Television Landscape Research Articles

A ‘solution to an ongoing TV problem’: the rebooted limited series as quality TV format

ABSTRACT The current trend of the seasonally rebooted ‘limited series’ in U.S. television has found much acclaim, in large part owing to the ways it capitalizes on many of the advantages of both the ‘quality’ anthology series and the ‘quality’ miniseries, while nonetheless maintaining some of the production efficiencies and viewer loyalties of the continuing character series. In this way, the rebooted limited series functions as a sort of quality ‘hedge’—taking risks in some areas while being insulated from failure in others. Even with the format’s relative success, however, the industry continues to grapple with how to define and understand the limited series. These types of programs, such as American Horror Story (FX, 2011–) and True Detective (HBO, 2014–), reveal the slipperiness of format terminology in the context of rapid change. As the role of the limited series continues to evolve within the American television landscape, the format can potentially serve as one platform for examining how the industry has managed risk in the now-waning era of ‘peak TV’.

Black Women and the Changing Television Landscape, Lisa M. Anderson (2023)

Review of: Black Women and the Changing Television Landscape, Lisa M. Anderson (2023) New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 176 pp., ISBN: 9781501393631 (pbk), $22.95

The rise and fall of political comedy on late night TV

ABSTRACT The emergence and demise of political comedy – a form of political humor distinct from political satire – on late night television, can be understood as a commercial response to the media landscape of the time. During the “golden era” of broadcast television, three networks dominated the television landscape and crafted their content to appeal to a mass national audience. This meant avoiding overtly political programming and messaging that favored either side of the political spectrum. But by the early 2000s, the widespread penetration of cable and satellite television, and later, the advent of the Internet and television streaming services meant that content providers could no longer hope to appeal to mass audiences. Thus, they began to target their programming toward smaller, more specific audiences. In this environment, political satire could thrive. In addition, the inclinations of late night talk show hosts and particular political circumstances helped push political comedy off the late night airwaves. Political satire now rules the late night television political humor landscape and will likely do so in the future.

Exploring the Social Television Landscape and User Engagements: Preliminary Findings from a Northern Nigerian Study

Exploring the Social Television Landscape and User Engagements: Preliminary Findings from a Northern Nigerian Study

Building Suspense: A Critical Examination of Foreshadowing Devices in TV Series Opening Credits

This paper explores the intricate use of foreshadowing devices within the opening credits of television series, unraveling the artful integration of visual, musical, and textual elements. Through detailed case studies of iconic shows such as Game of Thrones, Stranger Things, and Westworld, we dissect the deliberate choices made by creators to engage audiences from the very beginning. The analysis uncovers the narrative nuances embedded in symbols, musical scores, and textual clues, highlighting their role in setting the stage for complex and immersive storylines. Ethical considerations, methodological challenges, and the limitations of the study are also addressed. By contributing insights to television studies and narrative theory, this paper emphasizes the significance of opening credits as a canvas for storytelling in the evolving landscape of contemporary television.

Scrutinizing the Myth of Kumunity: The Semiotics of the Philippines’ Pinoy Big Brother Season 10

In applying Roland Barthes' semiotic theory to the analysis of Pinoy Big Brother Season 10 (Dyogi, Katigbak, Vidanes & Andrada, 2021-2022), this study delves into the intricate layers of meaning embedded in the show's 'Kumunity' concept, a term created by the fusion of 'Kumu,' a social media entertainment app, and "community." The primary focus is on unraveling the myth that the 'kumunity' symbolizes within the broader context of the reality television landscape in the Philippines. The investigation meticulously scrutinized selected components of the show—images, music, and dialogues—to elucidate the orders of signification, exposing the nuanced and multifaceted meanings conveyed. The 'kumunity' is portrayed as mirroring a tangible community with shared goals among housemates, showcasing a cohesive objective reminiscent of a localized collective. However, beneath this surface portrayal, this study uncover a rich tapestry of implicit meanings. These include subtle assertions of authority and power dynamics, the reinforcement of cultural nuances, the elevation and glorification of resilience as a virtue, and instances of disunity within the overarching support system. The study, through extensive analysis, goes beyond the apparent and reveals the intricate web of hidden ideologies within the signs presented in Pinoy Big Brother Season 10. It sheds light on the subtle yet impactful societal messages that permeate the realm of reality television, contributing to a more comprehensive understanding of the show's influence on cultural perceptions and dynamics. Keywords: Kumu, kumunity, Pinoy Big Brother, Roland Barthes, semiotics.

The Impact of Brand Awareness, and Product Attributes to Increase Purchase Intention (Study Case: Transvision)

In the dynamic landscape of the Indonesian television industry, the rise of over-the-top (OTT) services poses a major challenge to traditional pay-TV providers such as Transvision. Intense competition from emerging OTT providers in Indonesia requires innovative strategies to secure customer acquisition. Indonesia is one of the fastest growing pay-TV markets, with a predicted CAGR of 5% and revenue projections of $633 million by 2025. The demographic differences between OTT and pay TV users, highlight the need for a customized marketing approach. In detail, Transvision, which offers pay TV services through Android TV box devices, faces hurdles in terms of market penetration and brand recognition. This study aims to propose an effective transvision marketing strategy while considering the complex dynamics of the evolving television landscape in Indonesia. Using a quantitative approach, the research conducted an examination of customers and hypothesis testing, administering surveys to android TV box users in the Jabodetabek area. The data, processed through SEM-PLS, indicated that social media marketing and electronic word of mouth positively impact brand awareness. Furthermore, significant product attributes, including variety of content and additional features, subscription package price, and payment method options, were found to influence purchase intention. The study concludes that both brand awareness and product attributes play pivotal roles in shaping purchase intention.

