ABSTRACT This article examines the Gallavich fandom which is centred on the relationship between Ian Gallagher and Mickey Milkovich in the American television series Shameless (2011–2016). The couple and their fandom is examined through the intersecting lenses of uses and gratifications theory, fandom studies, and queer scholarship. Drawing on a mixed-methods study originally conducted in 2017, comprising textual analysis of six key scenes from seasons one to four, an online survey of 217 fans, and content analysis of fan-generated material across YouTube, Instagram and Tumblr, the article interrogates why a predominantly young, heterosexual female fandom is so intensely drawn to a relationship defined by physical and emotional abuse rooted in deep internalised homophobia. Returning to this material as an out lesbian scholar, the author offers a reflexively enriched re-analysis that situates the original findings within a more rigorous theoretical framework. The textual analysis reveals that violence functions as both foreplay and denial in the Gallavich dynamic, with aggression consistently romanticised as passion and Mickey’s internalised homophobia framed as depth of feeling rather than harm. Fan data confirm that engagement is highest during the turbulent early seasons, with audiences interpreting abuse through a romantic lens and projecting heterosexual gender roles onto the couple. The gratifications fans derive; affective, cognitive, social integrative and personal integrative; are real and meaningful, particularly for those exploring their own sexual identities. Yet these gratifications are obtained through a narrative that normalises intimate partner violence and reproduces heteronormative power dynamics within a same-sex relationship. The article concludes that Gallavich represents a form of incomplete queer progress: it expands the visible range of gay masculinity on screen while foreclosing the imaginative possibility of genuinely healthy queer relationships.

Fleeting public interest in the Viking mission inspired Carl Sagan to devise a new mode of science communication. One result was the Cosmos television series. Carl's global success offended many in the scientific community, and he was punished despite his solid research credentials. Almost 50 years later, the importance of public outreach by scientists seems to have reached greater professional acceptance. Key Words: Science communication-Viking-Cosmos-Mars-Public outreach. Astrobiology 00, 000-000.

This study compares power dynamics in two culturally and generically distinct medical television series: the Egyptian comedy Balto (2023) and the American drama The Resident (2018). Drawing on Halliday's Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL), particularly the Mood system, six scenes (three from each series) are analysed to show how declarative, interrogative, and imperative clauses construct hierarchy, authority, and resistance. The analysis reveals that in Balto, power is framed through humour and exaggeration, with interns positioned by softened or ironic speech, while senior doctors assert dominance in playful yet critical ways. In The Resident, authority is enforced through direct commands and evaluative questions that blur mentorship with intimidation. These contrasts demonstrate how genre and cultural context shape linguistic realizations of institutional power, highlighting Mood as a key resource for negotiating authority across divergent settings.

Edutainment is a promising tool for changing behavior at scale, yet little is known about how to maximize impacts. We undertake an experimental evaluation of a popular West African television series, C’est la vie!, delivered through film clubs targeted at adolescent girls and young women in rural Senegal. We examine impacts on violence against women and girls and sexual and reproductive health. Results show C’est la vie! improved knowledge on both domains three months after film clubs ended, as well as violence-related attitudes nine months later, however, had no impact on behaviors. We investigate design components intended to strengthen impacts, generally finding no additional impacts from post-screening discussions, engaging men, and podcasts. Our findings suggest that edutainment is an engaging way to reach viewers on sensitive themes, however more evidence is needed on how to effectively deliver edutainment content for sustained behavior change at scale. • Using a cluster randomized control trial, we evaluate a popular West African TV series. • We examine impacts on violence against women and girls (VAWG) and sexual and reproductive health (SRH). • We find short term knowledge gains in both domains and improved medium term VAWG attitudes. • We find no impact on behaviors. • We find no additional impacts from post-screening discussions, engaging men, and podcasts.

Disfluencies in speech frequently occur before the production of longer and more complex speech content. Listeners are thought to use the distribution of disfluencies in the comprehension of speech to inform their predictions. Here, we investigated whether the presence of disfluencies in speech affects word processing also in naturalistic listening conditions. Participants (n = 36) listened to the spoken recall of the events of a television series while undergoing fMRI. We modelled word processing effort using parametric modulations for word length, frequency, entropy, as well as surprisal and presence/absence of a disfluency. To investigate the effects of disfluencies on word processing, we tested the interaction between disfluency and frequency, and disfluency and surprisal. Words preceded by a disfluency were associated with increased activity in the left and right superior temporal gyrus (STG). Lower word frequency was associated with an increase in activity in the left mid STG. Increased word surprisal elicited a similar distribution of activity, with bilateral superior temporal activation. The effect of surprisal was reduced after a disfluency in a cluster in the left posterior temporal lobe, while the effect of frequency increased following disfluencies in the left superior temporal gyrus and the left inferior frontal cortex. Therefore, the presence of a disfluency affects the response to upcoming input, suggesting that it prepares the listener for higher complexity in the upcoming speech, by potentially allocating increased attention resources that facilitate integration in context.

