Prime-time Dramas Research Articles

Silencing and Politics of Exclusion: Representation of Women in Pakistani Primetime Dramas

Silencing and Politics of Exclusion: Representation of Women in Pakistani Primetime Dramas

Depiction of domestic violence in the primetime dramas of Pakistan

Depiction of domestic violence in the primetime dramas of Pakistan

Analysis of Social Reality of Spousal Relationship Depicted in Pakistan Television Prime time Dramas

The main focus of this study is placed on depiction of spousal relationship in prime time dramas of Pakistani television channel. In order to collect a quantitative baseline information on the topic, the study utilized message system analysis of the social reality of spousal relationship portrayed in prime time dramas of Pakistani television channel. For probability sampling, a 6-day week was constructed from July 2020-June 2021. The results of analysis revealed that Pakistani prime time dramas show both healthy and unhealthy aspects of spousal relationship. However, unhealthy aspects are shown more frequently than the positive aspects. The present study also concluded that sacrifice, lies, fraud, materialism, criticism and selfishness were more frequently depicted with respect to wives while support, dominance, aggression, infidelity, relationship commitment and romantic gestures were associated with husbands.

Presentation of Women Harassment in Pakistani Dramas

This research is aimed to analyze the themes used to construct the plot of Pakistani dramas to depict women-based harassment. A rigorous thematic analysis of prime-time dramas of two mainstream Pakistani channels has been carried out. The researchers employed simple random sampling technique to dig out the dramas based on harassment concept while the theory applied is feminist theory of media. The findings suggested that the portrayal is modest and emotional on one channel while the other channel portrayed the victim as a fighter in the climax, the dramas factually exhibit the types of acts an offender commits, the issues a victim faces, how social pressure makes the situation worse and the most significant fact was how men are not able to control their male ego and oppress women to get satisfaction. The following themes emerged from the content, good looking women from middle class fall in this trap; they mostly endured verbal, nonverbal and physical abuse; shame; blame; suffering depression; panic attacks; breaking silence but be afraid of not being believed and males are too sensitive to rejection.

Racial and gender disparities in the portrayal of lawyers and physicians on television

Mass media’s portrayal of minorities and women in society has the potential to shape perception and affect behavior. Our objective was to examine minority and gender representation in professional roles as lawyers and physicians on television. We hypothesized that minorities and women are less likely to be represented in these roles on television compared to White men. In addition, we hypothesized that the lower fictional representations of minorities and women as professionals would be mirrored by lower rates of minorities and women in actual legal and medical practice. We analyzed medical and legal primetime dramas featuring lawyers and physicians to determine the race and gender of the lead character(s). The distribution of fictional minority and female professionals was compared to a racial distribution obtained from the 2020 US census, as well as data on the race and gender of lawyers and physicians in practice. Our findings showed fictional lawyers and physicians on television were predominantly White and male. The next most common groups represented were Black lawyers and physicians. There were no major Hispanic or Asian lawyers and only one Hispanic and Asian male physician represented. Women were underrepresented as both lawyers and physicians. When compared to the expected population demographic data from the 2020 census, both racial and gender disparity were noted, with significantly fewer than expected fictional representations of minority and female lawyers and physicians. The racial and gender disparity found with fictional lawyers and physicians mirrored lower numbers of minority and female lawyers and physicians in actual practice.

Dressed for Work: The Sartorial Representations of Working Women in Early 21st-Century American Primetime Dramas

The present study is theoretically located in the field of critical feminist studies of the representation of women in the mass media. It discusses the ways in which working women characters construct and express their occupational identity in selected American primetime TV dramas of the early 21st century. The observed strategies, which range from highly restricted self-expression to unbridled sartorial liberty, appear to be heavily correlated with the prestige of the presented occupations and their levels of masculinization/feminization. Moreover, the self-limiting sartorial choices of high-achieving professional women, frequently containing their femininity, result from the competitive nature of prestigious yet traditionally male-gendered occupations. However, it is also pointed out that working women are generally depicted as determined to accentuate the physical aspects of their femininity regardless of the established dress code or traditional gendering of their occupations. Thus, the sartorial choices made by the female characters at the workplace serve in the analyzed TV shows as symbolic manifestations of women’s growing confidence as players on the job market in their own right.

