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Provocation: An agenda for the future of TV studies: Technology, audiences, stakeholders Critical Studies in Television (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2024-12-20
Catherine JohnsonAs viewing shifts from broadcast to streaming, what should be the role for TV studies? Arguing for the need to account for the multi-faceted nature of contemporary television, this provocation proposes an agenda for the future of TV studies. It argues that the technological consequences of shifting to internet-delivered television demand new theorisations of television as software, new digital tools
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Notes on the state of Brazilian television archives: From scattered initiatives to an uncertain future Critical Studies in Television (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2024-12-16
Esther Hamburger, Giancarlo Gozzi, Cecília MelloIn recent years, there has been a growing interest in past television programmes and television memory more broadly, a trend amplified by streaming platforms. This development highlights the critical issue of television archiving and content accessibility. As Brazilian television approaches its 75th anniversary in 2025, this article examines the current state of television archives in Brazil, their
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Book Review: Rethinking horror in the new economies of television Critical Studies in Television (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2024-12-13
Amy Harris -
Female audiences for true crime television: Popular discourse, feminism and the politics of ‘ethical viewing’ Critical Studies in Television (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2024-12-12
Su Holmes, Claire HinesThis article draws on data from 18 semi-structured interviews with women which explore their relations with true crime television. Complicating popular and academic arguments that such relations operate pedagogically (that true crime offers a form of ‘safety advice’ for women), the data attests to the participants’ reflexive negotiation of ethics as a frame through which viewing investments are presented
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Book Review: Mothers on American Television: From Here to Maternity Critical Studies in Television (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2024-12-11
Tanya Horeck -
Book Review: Sesame Street: A Transnational History Critical Studies in Television (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2024-12-11
Laura Sinclair -
Book Review: Armchair Cinema – A History of Feature Films on British Television 1929–1981 Critical Studies in Television (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2024-12-06
Kevin Geddes -
‘I am in Great Pain, Please Help Me’: Nihilism, Humour, and Rick and Morty Critical Studies in Television (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2024-11-20
Nicholas Holm, Jennalee DonianOne of Cartoon Network’s most successful shows ever, Rick and Morty (2013–present) has established a cult following for its blend of dark humour and existential themes. However, the show is more than just a representation of popular nihilism; through its sustained engagement with nihilistic themes, it also demonstrates how nihilism can be embraced, exhausted, and potentially eventually surpassed in
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Victim behaviour and trauma recovery: Representing black British femininity through fantasy in Michaela Coel’s I May Destroy You Critical Studies in Television (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2024-11-14
Richard BramwellThis paper examines the representation of trauma recovery in the television series I May Destroy You ( 2020 ). Research on rape in fictional television programmes overwhelmingly focus on rape myths or how rape is represented. There is scant research on recovery from rape trauma in television drama. This paper contributes to scholarship on rape in fictional television, through a focus on the process
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Exploring Netflix myths: Towards more media industry studies and empirical research in studying video-on-demand Critical Studies in Television (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2024-11-11
Karin van EsUsing Netflix as a lens, this article identifies and unpacks three central interrelated myths – binge-watching, on-demand, and big data – surrounding global video-on-demand services. These myths are problematic because they make certain ideas about these services seem natural and self-evident, restricting our understanding of their role in culture and society. Moreover, these services provide little
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Book Review: Audiovisual content for children and adolescents in Scandinavia: Production, distribution, and reception in a multiplatform era Critical Studies in Television (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2024-11-01
Ruchi Kher Jaggi -
Is prompt engineering the future of screenwriting? Views of professional screenwriters and commissioners about the impact of AI technologies on their profession Critical Studies in Television (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2024-10-28
Eliisa Vainikka, Anne Soronen, Saara-Maija KallioThis article presents a qualitative interview study of Finnish screenwriters and commissioners about the impact of generative artificial intelligence on the profession of screenwriting. We ask how screenwriters and commissioners see the benefits and risks of AI tools in screenwriting and how screenwriters see their changing profession in the future. We identify three stances towards AI-driven work
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Book Review: Monsters on Maple Street: The Twilight Zone and the Postwar American Dream Critical Studies in Television (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2024-10-21
Mehdi Achouche -
Book Review: Transmedia/Genre: Rethinking Genre in a Multiplatform Culture Critical Studies in Television (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2024-10-18
Marta F Suarez -
Landscapes in the frame: Anthropocene screens Critical Studies in Television (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2024-10-17
Irina Souch, Robert A Saunders, Anne Marit Risum Waade -
Book Review: Screen plays: Theatre plays on British television Critical Studies in Television (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2024-10-17
Tom May -
Book Review: TV drama in the multiplatform era: Transnational coproduction and cultural specificity Critical Studies in Television (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2024-10-17
Max Sexton -
Gay as cute: Unpacking cuteness in contemporary gay teen drama series Critical Studies in Television (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2024-09-20
Frederik Dhaenens, Ben De SmetSince the late 2010s, there has been a surge in gay teen drama series that portray their gay male protagonists as cute. This article focuses on four series ( Heartstopper, Young Royals, Love, Victor, and wtFOCK) and examines which formal and narrative practices are used to convey cuteness. It argues that, first, each series participates in the creation of the cute gay boy archetype; second, each series
