam, which works to differentiate economics from class allegiance on the show.
textual characterizations and mediations of culture
Hilmes: premise of the conflict in Cheers is between high and low culture, art v. entertainment, academy v. the masses. jokes carried out so that if you're in on the joke, you think it's funny b/c you get the references, if you don't get the joke, at least we know that we don't know (unlike Coach), but many of the characters' attitudes towards the pretentious remarks makes us feel more comfortable and even able to laugh along with the laugh track at the pretentiousness.
MTM Enterprises
MTM "Quality Sitcoms" Texts marked by emphasis on strong writing, non-nuclear families, ensemble casts Appealing to socially liberal politics and worldview, and also middle class taste culture Paradigm: The Mary Tyler Moore Show Spinoffs: Phyllis, Rhoda Clones: Bob Newhart Show, Paul Sand in Friends and Lovers ex: job interview scene in the pilot of MTM. looping set of questions and answers: script-switch joke (good writing for intelligent audience) - young women are the golden center of market (household buying power)
"Affinity of purpose" public relations for Mobil
Mobil supported Masterpiece theater, claiming that the company "has no idea who watches Masterpiece Theatre. We [are] simply looking to support quality television." however, for a relatively small cost, they can get 50 hours of programming a week and hit both people who think they're "elite" for watching it and others (59% high school education or less - mirrors american population) class notes: Mobil not trying to sell a product, but you need it to have a car. "quality brand of oil" is good image, but they have a bad image of environmental concerns. oil prices going up during this time bc of oil embargo by Arab states. bad reputation. public relations: sponsored op-ed pieces in the NYTimes, get themselves on PBS. "affinity of purpose" with the PMC, not the mass. they are targeting decision makers, politicians, corporate watchers. How does "Upstairs, downstairs help achieve these goals?" "aura of high culture" - strong articulation of social order, speaks to a social system. seen as morally complex, makes you wait to get all the answers. Jarvik: (1) cultural excellence indicates corporate excellence; (2) cultural projects present top managers as "corporate statesmen.., intellectually entitled to be listened to on vital public-policy issues"; (3) such projects improve employee morale and loyalty; (4) corporations which support the arts "usually find themselves in a position to play an influential role in the community's political affairs"; (5) arts sponsorship is important for networking because it "allows you to entertain important customers at openings, special tours and similar events, where you have the opportunity to introduce important people to other important people"; (6) since politicians have "favourite projects, your sponsorship of similar projects and causes provides the opportunity to form useful alliances and valuable contacts"; (7) arts support helps in recruiting intelligent and talented emplyees; (8) it refutes the criticism that corporations are anti-social, since "participa- tion in cultural or arts programs can present excellent opportunities to be involved in constructive social action" [8].
ensemble pluralism
More characters = more sources for stories Demands of innovation and industrial production Rise of interwoven storylines on primetime ex: Warner Brothers' Detectives - 77 Sunset Strip (??)
CPB's public affairs priorities and their governmental functions
Mostly appealed to members of the PMC Articulated as imperative to the proper functioning of the two-step flow Largely absent from network television in the 1950s and '60s Supported through ETV and the Ford Foundation Developed in response to: Discourse of commercial TV as both debased and popular and The articulated notion of an apathetic and hedonistic mass The political activity of the 1960s defined as deviant Unmet needs/desires of PMC
Tandem Productions
Norman Lear "relevant sitcoms": Tandem Productions: Norman Lear and Bud Yorkin Texts use comedy as vehicle for social commentary All in the Family intended to confront social problems head on AITF was controversial - Conservatives thought show was too liberal Liberals worried Archie's bigoted remarks not seen as satire But American kept watching (No. 1 1971-6) Spin-offs: AITF begat The Jeffersons and also Maude, which begat Good Times the African American neighbor messes with Archie -- so ridiculous, it's funny. that is except if you're conservative and you take Archie's side (known as an "oppositional reading") - archie as the axial character that the story rotates around - show is known for cultural political, intergenerational boxing matches
public affairs programming as "cultural technology"
Ouellette reading. PBS emerged out of the "vast wasteland" - works with a governmentality (educating the audience, namely the Professional Managerial Class) - PBS created with the BBC in mind. - education and information to PMC. seen as filling a huge need. - in a way, served the politically deviant young generation of the 60's - these are the next thought leaders!