Cultural Translation in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, a groundbreaking film in Chinese cinema history, etched its name in the annals of cinema by becoming the first foreign-language film from China to clinch an Oscar. This monumental achievement not only marked a historic milestone but also laid a robust foundation for subsequent Chinese cinematic endeavors to carve their niche in the global film and television landscape. Director Ang Lee, renowned for his versatile filmmaking prowess, embarked on the audacious mission of seamlessly blending Chinese cultural nuances with Western ideologies within the canvas of this cinematic masterpiece. This essay embarks on a compelling exploration of cultural translation, wherein the writer delve into how Ang Lee masterfully transmits the profound essence of traditional Oriental martial arts cinema to Western audiences. Through an in-depth analysis of a specific case study, the writer dissect Ang Lees ingenious methods for constructing a shared cultural context that bridges the chasm between these two distinct worlds. By shining a spotlight on Ang Lees extraordinary accomplishment in transcending cultural boundaries through the medium of film, the writer unravel the intricate layers of this cinematic triumph, expanding the understanding of its significance in the realm of global cinema.

Changing tides in Zambian television broadcasting: Digital migration and Chinese engagement

This paper examines the recent shifts and debates in the organization of the television landscape following the implementation of digital migration in Zambia. It ponders Zambia’s experience in the digital migration exercise, playing particular attention to the country’s interaction with the Chinese company, StarTimes. It discusses the implications of this interaction on ownership and control in the new digitalized television landscape, highlighting the political economic implications on the broadcast sector. The paper also highlights various debates relating to local broadcasting policy in a digitalized environment and offers a timely contribution to the growing academic interest in Chinese involvement and interactions with African media.

Sideways televised: Towards a history of televised alternate histories

Alternate histories have been a part of the television landscape in the United States since a 1963 episode of The Twilight Zone (1959–64) explored the multiple worlds theory. As an interdisciplinary subgenre of science fiction, historical fiction and often even contemporary sitcoms and dramas, alternate histories have only grown more fiscally successful and generically mature as television, itself, has matured and grown as a medium. The development of the television alternate history genre in the past decade parallels the growth of the literary genre in the 1990s, which was accompanied by awards, the normalization of the genre, and a small yet robust canon of scholarship. As such, this article on alternate histories relies heavily on the literary theory that came before it in (1) defining the televisual alternate history genre, (2) outlining the genre’s unique purposes and (3) historicizing the four subgenres of televised alternate histories: time travel narratives, parallel world theories, pure alternate histories, and fantastical narratives. A long-overlooked genre, alternate histories have important implications for ideological awareness of the past and the present.

Research on the Entertainment Marketing Challenge of HBO

With the development of the global entertainment industry, film and television productions are increasingly branded as commodities in today’s cultural consumption market. Viewing film and television have become an important part of people’s daily and cultural lives, it is particularly urgent to explore the development status and future trends of streaming brands. As a producer of mainstream film and television culture, HBO has grown across media and expanded its brand across the U.S. and international television landscape, where it is now a full-service content provider of original and iconic programming with a unique brand. Although it is generally believed that the birth of HBO changed the world, cable television has also changed how the network continues to shape popular culture and television industry, leading the way in reforming audiovisual consumption patterns, HBO is now facing increasingly serious challenges. This paper focuses on how HBO successfully promotes its programming, the problems that have arisen while expanding its brand in the U.S. and international television landscape and attempts to explore the optimization possibilities of its improvement policy and make recommendations.

Netflix, Spanish television, and La casa de papel: Growing global and local TV together in the multiplatform era

This institutional-industrial analysis evaluates how Netflix’s post-2016 rebranding efforts resulted in its ongoing transition from a centrally-managed multinational corporation, based mainly in Silicon Valley, to a more decentralised transnational operation with multiple interconnected headquarters worldwide. Utilising a blended macro-micro critical perspective, Netflix’s October 2015 debut in Spain is examined as an inflection point for this subscription video on demand (SVOD) change agent, Spain’s then-traditional TV infrastructure and the transnational television industry. Netflix’s eventual integration into the Spanish television landscape and its transnational distribution of La casa de papel [ Money Heist] (2017–21) serve as a two-fold object lesson into how glocal relations occur during TVIV.