Does ‘Queer Narrative’ Mean ‘Trauma Narrative’ on TV? Exploring Television’s Traumatized Queer Identity

ABSTRACT Often subject to similar modes of investigation and necessary confession as a facet of characterization as sexuality, trauma and recovery form key identity categories for TV characters. The act of claiming these identities is key to the character-focused style of primetime drama, connecting the confession of trauma with the confession of sexuality. This queer- and trauma-theory-focused textual analysis of three contemporary dramatic television series’ queer characters investigates the ways in which accepted narratives of queer consciousness proceeding from trauma and tragedy appear codified on television. This paper hopes to demonstrate that increased queer visibility contingent upon trauma, as demonstrated by these cross-genre examples, provides institutional justification – through the mass medium of television – for the acceptance of queerphobic violence and queer trauma as “to be expected” or otherwise key to forming a queer identity. This, in turn, may contribute to the lack of systemic pressures to eradicate violence against queer people and communities, and perhaps especially against queer youth, whose exclusion, abandonment, or abuse by family members and other adults become culturally naturalized by repetitive inclusion of these backstories.

Genre, gender and television screenwriting: The problem of pigeonholing

This article draws on the 2018 Writers Guild of Great Britain report ‘Gender Inequality and Screenwriters’, and original interviews with female screenwriters, to assess how the experience of genre plays out in the UK television industry. The report focuses on the experience of women, as a single category, but we aim to reveal a more intersectional understanding of their experiences. Our aim is to better understand the ways in which women are, according to the report, consistently ‘pigeonholed by genre and are unable to move from continuing drama or children’s programming to prime-time drama, comedy or light-entertainment’. Considering the cultural value of genre in relation to screenwriting labour and career progression, we analyse how genre shapes career trajectory, arguing that social mobility for female screenwriters is inherently different and unequal to that of their male counterparts.

Gender Stereotyping in TV Drama in Pakistan: A Longitudinal Study

The research was aimed at analysing gender portrayal in TV drama in Pakistan over a period of five decades from its very inception in the late 1960’s till 2017. The research explored what types of gender stereotypes were being propagated in the prime time drama serials on the State owned TV channel, PTV which was the only platform available for most part of this duration. The methodology adopted for the research was quantitative in nature and involved a content analysis of the most popular Urdu serials aired between 1968 and 2017. The research focused on the three main characters in each drama and the total sample comprised 72 characters. These characters were analysed in a total of 4834 scenes to observe the display of gender stereotypes. The findings indicated that although overall both the genders were displaying their gender specific stereotypes yet some stereotypes such as bravery and aggressiveness were not being displayed by males and passivity, victimization and fearfulness were not being displayed by females. Later the 50 year time period was sub-divided into five decades to observe whether there had been a change over the years keeping in view the massive changes which had taken place in society. Findings indicated that although there were differences in gender depiction between the five decades for both the genders yet the changes were not linear which pointed to the role of other factors such as government policies which could have contributed to the increasing and decreasing stereotyping over the years.

“Mr. Mom” no more: single-father representations on television in primetime drama and comedies

ABSTRACT National discourses surrounding fathers and caregiving have changed in the last two decades. Once, fathers were only expected to financially provide for their children and be a disciplinarian; today we see that acceptable parenting behaviors for men have expanded to include traditionally feminine roles. One way to understand the current caregiving culture is through popular media; however, depictions of single fathers, and the issues inherent in their lives, have generally been absent in the history of U.S. television. Media representations of families and individuals impact our understanding of fatherhood. We find mixed results when we compare recent representations of single fathers in primetime television to prior research of the lived experiences of off-screen single fathers. Some representations are fairly authentic (i.e. emotional connections) and others perpetuate stereotypes (i.e. inability to parent). By featuring the inept father trope, television reifies these stereotypes in lived experiences of single fathers. We conclude that positive television representations of single fathers through single-father characters mirrors a culture of “new fatherhood” which more accurately reflects the experiences of men as primary caregivers in the U.S. today.

Construction of Advertisements in Pakistan: How far Television Commercials Conform to Social Values and Professional Code of Conduct?

The present study examines that how far television content especially televised advertisements in Pakistan are conforming to the professional code of conduct, and social values of the society. For this purpose, the researchers selected TV commercials being telecast during prime time dramas and examined them through content analysis against the code of conduct formulated by Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA). The researchers focused on existence/non-existence of deception, obscenity, and stereotyping in the advertisements. They also explored that whether the level of existence of deception, obscenity and stereotyping varies from product to product and channel to channel or remains intact across the board. It was found that most of the advertisements were deceptive but a few. The element of obscenity (dress and gestures/postures) existed in all the analyzed advertisements. And as compared to ethnic stereotyping gender stereotyping was prevailing more in the chosen advertisements. The results indicate that Pakistani media are transgressing the cultural values and PEMRAs code of conduct.