industrial motivations for multiple leads
Performer concerns Lower production burden Insurance against star power
franchise shows
Revolve around occupations and stable institutions Crime of the week Disease of the week Case of the week Quintessentially generic Dragnet, Ben Casey and Dr. Kildare, Perry Mason, and 77 Sunset Strip (1950s and '60s) Hawaii Five-O, Marcus Welby, M.D., and Barnaby Jones (1970s) Work as male sphere of problem-solving
two-step flow and opinion leaders
Rise of broadcasting accelerates elite anxieties about popular culture and its "impact" on the masses Arguments that media distorted and distracted, hindering proper democratic decision making Some anxieties resolved through theorization of opinion leaders and a two-step flow - mass of laborers are manipulable by broadcast - media distorts and distracts the masses from making good decisions. - laborers look to managers, preachers, teachers as opinion leaders in society. - need for certain type of broadcasting (meeting the information needs of leaders). - doesn't need to popular with everyone, just the PMC - communication theory: worry in the 30s that radio broadcast was being used to stoke popular passions for the producers own purposes (foreign demagogs on the rise - lots of propaganda, manipulation of masses. ex: Hitler) - communication research done: broadcasting does make people vulnerable, but with 2 step flow, we are more influenced by our opinion leaders, so if we can provide opinion leaders with info to make good decisions, they can be a leader to others. - senders - messages - opinion leaders/ masses(these interact with each other) - masses reaction
professional managerial class
Rises out of industrial capitalism in the late 19th century (per Ehrenreichs) Progressive reformers articulate the values of this class throughout the early 20th C. Contradiction between uplift of others and aggrandizement of selves Valuing of expertise, education, and progressive movement (want to put their values on others) Central to debates about media effects
workplace families
Significant roots in broadcast comedy Jack Benny's shows (1930s) Workplace sitcoms Our Miss Brooks and Private Secretary migrate to television (1950s) Men at Work Early sixties, more family men shown working Both boss and parent to their deputies and supervisees
audience commodity v. commodity audience
Smythe's "audience commodity" depends on the audience's work as consumers Consequently television programs have a goal of teaching economically (and culturally) useful ways of buying and being Meehan's "commodity audience" depends on the audience's representation through ratings that render them into a medium of exchange
Star Trek renewal
Star Trek was a "gray belt" show, but had a great audience: drew the right demographic of educated, high SCS, young men. this show was a particular asset to NBC b/c it was all in color (NBC's parent company RCA wanted to sell color tvs)
working women as quality audiences
Two competing notions of the quality audience in the 1980s Professional managerial class (still conceived of as male) Working women - particularly upscale but also middle and working class "Professional women" Hit both of these targets Seen as role models for other working women Psychographic of the "Go-Getter" D'acci: advertisers see middle-class, white women as their main consumers of products. Cagney and Lacey was able to stay on air, despite poor overall ratings, b/c of the "quality audience" : upscale working women between ages of 18 - 54 - before women were impt b/c they had influential buying power in the home, now they have a disposable income of their own. - professional women as conspicuous consumers (role models for other women)
Altman's critique of William's theorization of flow
Williams said that there was shift from sequence as programming to sequence as flow. He said this was characteristic of all TV and even the TV experience itself. Altman says flow exists and is useful to analyze TV, but maybe it's not characteristic of the experience itself. Altman says you have to take into account house-hold flow and sound track cues (sound track tells you when to tune back in). Take into account countries that restrict hours of programming. He argues that there is a lot of difference of flow based on culture. Altman says that flow is related to the "commodification of the spectator in a capitalist, free enterprise system" (meaning that there are networks competing for viewers and networks make money off getting more viewers.) range: low flow - eastern bloc countries. medium flow - France (heavily socialized country). high flow - US.
magazine sponsorship
allows for multiple commercial spots through out the program, allows networks to create audience flow, stronger network identity, and maximize profits.
psychographic
clear cut, quantifiable categories, gender, age, socioeconomic status, basically things on a census form. 1. affinities: things that people like, interested in (ESPN = affinity for sports) 2. psychographics (representations rather than real people) exist in minds of marketers and program execs: ex: the go-getter: real women might identify with this, but more to do with convos in TV and ad industry.
miniseries as "loss leaders"
concept from retail: put items on sale, break even on those things but make a killing on others. just gets them in the door. maybe you came to ABC for Roots, but you'll view ads from other programs, serves as a general promotional service, in public eye, might now even break even on ad revenue, but by coming to network, they might stay there. Mad Men kind of serves as a loss leader on AMC (costs a lot to make, this show, and almost all others don't make money on original airing, but hope to make it up in syndication) - if a channel has a "loss leader" it's also insurance that the cable/ dish company won't get rid of them - people would be mad
constructing women in C&L's programming flow, secondary and tertiary discourses, and advocacy
d'acci?