Everyone Could Judge Me: The Demonization and “Rescue” of Teenage Queerness in In My Skin

This paper takes Season1, In My Skin as the case study. Through the textual analysis to onscreen significant moments, I will deeply highlight the contextualized expression of queer identity as adolescent symptom on Bethan, and the ways in which she deals with the panics towards this “shameful” identity. And these interpretations not only reflect the self-rescue of young homosexual just as imitating from the standpoint of other heterosexuals/homophobia, but also suggest that for the overall television landscape, queer presentations actually show signs of succumbing to heterosexual-centred order. In this regard, it must be acknowledged that the cultural struggle of LGBTQ grouping is still not optimistic.

Review: The New Female Antihero: The Disruptive Women of Twenty-First-Century US Television, by Sarah Hagelin and Gillian Silverman

Review: <i>The New Female Antihero: The Disruptive Women of Twenty-First-Century US Television</i>, by Sarah Hagelin and Gillian Silverman

Euskal Telebista, the Basque public television company: entertainment as a core factor for minority language audiovisual media.

The television landscape is undergoing tremendous and rapid changes. In this context public broadcasters are having great difficulties to fulfil their commitment to the public they serve. This task is even harder for those entities related to minority cultures and languages. In this paper we identify some of the ways in which entertainment content can contribute to fulfilling the missions of these types of companies. We will mainly focus on the Basque Public TV, Euskal Telebista, but the results and conclusions drawn can be applied to other public service media companies of similar types, too.

How the Greek television landscape changed during the financial crisis

ABSTRACT The Greek television industry is facing the new challenges of the streaming era while still recovering from a decade-long debt crisis (2009–2019) that has been the focus of public attention both within the EU and beyond. This study, following the “critical media industry studies” research approach, aims to synthesise the state of knowledge of the sector in the aftermath of this crisis period by combining disparate academic approaches and examining the ways in which decision makers responded to economic and regulatory shifts; thus providing an overview of the Greek television industry that contributes to the theoretical development of the field and also has practical implications for media practitioners and policy makers.

The Case of &lt;i&gt;Deutschland 83&lt;/i&gt;: Global Internet-Distributed Television and its Effects on Local Viewing Behavior and Industry Practices

This article examines the German drama series Deutschland 83 and its unexpectedly low German viewership as a case study. Highlighting the benefit of integrating audience research into analyses of shifting industrial practices, this article illuminates the complexities of negotiating local tastes in an era of global content flows. Viewer feedback reveals the importance of understanding viewing behavior in the streaming age as a confluence of content-based preferences and expectations of a specific technologically afforded user experience. This shift in viewing behavior not only has implications for production practices and local producers but also informs how local private broadcasters adjust in order to remain competitive within the growing German television landscape.

The politics of the political thrillers: de-othering Iran in Tehran (Kan, 2021-)

ABSTRACT The 21st century resurgence of the political thriller genre was informed by two factors: the post 9/11 geo-politics and the new global landscape of film and television. Tehran (Kan, 2021-), the recent political thriller series from Israel on Apple TV+, offers an illuminating example of the transnationalisation of the genre. By analysing the series along with discussions on its production context and reception in Israel, Iran and internationally, we demonstrate the complex and shifting relationship between the entertainment and the political elements, which typify the genre and its global travel. Revolving around the topical geo-political issues, the series’ action-based plot delineates an Israeli military operation to neutralise the Iranian nuclear reactor, while deeper layers of the narrative point to its political aim: countering negative representations of Iran and provoking a critique of Israel’s own forms of oppression and its internal identity crisis. Placing at its centre a young Israeli female agent, whose complexity is rooted in her hybrid identity as a migrant Iranian-Jew, the series renders visible suppressed histories of Iranian-Jewry’s fractured relationship with Zionism. This, we claim, is the core of the series’ political critique, which despite its potential subversion was largely lost in the reception space.

Toward the Platformization of African Film Distribution? Netflix in Nigeria

Abstract This essay provides an analysis of the impact of Netflix on the African screen media sector, by focusing on the Nigerian film industry (Nollywood). It follows the invitation to study Netflix in specific socio-historical and national contexts that several scholars have formulated over the past few years as a way to respond to the complexity of the emerging landscape of internet-distributed television. In order to achieve this objective, the essay focuses on the impact of Netflix’s involvement on the production and distribution of Nigerian content, offering also a few insights on the equally important topic of Netflix’s impact on African audiences. The overall aim is to historicize Netflix’s intervention, detailing the phases of its involvement in Nigeria, its specificities in relation to the intervention of previous local and international actors in the field of content production and distribution (on both streaming and digital television networks), and the controversies its arrival triggers among film professionals in the largest African screen media industry.

Finding the ‘perfect blend’ in an undervalued genre: Considering the importance of ‘ordinariness’ in Australian soap opera Neighbours

Australian soap Neighbours (1985–2022) was in active production for nearly 40 years. As a piece of popular television, it is still syndicated internationally and also sold as a successful format for new works. Neighbours has also served as an outlet to launch new generations of Australian on- and off-screen talent. Despite these successes, Neighbours has been overlooked by tastemakers, academics and critics. This article places Neighbours in context within the Australian television landscape; going on to explore how the soap has responded during the rapid technological, industrial and cultural evolutions that have occurred since its beginnings in the 1980s. Importantly, Neighbours has featured a variety of different types of Australian characters with a variety of narratives, including working class, migrant, LGBTQI+, and blended families.