Programmes and Canons

Abstract

the analysis of programmes, as locations for the understanding and critique of television aesthetics, institutions and audiences. Whether considering concepts of genre, the politics of representations, the activity of audiences, or the diachronic changes in television culture, the force of critical argument rests to an important degree on the citation of programmes as the evidence on which conclusions are based. These citations of programme examples then come to form a canon of privileged material, especially when they are re-cited in subsequent work and disseminated in pedagogical contexts. Studying television relies on constructing canons of programmes that represent important historical processes and turning points, and this article considers that issue especially in relation to the history of British television drama. The methodological issue at stake here is how programme examples shape theorists’ and students’ understanding, but examples are necessarily both representative and also exceptional. Each is there to represent a larger context and history, and thus performs its function by being equivalent or exchangeable with other programmes that are similar to it. Yet each must also exceed the field it stands for, and be more than typical, just because it was chosen rather than an alternative. The selection of one example rather than another will always have a rationale, whether that is a pragmatic issue of its accessibility or familiarity, or a theoretical one relating to its formative role, subsequent influence, internal complexity or some other reason for privileging it. So there is a contradiction inherent in methodologies that work by selecting examples, since representative-ness and selection lead in different directions while both are conducive to the construction of canons. The duality in what a programme example is and does is not just an interesting theoretical crux that argues for reflexive and deconstructive attitudes to doing television studies. It is also a political and economic matter that affects how books get published, how research gets funded, and how university courses are designed. As far as educational courses are concerned, the predominant organisational principle Programmes and Canons