Narrative Complexity and Cultural Relevance in the Name of Public Service Broadcasting: The Cases of Borgen and Herrens Veje

Abstract Danish television has been able to produce a remarkable number of successful primetime dramas over the last years from Forbrydelsen (The Killing, DR 2007-12) to Herrens Veje (Ride upon the Storm, DR 2017-). Many of them are Nordic Noir crime dramas, yet the list also includes political thrillers and family dramas. This article briefly summarizes main reasons for the prolific production environment at public service broadcaster Danmarks Radio (DR). Some of the exceptional circumstances of Danish television demonstrate why the relatively small country was able to produce shows that found devoted audiences around the world. While the DR production framework has received much attention, this article takes a closer look at narrative composition, issues of characterization and the presentation of themes. Analyzing the first episodes of Borgen (DR 2010-13) and Herrens Veje, the article proposes that it is specifically the combination of multiperspectivity of the leading protagonists and how their life is linked to wider cultural, social and political debates, that can be identified as one main outcome of the fruitful collaboration between DR and various creative personnel. While both shows adhere to the main characteristics of complex serial drama as identified by Jason Mittel and Trisha Dunleavy, there are also some noticeable differences, including their strong public service ethos, their unusual Danish settings, the avoidance of transgressive protagonists, character-centred storylines and their slow, indulgent pace.

الصورة النمطیة للمرض النفسی بالدراما التلفزیونیة و علاقتها بالوصم الدرامی والاجتماعی لدى الشباب المصری دراسة تحلیلیة میدانیة

لقد ساهمت بعض الأعمال الدرامية وعلى مدى سنين طوال في إعطاء صورة غير واقعية عن الطب النفسي بشکل عام، فصورة من يعانون من مشاکل الصحة العقلية تعد مادة ثرية لکتاب الدراما، مما أدى إلى اختلاط الحقيقة بالخيال والواقع بالوهم في ذهن المتلقي، حيث ارتسمت في وعي العامة صورة مغلوطة للمرض العقلي والنفسي، مما أسهم فى خلق ذلک النمط السالب، حيث کشفت العديد من الأدبيات Janouskova,Tuskova(2017) Maiorano, Lasalvia, Sampogna, Pocai,Mirella (2017) عن مدى مساهمة وسائل الإعلام في تعزيز القوالب النمطية الشائعة للأشخاص الذين يعانون من مشاکل الصحة العقلية والنفسية من خلال تقديم صورة سلبية لمصابي المرض النفسي ومن هذا المنطلق يرتکز ﺍﻟﺒﺤﺙ الحالي على اختبار العلاقة بين مستوى التعرض للدراما التلفزيونية المعنية بالمرض النفسي، ومستوى الوصم الدرامي(إعداد الباحث) والوصم الاجتماعي للمرض النفسي لدى أفراد العينة. کما تستهدف الدراسة أيضا عمل دراسة تحليلية لعينة من الأعمال الدرامية التلفزيونية المعنية بالمرض النفسي؛ وذلک للوقوف على أبعاد الوصم الدرامي للمرض النفسي. و تشير النتائج إلى وجود علاقة ارتباطية ذات دلالة إحصائية بين مستوى کثافة التعرض للدراما التليفزيونية المعنية بالمرض النفسي ومستوى الوصم الدرامي و الاجتماعي لهذا المرض. Stereotyping of mental illness in television drama and It's Relation with the stigmatization of mental illness among the Egyptian Youth This study is considered an exploratory effort to find out the link between youth viewing rates of mental illness in television drama and their stigmatization levels of mental illness in terms of a dramatic and social perspectives. In this connection stereotyping people with Mental illness in prime-time dramas were the main concern. Both survey and content analysis studies were conducted. Results clearly indicated that. There were statistically significant correlation between the Egyptian youth viewing rates and their stigmatization levels of mental illness.

Black Panthers in Peyton Place

This article uses the prime-time drama Peyton Place (ABC, 1964–67) to examine the challenges of racial integration in the serial narrative. Peyton Place broke ground as a prime-time serial, but declined in popularity by its fourth year on the air. An African-American family was added to the story canvas as part of a strategy to revive audience interest by exploring stories with social relevance. I use the archived papers of the show’s writers and producers to examine the negotiations behind the racial integration of a continuing drama that established its success with a white cast of characters.