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Re-heating the “First” Thanksgiving: the Thanksgiving episode as settler colonial narrative Critical Studies in Television (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2024-09-14
Olivia StowellThanksgiving-themed episodes of cooking television open up questions about the interrelations of food, history, power, and culture. This study addresses such questions through textual and thematic analysis of 46 Thanksgiving-themed episodes of reality cooking competition programmes on US cable TV, exploring how the Thanksgiving episode operates as a site for the deployment of the culinary as a category
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Awakening contaminated lands: (Re)mediated landscapes as transcultural TV memory work, a case study of Sky/HBO miniseries, Chernobyl (2019) Critical Studies in Television (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2024-09-07
Janet McCabeThis article focuses on the five-part miniseries, Chernobyl (2019), with its contaminated landscape that deals with a troubled, traumatic history. It takes inspiration from the work of Walter Benjamin and his concept of historical materialism, but principally draws on theoretical paradigms dealing with transcultural memory, to advance a discussion on memory work, (re)mediation of historical events
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Showcasing reality content on the front page: Comparing four services on the Danish video streaming market Critical Studies in Television (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2024-06-20
Mads Møller T AndersenThis article is based on a three-year-long content analysis of the use of reality TV content on the front pages of four popular video streaming services in Denmark: DRTV, TV 2 Play, Viaplay, and Netflix. The results give rare insights into front pages that are normally hidden behind logins but also longitudinal perspectives about the services’ changing curation practices. In particular, the two institutions
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Netflix’s high-end global telefantasy: Conspicuous and virtual localism Critical Studies in Television (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2024-05-29
Andrew Lynch, César Albarrán-TorresNetflix has commissioned and released an increasing number of high-end international series that tap into the genres of science fiction, fantasy and horror. These follow one of two strategies: (1) local productions that engage with local folklore and myths, or (2) productions centred in the ‘West’, where international talent is brought in to create cosmopolitan ‘global’ TV events such as 1899 (2022)
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From #AltErLove to #LoveIsLove: Transmedia formats, audience engagement and sexual diversity Critical Studies in Television (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2024-04-22
Thalia Van Wichelen, Esther De Loose, Alexander Dhoest, Sander De RidderSKAM (2015–2017) and its Flemish adaptation wtFOCK (2018–2021) use several digital platforms to provide viewers with content, enabling different types of audience engagement. By means of a social media analysis, this study investigates how producers utilise transmedia tools to enhance viewers’ involvement with the depicted storyline and how viewers interact with the provided content on LGBTQ issues
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Pleasure’s ascendancy: Against queer youth panic Critical Studies in Television (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2024-04-03
Timothy GitzenThis article explores both US and European streaming shows that feature a protagonist in scenes of queer youth sex, focusing on how the show treats and frames these scenes as constitutive of a broader representational narrative of queer youth sex(uality). By comparing US and European shows, I argue that queer pleasure supplants panic featured in each show by framing the scenes of queer youth sex as
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Book Review: Indie TV: Industry, Aesthetics and Medium Specificity Critical Studies in Television (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2024-03-26
Tom Hemingway -
Book Review: Period Drama Critical Studies in Television (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2024-03-26
Shelley Anne Galpin -
Book Review: Transnational Korean Television: Cultural Storytelling and Digital Audiences Critical Studies in Television (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2024-03-26
Julia Stolyar -
Culture as window dressing? A threefold methodological framework for researching the locality of Netflix series Critical Studies in Television (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2024-03-05
Daphne R Idiz, Julia Noordegraaf, Rens VliegenthartConsidering the implications of Netflix’s role as a content producer for cultural diversity in Europe, this methodological article investigates how to define and measure the locality of Netflix Originals. We employ a threefold methodological study based on industry data analysis, audience reception research, and content analysis. This replicable and scalable methodological design provides a solid analytical
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Binge-watching and mental illness versus comfort TV and mental health in WandaVision Critical Studies in Television (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2024-01-29
Christopher L Moore, Chris Comerford, Ren VettorettoWandaVision launched the Disney+ subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) platform by blending the sitcom and the superhero genres in a nostalgia-inducing fusion of Marvel comics, cinema and television. The series represents the canonisation of Marvel media into a single cohesive narrative ‘multiverse’, yet the story focuses on the personal experience of the character, Wanda, and her struggle with loss
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Positive masculinity or toxic positivity? Apple TV+’s Ted Lasso as a capitalist utopia Critical Studies in Television (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2024-01-19
Alexander Hudson Beare, Robert BoucautTed Lasso (2020-present) follows American Football coach, Ted Lasso, as he transforms the waning English Premier League team, AFC Richmond, through his relentless optimism and his mantra of ‘believe’. The show has been praised by critics for its emphasis on kindness and particularly for its exploration of ‘positive’ and ‘vulnerable’ masculinities. It is placed front and centre not just in promotion
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Supporting children’s drama in the on demand age: Assessing the efficacy of forty years of Australian policy frameworks and funding schemes Critical Studies in Television (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2023-04-27
Anna PotterThis is a case study of 40 years of policy approaches in Australian children’s television during which the children’s television production ecology was profoundly altered by new distribution techno...
