Continuation and desperation in contemporary multiseason television drama

Abstract

Abstract This paper examines how multiseason drama serials, including those characterized as ‘quality’ or ‘complex’ television, deliver their continuation across multiple seasons. It proposes ‘desperation’ as a distinctive storytelling modality in which continuation itself and the narrative means by which continuation is managed are brought to the fore, charting how this is deployed by many shows which use season-long stories and/or stories which run for the lifetime of the show. Dramas derived from literary sources are examined alongside those where original narratives are drafted while they are already underway, and the relationship among continuation, seriality, adaptation, and literary/story-telling models is considered. Finally, through discussion of ‘show bibles’ and ‘pitch bibles’ it contends that continuing dramas effectively adapt themselves through the manner in which earlier seasons generate models and possibilities for those that follow.