Fan cultures emerge from communities of shared interests, such as those related to television series, novels, video games, and other hobbies. The internet has expanded the popularity and accessibility of fan cultures, with implications for mental health that remain underexplored within clinical practice and research. This narrative review and viewpoint article ponders how the recognition of fan cultures in cultural psychiatry may contribute to improving mental health care for members of fan communities. First, we provide an overview of the role of fan cultures in mental health, with a particular focus on furry culture, a well-studied but often stigmatized community. Drawing from media psychology and fan studies, we review the psychological and social affordances of fan cultures, and we take the furry culture as an example to further discuss how identity, technology, stigma, and community interface with fan culture and mental health. Then, we consider how the Cultural Formulation Interview, a conventional method of cultural psychiatry, could allow the mental health ramifications of fan cultures to be recognized in clinical practice.

This article examines how the deep integration of digital technologies into public life is transforming political practices and the media sphere. The aim of the study is to diagnose the mechanisms that mediatize the political influence, and to identify the institutional and procedural instruments that could be developed to neutralize it. Methodologically, the paper draws on the author’s proposed "cyborgian eclecticism", a pragmatic, multi-level approach that combines conceptual analysis, cultural case studies, and the design of institutional procedures. The empirical source is the television series Wild Palms; its material, combined with contemporary empirical research on digital reality, enables the identification of correspondences between artistic images and real technological trends (personalized news feeds, immersive media, commercialization of memory), as well as the diagnosis of major risks such as the fragmentation of the shared information environment, algorithmic manipulation, and threats to individual autonomy. On this basis, the author formulates a procedural matrix (technical constraints, independent audit, legal regulation, educational programs) and a "Red Flag" system for the early detection and neutralization of hazardous practices. The study’s novelty lies in translating theoretical humanities discourse into concrete institutional instruments designed to ensure transparency, reversibility, and distributed responsibility in contemporary conditions.

Transgender persons constitute a diverse group whose gender identities transcend culturally imposed binary constructions of masculinity and femininity. Despite their long historical presence in Indian society, transgender communities have faced systemic marginalization, social exclusion, and cultural stigmatization. Media, as a powerful social institution, plays a crucial role in shaping public perceptions; however, mainstream Indian media has historically rendered transgender identities either invisible or caricatured. This paper critically examines the representation of transgender persons in Indian media, with specific focus on Hindi cinema, television serials, documentaries, and advertisements. While certain media narratives have progressively attempted to humanize transgender experiences, negative portrayals continue to dominate, reinforcing stereotypes and societal prejudices. Drawing on sociological theories of identity, representation, and marginalization, this study argues that media portrayals significantly influence public attitudes and can either perpetuate exclusion or foster social acceptance. The paper concludes by emphasizing the need for more authentic, inclusive, and rights-based representations of transgender lives in Indian media.

The authors examine the formation of the “Russian trickster’s” sociocultural frontier in Sci-Fi series broadcast by leading producers of transnational television. Using new empirical material and an updated methodological apparatus, the study continues the discussion of the electronic frontier, frontier stereotypes of the Other’s image, and the virtualization of the sociocultural frontier. The study aims to reveal the context of social discourse deconstructed in the series and to determine within it the narrative functions of the figurative sphere of the “Russian trickster” formed by transnational television. In the cultural orders of the selected Sci-Fi series, the authors established three narrative functions of the “Russian trickster”: 1) the salvific image of the Other, a representative of a foreign cultural normative system that rehabilitates the ethical principles of collective existence; 2) the image of a defender of a bygone era that broadcasts the concept of freedom of choice; 3) the image of a swindler, without cooperation with whom social management is impossible. The image of the “Russian trickster” is a key opponent in the rhetorical situation, demonstrating an ambivalent essence and exerting a significant influence on the worldview of Sci-Fi series fans. The paradigm of representing Russian culture as a trickster, dominant in transnational television, is heterogeneous and ambivalent due to the contradictory essence of the trickster’s sociocultural frontier. The results will attract the attention of scholars studying the frontiers of contemporary culture, cinema, and television series, as well as university students.