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‘That’s good’: An industrial, ethics-focused analysis of the televised works of Anthony Bourdain Critical Studies in Television (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2023-04-05
Melissa BeattieDespite critical and popular acclaim, the travel/food television series of Anthony Bourdain have not received much academic attention. This paper examines the negotiations required of the series’ p...
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Autism spectrum disorder in contemporary American sitcoms: Narrative and social implication Critical Studies in Television (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2023-03-09
Betty KaklamanidouThe Big Bang Theory, Atypical and Community are sitcoms paradigmatic of a recent representational shift, in which center stage is assumed by individuals who face psychological and neurological chal...
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Queen Sono: Netflix Original as postfeminist South African spy thriller Critical Studies in Television (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2023-03-05
Shelley-Jean BradfieldThis article explores Netflix’s changing business strategies to diversify its catalogues, examining the practices of ‘direct commissioning’ and genre adaptation. The case study of Queen Sono, the f...
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Finding words: Aesthetic criticism and television Critical Studies in Television (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2023-01-30
James WaltersThose endorsing or opposing the development of television aesthetics scholarship have exhibited an admirable willingness to reflect upon the rationales and motivations for formulating value judgeme...
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Netflix, Spanish television, and La casa de papel: Growing global and local TV together in the multiplatform era Critical Studies in Television (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2022-12-30
Gary EdgertonThis 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 Si...
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Government public relations, audiovisual communication and the informalisation of Sweden Critical Studies in Television (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2022-12-13
Emil StjernholmThis article addresses the role of television as a ‘new media’ in government public relations. Drawing on sociological theories on informalisation, this study analyses three features of the Swedish...
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Female representation in Netflix Global Original programming: A comparative analysis of 2019 drama series Critical Studies in Television (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2022-11-24
Kristina Pietaryte, Ana Cristina SuzinaThis article investigates the equality of female representation in 2019 Global Original Netflix drama series by identifying trends of female representation across 82 series sample, assessing the qu...
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On the harsh realities of researching television in Poland: Traditions, obstacles and perspectives Critical Studies in Television (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2022-11-20
Sylwia SzostakTelevision studies in Poland has not yet been recognized as an academic discipline in its own right. Despite this obvious omission in the institutional division of academic fields, Polish researche...
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The constructed quality of Israeli TV on Netflix: The cases of Fauda and Shtisel Critical Studies in Television (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2022-11-18
Noa LavieThis study investigates how the concept of ‘quality TV’ is evolving in the age of streaming video on demand (SVOD) platforms, using reviews of two Israeli TV series on Netflix – Fauda and Shtisel. ...
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Post-Nordic-Noir landscapes: Competition through localisation in Finnish streaming media Critical Studies in Television (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2022-10-31
Sanna Wicks, Pietari KääpäThis article discusses the ways locality and sense of place are used in the production and promotion of streaming media from small nations. We concentrate on location-related decisions behind Man i...
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Creating (in) the Arctic: Investigating collaboration and location through a case study of the Arctic noir serial Thin Ice Critical Studies in Television (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2022-10-15
Anders GrønlundThe Swedish/Icelandic co-produced serial Tunn is (Thin Ice, 2020) offers an insight into current possibilities and challenges of production in the Nordic Arctic region and the involvement of the de...
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Medicalized reality weight-loss television and the negotiation of neoliberalism on my 600 Pound Life Critical Studies in Television (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2022-10-13
Melissa ZimdarsOn their surface, medicalised reality television series about food addiction and fatness seem to reinforce the same discourses of neoliberalism that have come to define our understanding of contemp...
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Televisual transformations: The making of (media) citizens in interventional television productions Critical Studies in Television (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2022-09-28
Balázs BorossInterventional reality programmes often give rise to speculations about how they treat their contributors. However, little is known about the actual production practices that lie behind these compl...