gender and generic motivation
d'acci?
demographics
de-emphasis on numbers and a greater emphasis on "demographics", -- directing television shows toward specific audience groups. sponsors becoming concerned with audience composition. alvey says this shift began long before 1970
governmentality
discipline and educate, rather than persuade & naturalize its values. (this is an approach of PBS to put forth notions of good citizenship) ex: museums: look and learn - the making of good citizens. PBS as governmental not hegemonic
moral paradigms
focus on protection or development of the culture's moral center
traditional aesthetic discourse
focus on the broadcast of high culture or a reasonable facsimile thereof
oligopoly/ oligopsony
from slide: oligopoly: Big 3 own stations Recruit affiliates Drive out independents oligopsony: Nets hold coercive power as buyers Force studios to deficit finance Leverage to gain ownership and syndication rights Studios "Captive Suppliers" to Nets
mode
how a program presents itself to the audience. comedy presents itself as funny, drama presents itself as emotionally engaging, news presents itself as true, and reality tv presents itself as "real" realism v. irony and satire v. fantasy
captive suppliers
if you're a TV producer and you want a show on TV in the 60s or 70s you MUST go through one of the 3 big networks
vast wasteland
in Minow's speech, he talks about the endless game shows, "formula comedies with totally unbelievable families," lots of violence, cartoons, lots of commercials, only a few programs to enjoy, and lots of boredom. he argues that we can do better. Mitell refers to this in terms of the 60s and 70s (what other people think)
professional codes and practices
include both generic hierarchies within institutions and more strictly technical discussions
quiz show scandals
late 50s. Both NBC and CBS' popular quiz shows were discovered to have been rigged to create dramatic intrigue. networks used this as the impetus for changing sponsorship systems: they said that if they had been in charge of programming, instead of the greedy, ratings hungry sponsors, they would have been ethical and kept the public in mind. used this to get public support for shifting to magazine sponsorship.
realist paradigms
looking at "the key criteria ... of adequacy, objectivity, immediacy"
sponsor system
networks as "brokers of airtime" -- selling time slots to advertisers and letting them decide on programming for that hour or block. lucrative and gets the risk off the network BUT they get frustrated with lack of control of programming. also can't capitalize off hit shows (I love Lucy,etc.) popular through the 50's, but change begins. see "magazine sponsorship" from slide: U.S. broadcast programs were produced in the interest of sponsors Beginning in the 1920s on radio Continuing into television (late-40s to late-50s) Networks had limited control over creative content of most programs Instead program's creative team answered to ad agency/sponsor
Minow's regulatory principles
notes: networks rely on ratings too much good TV would look like: diverse, local, educating (not just violence, westerns, etc.) TV should: 1. looking at the viewer as a child -- provide more than ice cream! broadcasters as custodian of moral fiber of nation. if we just eat ice cream, we are what we eat -- you need nutrients to be a good citizen 2. looking at viewer as citizen: we don't want other nations to look at us as decadent.. ascribing political agency to the viewer who has the ability to act, make decisions - inform them, develop their morality, not just an aesthetic precept ex: Dragnet would be close to good TV b/c it doesn't show violence, articulates notion of civic duty of police officers
vertical integration
owning the means of production, distribution, and exhibition of films/ TV programs (networks only achieved this with owned & operated affiliate stations -- exhibition) from slide: Big 3 networks commission/produce and schedule programming Move to spot ads, multiple sponsorship Sponsor control out notes: commissioning shows, creative control, scheduling, distributing to stations (mirrors a lot of other industry controls of the time)
innovation-imitation-saturation
part of risk minimization in TV programming to get to syndication. it's easier to copy what's been successful than to be original.