24 by John McCullough (review)

Reviewed by: 24 by John McCullough Cynthia Cravens 24 John McCullough Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2014 24 is one of the latest entries in the TV Milestones series edited by Barry Keith Grant and Jeannette Sloniowski. Each monograph in the series offers a comprehensive account of a particular television show by placing it within the dual contexts of television and socio-cultural history. Previous titles in the series include Bewitched, The Flip Wilson Show, West Wing and The Wire, and with McCullough's 24, the series continues to be an erudite and valuable resource for scholars and fans alike. Incorporating the work of prominent cultural theorists and critics alongside published interviews with the producers and actors of the show, 24 is a meticulous study of the distinguishing characteristics, landmark innovations and cultural influences of this early example of "terrordrama." Airing from November 2001 to May 2010 on the Fox network, each season of the series tracks one 24-hour period in the life of counter-terrorism agent Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland). One season is thus comprised of 24 episodes, with each episode representing one real-time hour, including brief ellipses of the narrative to account for commercial breaks. To accommodate the range of characteristics covered in the study, McCullough organizes the book into three chapters. Chapter 1 is an analysis of the cultural forms appropriated by the series, most notably its adherence to the melodramatic mode as delineated by Linda Williams, and most compellingly, its recasting of the Western genre, an argument introduced by Stacy Takacs in her 2012 Terrorism TV: Popular Entertainment in Post-9/11 America and expanded here to apply specifically to Jack Bauer through McCullough's detailed character analysis. Chapter 2 focuses on the innovative style of the show. Here, McCullough argues that the visual design, editing, sound, and performances all mark the series as distinctly postmodern, following Jameson's description of an aesthetic style that "employs pastiche and imitation as its defining strategies" (47). McCullough concludes this chapter by stating that although certain moments in the 8-season narrative seem to suggest critiques of post-9/11 culture, ultimately these critiques are contradictory and, in the end, incoherent. Finally, Chapter 3 delves into the various themes and meanings of the series. Here, in arguably the strongest of the three chapters, McCullough articulates his over-arching argument: "[24] is ostensibly about the contemporary reality of terrorism, and [the show] gained extraordinary attention because of its perceived symmetry with history," but because the series necessarily departs from historical accuracy, it actually obfuscates the reality behind its fiction (97). While the extent to which viewers expect a primetime drama to recreate history is debatable, there were moments, nevertheless, over the course of the show's 8-season run that seemed uncannily to line up with real-life geopolitical events. In one example, McCullough refers to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia's defense of torture tactics and his remark that by resorting to methods of torture, "Jack Bauer saved Los Angeles" (101). But these moments are more the result of unnerving coincidence than any kind of creative intentionality. After all, McCullough reminds us, the show was meant to entertain. Overall, he argues repeatedly against the notion that 24 corresponded to actual historical events, as if this were a general point of contention. But other than an anecdotal mention of the show's popularity "in the halls of power in America" (9), he doesn't make clear who, if anyone, ever made this claim. He does helpfully note quite a few of the occasions that make use of actual historical events or seem even to foretell actual events—such as the Democratic nominee for president being an African American in the 2001 premiere season—but emphasizes the ways in which the show [End Page 82] ultimately and necessarily departs from real events. McCullough does complicate this premise in the end. 24's commercial success, he argues, is really the only aspect of the show that accurately reflects its historical moment. While its stylistic innovations have proven hugely influential in the realm of "quality TV" and are considered landmarks in television history, it is the convergence of its...

Mexican teleteatros: the cultural politics of prime-time series

This article focuses on the ideas and discourse of some early television critics regarding the content and direction of television drama specifically teleteatros, the first prime-time dramas in Mexican television. Their opinions reflect the divisions among the Mexican intellectual elite in regard to the meaning of Mexican culture. Professionals and intellectuals advocated for television dramas that would reflect the Mexican culture as cosmopolitan and modern. In their writings and public statements, folkloric aspects such as ranchera music were considered unworthy for the medium. In opposition to the critics was the business class whose interest in television content had two purposes: to develop programs with the widest appeal possible and to represent Mexican culture in a way that did not challenge the discourse of the PRI (Partido Revolucionario Institucional) that ruled the country from 1928 until 2000. Thus, television during the 1950s, and into the 1960s, wrangled not only with the usual growing pains of a new technology but also the contradictory perceptions of how Mexico and Mexican culture should be portrayed in television dramas.