Since his inception, Luke Cage’s superhero mission has explored themes related to justice, interpersonal relations, and institutional integrity. This paper draws on examples from comics and his television series to explicate these themes through the lens of social and moral development. In doing so, it suggests lessons for improving the recent landscape of American civil discourse. The Overview introduces the character against the backdrop of the social role of superheroes, moral development scholarship, and recent polling data related to civil discourse. The Heroic Journey examines his superhero mission further, highlighting his attempts to promote a sense of mutual trust and shared obligations across varied social interactions. Lastly, the Super Takeaway discusses the potential of Luke Cage narratives to keep disagreeing persons “at the table” long enough to come to some (civil) agreement.

Abstract This study conducts a pragmatic analysis of promise expression in the Italian television series Orgoglio . The collected data were systematically classified according to the taxonomies proposed by Gibbs and Delaney (1987) and Ariff and Mugableh (2013) to assess the applicability and comprehensiveness of these models within the media and cultural context under investigation. Utilizing both classification frameworks facilitates a more detailed and nuanced understanding of promise strategies. A total of twenty distinct linguistic strategies were identified: nine conformed to the existing taxonomies, whereas eleven represented novel interpersonal strategies. The identification of these new strategies is attributable to the scripted, performative nature of fictional discourse, which is heavily influenced by stylistic and narrative conventions characteristic of media texts.

Despite the growing number of publications and studies on TV series, little attention has been paid to their role in transmitting and sharing values, developing democracy, raising awareness of various threats (such as terrorism or health and climate crises), and promoting social inclusion, gender equality, and diversity. This article argues that television series constitute a central space of contemporary ethical life, where viewers engage with moral dilemmas, social conflicts, and forms of collective imagination. Drawing on philosophical approaches to ordinary ethics and pragmatist aesthetics, it highlights how popular culture contributes to moral education and democratic reflection. It examines the growing role of artificial intelligence in shaping cultural consumption through recommendation systems, raising new ethical challenges related to visibility and diversity. By situating TV series at the intersection of culture, politics, and AI, the paper calls for renewed analytical frameworks capable of addressing their transformative social power.

ABSTRACT This study examines how Reddit users engaged with the racial narratives of HBO’s Watchmen (2019) and Lovecraft Country (2020), two television series that reimagine historical racial trauma. Drawing on multistep flow theory and critical technocultural discourse analysis (CTDA), we analyze 3,879 Reddit comments using topic modeling and critical discourse analysis. We identify three dynamic social roles – advocates, adversaries, and adaptives – and explore how users move between them in response to racial discourse. Findings reveal how Reddit’s pseudonymous affordances shape role fluidity, opinion leadership, and moral engagement. While adversaries minimized or rejected the shows’ portrayals of racism and violence as exaggerated, advocates shared standpoint experiences and resources to challenge these claims. Adaptive users shifted perspectives over time, demonstrating how online publics can foster critical racial learning. This research highlights how popular culture and participatory platforms intersect in shaping collective meaning-making around race and historical memory.

ABSTRACT Asian/American Women who appear in television serials, films, and media have long been limited to stereotypic tropes such as exotic “lotus blossom,” evil “dragon lady,” erotic “Suzy Wong,” and “model minority.” But in BBC America’s Killing Eve (2018–2022) crime drama, the lead Asian/American female detective, Eve Polastri (Sandra Oh), is a layered and complex character who resists typification in thrilling, often shocking ways. In an era of neoliberalism and post-feminism, this competent yet flawed detective represents an intersectional antiheroine who develops conflicted feelings and desires for Villanelle (Jodie Comer), a Russian female assassin. This analysis does not rely on a singular theory or methodology but utilizes a hybrid intersectional lens informed by interdisciplinary feminist and queer scholarship.

ABSTRACT The Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s At Home with Julia (2011) is a four-part television series based on the life of then-Prime Minister Julia Gillard and her romantic partner. This article engages with the media's long history of judging women in politics on the basis of their domesticity and cooking to historicise postfeminism and popular culture centred around women's political leadership in Australia. When aired in September 2011, At Home with Julia implicitly juxtaposed the cooking inabilities of the first woman to become Australia’s prime minister with that of food television’s famous ‘Julias’: celebrity chef Julia Child; the biographical film Julie & Julia (2009); and MasterChef Australia (2009-present) contestants. Through parody, the series used culinary metaphors to highlight Gillard’s perceived inability of to govern and derided the inverted gender roles of her romantic relationship. Ultimately, At Home with Julia demonstrates that an intensifying focus on the gendered politics of cooking must be considered a specific feature of Australian postfeminism.