Programs v. texts (per Fiske)
programs: we see, we hear texts: produced through act of viewing, meaning making the term texts allows for discussion on different interpretations. conflict between preferred meaning & decoders' meaning: oppositional reading. programs are turned into texts by viewers, who bring their own agendas
quality TV as liberal TV and fostering distinction
quality is ideological for Feuer: appeal to liberals. not an appeal for radicals, or avant-garde disruption of radical sense of real, but for these people this is as good (liberal) as it's going to get (more?)
ratings, shares, and HUTs
ratings: ratings serve as a form of currency, system of exchange. ads were sold based off of these numbers. means of evaluating network success. production companies want to put their program on networks with higher ratings. provide data for scheduling and promotion, renewal, cancellation. ratings began mid-century, formalized by Nielsen, works by sampling the population. puts machines in people's homes - can tell if TV is on and what channel it's turned to. if you rely on a large and representative sample, much more cost-effective than asking everyone what they watched. especially with only 3 networks, it's not that hard to figure out what people are watching. Nielsen underrepresented poor, black, non-English speaking (hard to get into these people's homes). however, this demographic skew might be good for advertisers. HUT: Houses using TV: how many TVs are on, includes people in other room, etc. ratings take into account every house that has a TV, even if the TV wasn't on. HUT becomes impt for SHARE. used to assess general health of tv and shares. Share: proportion watching a program of all house using TV (HUT) at any given time. (250,000 viewers, 25,000 are watching a show. share = 10) ratings used to set prices, but share can be good to determine show success (ex. friday night programs: not a lot of people watching TV, so if you get a share of 60 on a friday night that's awesome!)
entertainment and leisure codes
rooted in a "practical" quality and linked to the functional aesthetic of Bourdieu's "vulgar taste"
genre
similarities to other shows that overtly structure meaning making. setting: Western situation: gun fight stock characters: wacky neighbor iconography: badges, uniforms, cop cars for cop show scheduling & mode are also cues ^^ expectations you bring to the program before you watch it
risk minimization
slide: 2 imperatives: Keep it cheap, go into debt as little as possible. Make show that has best chance of lasting 4/5 years. DIDN'T see: Extravagant productions Controversial themes Experimental forms "High brow" entertainment DID see: Innovation-Imitation-Saturation: easier to copy Consistency—series with endless variations on one concept/situation. Hence phasing out anthology drama for Western and Franchise dramas Hence dominance of sitcom (vs. sketch, less predictable & consistent) Formulaic shows like fantasy/rural sitcoms Could last at least 4 years (not-controversial) For syndication, not too expensive.
scheduling
somewhat antiquated concept now (w/ Netflix & DVR, but still impt for live programming, etc.) basically, what time & channel the show is on. timing based on demographics (ex: soap operas aimed at stay at home moms 10 AM - 3 PM, saturday morning cartoons are aimed at children who wake up early on weekends, etc.) - putting a show on different channel, even at the same time, gives it a different meaning (if you put something on FX, etc.) slide: Structures expectations for program in terms of relationship with audience, promotion, and segmentations and flow What network or channel is it on? When is it on? Who is it for? How is it paid for? Example: Sopranos v. Jeopardy
ETV and the Ford Foundation
supported PBS.
telefilm style
switch to film instead of live in the late 50s (early 50s had a lot of live programming). program shot w/ single camera on a set, like a cheap movie, studio audience and breaks between each take, one period of rolling camera in one camera set up. you can edit together what you want from a bunch of takes. most sitcoms shot this way. easy, cheap method. disadvantage: comedy might seem less organic, more contrived. MTM on film. All in the Family not on film - on videotape (cheaper than film) with live studio audience, so it might feel looser, more organic.
The Advocates: expertise, balance, decorum, enlightenment, citizenship
trying to get young, politically deviant young people in 1960s to be the next opinion leaders: Demonstrates mode of citizenship and model of politics Celebration of expertise (encourage them to respect the experts) Distillation of issues into two sides Voting as source of legitimation Dispassionate expression required (no booing, yelling) Truncated definitions of politics - never talked about women's movement (to emotional) or gay rights movement. instead, focused on laws (WHAT??)
quality as post-facto justification
used especially by NBC. part of Alvey's argument. b/c NBC was behind in ratings (CBS was #1), NBC looked to demographic numbers (wealthier, younger, urban, etc.) to point out their strong suits there. however, all networks just used whatever data puts them in the best light.
folk relativism
when someone says "I know that's not quality, but it's what I like" - authority to make distinctions by setting self apart. I watch quality TV, but then there's this other thing I watch that's not part of the "canon" of great TV, but I get something out of it.
syndication
where you actually make money. producers try to get shows on air in order to become hit, so they can get syndicated (they realize audiences are ready and willing to watch reruns are and this is really lucrative for TV producers) - sell access to a product to be generated again & again (ex: think about how many times Full House has been replayed) - for syndication to happen, producers need: about 3 -5 seasons, or about 100 episodes - in syndication, they'll show an episode every weekday for a 20 week period over the summer months - producers are under pressure in 60s and 70s to hit the 5 year mark of a show