Book Review: Queer Love in Film and Television: Critical Essays, edited by Pamela Demory and Christopher Pullen

in Film and Television: Critical Essays. Pamela Demory and Christopher Pullen, eds. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013. 292 pp. $90 hbk.Edited by Pamela Demory and Christopher Pullen, in Film and Television: Critical Essays, is an essential addition to the libraries of scholars interested in diver- sity and media. breadth of the featured texts, the thematic range, and the multiple theoretical approaches that characterize the collection make it a major contribution to the field. In addition, the essays are consistently strong and carefully assembled under appropriate headings.Typically, the introduction is a summary of what follows, but the introduction to is this and more. In the co-written introduction, the editors suggest that the study demonstrates how recent films and television programs play with, imitate, sub- vert, mock, critique-and queer familiar conventions. Citing texts from William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet to network television's blockbuster Desperate Housewives, Demory and Pullen write:Romance is central not only to the conventional romance genre-in which a couple navigates various barriers to love and eventually reaches a happy, monogamous union-but also to less generic explorations of love, within couples, marriages, and families, in which closure restores the couple or family unit (in the happy ending) or fails to restore normal order (in the unhappy or open ending).Focusing upon romantic plots and subplots in film and television programs such as soap operas, primetime dramas, situation comedies, and reality television, explores alternatives to the existing heterosexual imperative in twenty-two compel- ling essays.Essays are gathered into four parts that make it easier for readers to locate subject areas and texts that interest them. For example, the fourth section includes six texts that were translated from word to image (Brokeback Mountain, Chris and Don, House of Mirth, Notes on a Scandal, A Single Man, and Talented Mr. Ripley). Demory and Pullen took care to organize the submissions in a manner that elevates the material and facilitates a reader's immersion into particular themes essential to a study of film, literature, and television.Part One, titled Romance, includes The Living Dead, or without a Future (Damon R. Young); Bad Boys Need Love, Too: Cinematic Negativity of Gay Romance in I You Phillip Morris (Kenneth Chan); Romancing the Soap: Representations of Gay and Relationships in EastEnders (Peri Bradley); Love's Narrative Lost: Romance Interrupted in L Word (Kathleen A. Brown and Brett Westbrook); It's Not So Easy for Two Men to Be a Couple: Revisiting Gay Dating in Will & Grace and as Folk (Ben Aslinger); and True Queered: Sex, Melodrama, and Romance in as Folk (Pamela Demory).Part Two, titled Marriage and Family, includes Donor Conception in Lesbian and Non-lesbian Film and Television Families (Julia Erhart); Housebroken: Homodomesticity and the Normalization of Queerness in Modern (Steven Edward Doran); Family Guys: Same-Sex Parenting and Masculinity in Modern (Peter C. Kunze); Allegories of Love: Quality Television and the Reimagining of the American (Jessica Murrell and Hannah Stark); and 'Queer' (In)tolerance in Children's Animated Films (Richard D. Reitsma).Part Three, The Margins, comprises six essays. They are 'Fearless Vulgarity': Camp as for Jackie Susann and Valley of the Dolls (Ken Feil); 'Can I Get an 'Amen'?' Marginalized Communities and Self-Love on RuPaul's Drag Race (Jessica Hicks); in New Trans Cinema (Nicole Richter); No Skin off My Ass: Bruce LaBruce and the Curious Case of Punk Love (Curran Nault); Queer Negotiations between and Work: A Critical Ethnographic Case Study of a Gay Porn Star (Michael Johnson Jr. …

‘This was just a melodramatic crapfest’: American TV Critics’ reception of The Killing

Abstract In this brief overview of The Killing’s American reception, I consider the series’ rise and fall in critics’ eyes and relate these changing perceptions to expectations rooted in AMC’s brand, AMC’s promotional campaign, and the discourse of basic cable drama. I argue that rather than searching for an explanation of The Killing’s ‘failure’, it is more productive to consider this perceived failure as indication of a gap between critics’ expectations and The Killing’s challenge to the narrative structure of the masculinized prime time drama.

Speaking for and to the nation? Borgen and the cultural viability of public service broadcasting in Denmark and Germany

Abstract The article compares and contrasts the reception of DR’s political drama series Borgen (2010–13) in Denmark and Germany. Whilst German audiences are au fait with a number of Danish primetime drama series, public opinion of the shows can diverge considerably. One such example is the reception of Borgen. Even if the critics’ reaction was for the most part positive in both countries, reviews differ in tone and content. Among other issues, this is particularly apparent when critics relate the drama to a much broader discussion of public service broadcasting.

Don't Pharmacists Have Sex Appeal?

Ever notice how many shows there are on television profiling doctors, nurses, police officers, lawyers, even cake decorators, but nothing showcasing pharmacists? Are our lives and daily experiences not interesting enough for prime time drama? Why doesn't the public find us “sexy”? Have you ever asked someone that question? I polled some of my friends in the entertainment industry by e-mail, to see what they thought.