IntroductionResearch on children’s television programming examining the quality of presented foods finds a prevalence of processed foods, though the degree of processing of the foods shown has not been extensively examined. This study aims to assess the quality of the food presented in popular children’s television series, based on the NOVA food classification system, and distinguish between the way foods are presented.MethodsWe selected 100 episodes of 10 cartoon television series that had large audiences of children. Food items, either eaten by heroes or introduced visually or verbally in television series, were recorded per episode. They were then classified according to the NOVA system. Differences by the series continent of origin (Europe, North America, or Asia) were also examined.ResultsThe median number of food recordings per episode was 3.0, with most (61.5%) classified as foods introduced visually or verbally. More than half of all foods featured per episode were ultraprocessed foods (UPF) and one third of them were minimally processed foods (MPF), while other NOVA food categories rarely appeared. Both UPF and MPF were presented more often as foods introduced visually or verbally rather than as foods eaten, but UPF represented 72% of the foods eaten per episode. European cartoons broadcasted more UPF items compared with North American television series.ConclusionUPF dominated in children’s television series, especially those of European origin, raising a public health concern for Europe.

In recent years, there has been a growing emphasis on incorporating innovative resources into the teaching of physics and mathematics to enhance student engagement and understanding. Among these, cinema stands out as a powerful didactic medium capable of fostering motivation, critical thinking, and the construction of scientific knowledge. This study investigates the mathematical connections that emerge from analyzing scenes in films and television series, proposing their use as pedagogical strategies to bridge abstract concepts with real-world contexts. Grounded in the extended theory of connections, the research highlights how cinematic narratives can activate diverse types of mathematical connections such as modeling, representations, and meaning making scientific content more accessible and meaningful. The study also presents findings from a workshop with secondary-level physics and mathematics teachers, revealing that the integration of cinema not only stimulates inquiry and problem-solving but also enhances reflective teaching practices and interdisciplinary thinking among educators and students.

Of late, Chinese cultural heritage buildings have enjoyed attention as desirable destination images. This has been boosted by the tourist gaze, which derives its object of desire from the soft power of transnationally broadcast Chinese historical films and television series, such as “Longest Day in Chang’an”. Within the experience of tourism lies the issue of finding authenticity, which consists of three types: objective authenticity, constructive authenticity and existential authenticity (Wang 1999). In this globalised and super-diverse environment (Vertovec 1997), does fixed authenticity based on historical experience still exist? I demonstrate how this media-enhanced tourist gaze sublimates its fantasy through tourism of Chinese heritage buildings, through a quantitative survey of tourists’ experiences of authenticity in visiting one such Chinese heritage building. Ultimately, much like “Dracula-tourism” in Transylvania, this phenomenon facilitates the embodying of the folklore of Chinese cultural heritage as desirable images. This in turn represents a form of constructive authenticity similar to film tourism, which mitigates the re-enactment of tourists’ projection of authenticity upon toured objects.

The exponential growth of digital streaming platforms has necessitated the development of precise predictive models to assess audience engagement and the anticipated popularity of television series and films prior to their release. This study introduces an AI-powered predictive system that amalgamates machine learning, natural language processing, sentiment analysis, and social media analytics to anticipate popularity metrics. The research utilises diverse data sources, including IMDB ratings, critical reviews, Twitter engagement, and box office performance. The proposed model employs feature engineering techniques such as sentiment scoring, topic modelling, and audience engagement features. Then, it uses supervised learning algorithms like Random Forest, Linear Regression, and Gradient Boosting. Experimental evaluation using accuracy, precision, recall, and F1-score demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed framework. This paper highlights a scalable framework that can be deployed as a cloud-based API for production environments

ABSTRACT Due to the social experiment characteristics of reality television (RTV) series, our paper proposes a code of ethics for RTV grounded in research and media industry ethics to ensure the ethical treatment of participants. This code should extend from pre-production through one-year post-production and include transparent contractual provisions that attend to: (1) participants’ mental and physical well-being; (2) informed consent and right to withdraw; (3) limitations on production manipulation; and (4) accountability for anyone with power over participants. Given its centrality in current RTV controversies and its framing as an “experiment,” Love is Blind serves as an exemplar through which we argue that applying industry-specific ethical research standards can improve the treatment of participants and still allow for meaningful and entertaining insights into human behavior.