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‘Make sense of it’: Cult and complex TV fandoms, post-Truth discourse and an excess of meaning in Twin Peaks: Season 3 Critical Studies in Television (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2022-09-25
Michael WaughThe excess of mystery and ‘meaning’ in Twin Peaks: Season 3 (2017) reflects the post-truth ontological dissonance of information overload, tantalising the thirst for answers that dominates digital ...
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Streaming difference(s): Netflix and the branding of diversity Critical Studies in Television (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2022-09-21
Axelle Asmar, Tim Raats, Leo Van AudenhoveSince 2020, Netflix has emphasised the diversity of representation the platform provides through its content. Following the publication of its diversity report, the streamer positions itself as a d...
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‘What are people watching in your area?’: Interrogating the role and reliability of the Netflix top 10 feature Critical Studies in Television (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2022-09-15
Alexa ScarlataNetflix’s status as a personalised service has been central to its business proposition and brand. However, recent changes to include community-based metrics within the user interface – such as the...
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‘Black Lives Have Always Mattered’: Cultural specificity and transformative representations in Small Axe Critical Studies in Television (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2022-09-14
Trisha DunleavySmall Axe, a series of five films, has brought innovation and prestige to TV drama not only for its overdue history of Caribbean migrant experiences in post-war Britain but also for its transformat...
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Banal Koreanness: National imagery in multicultural-themed television shows Critical Studies in Television (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2022-09-08
Felicia Istad, Min Jung Kim, Nathaniel Ming CurranThis article analyses how three South Korean multicultural-themed reality television programmes discursively produce Koreanness. We ground our study in scholarship on ‘othering’ and the notion of b...
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Favourite books about the BBC: Archives, anecdotes, policies and programmes Critical Studies in Television (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2022-08-26
Christine GeraghtyFor this final issue in the year of the BBC’s centenary, the Book Reviews section has commissioned a special ‘article’. In this issue, we wanted to publish a number of short reviews by critics and academics of their favourite books about the BBC. We asked some authors, writing from different places and at different stages in their careers, to choose and write about a favourite book about the BBC. We
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Editorial Critical Studies in Television (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2022-08-23
Hannah AndrewsThis issue marks the final of our special volume commemorating the centenary of the BBC. It takes as its theme the ‘BBC in the World’, drawing on one of the institution’s five public purposes as laid out in its charter: ‘to reflect the United Kingdom, its culture and values to the world’ (BBC, 2022). From an early stage in the BBC’s development, it has understood itself in global terms: by defining
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A perspective on BBC television news in India Critical Studies in Television (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2022-08-22
Ruchi Kher Jaggi, Sushobhan PatankarThis provocation gives an overview of the BBC in India in terms of television news. It discusses the BBC's sensibilities in relation to the interests and perceptions of Indian audiences through two methods: one, a review of available secondary literature; and two, brief conversations with media professionals who have previously or currently work with the BBC in India. It briefly comments on the conflicting
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Beyond stealing: The determinants/motivations of Czech audiences to pay for audiovisual content Critical Studies in Television (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2022-08-23
Iveta Jansová, Alena Macková, Charles M Elavsky, Jakub MacekIn the context of constantly changing media communication and the behavior of different actors engaging it, our paper seeks to map current transformations and adaptations to changes within Czech au...
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BBC Africa Eye and changing perceptions of western media among Nigerian audiences Critical Studies in Television (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2022-08-23
Ekwutosi Sanita NwakpuAlthough the dominant narrative among Africans is that Western media portray Africa in a one-sided and negative way, this belief is being challenged as a result of the intervention of the BBC’s Afr...
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Enraptured by this Glorious Media Landscape: Anne with an E and cross-platform co-production Critical Studies in Television (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2022-08-20
Will Stanford AbbissThis article examines the CBC/Netflix co-production Anne with an E (2017–19), a leading example of cross-platform co-production whose legacy is disrupted by the drama’s unexpected cancellation. Theories of cultural and media imperialism are discussed to contextualise this circumstance, along with an overview of the Canadian media policy context. The relationship between the CBC’s public service model
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Memory, remembrance and nostalgia in Ken Burns’ The Vietnam War Critical Studies in Television (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2022-08-18
Paul Cornelius, Douglas RheinThis essay examines how society and culture constructs differing responses to memory and remembrance in producing documentary series that look back at the American War in Indochina. Drawing upon studies of memory, nostalgia, and remembrance, the primary focus is on the recent documentary series directed by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick, The Vietnam War. That series can be seen as a remembrance rather than
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“The Popular Entertainment Side of Broadcasting Should Receive Much More Attention”: The BBC, Comedy, and Nation-Building at Home and Abroad Critical Studies in Television (IF 0.9) Pub Date : 2022-08-17
Brett MillsThis article outlines and examines the role comedy and entertainment have played at the BBC in constructing a sense of national identity both in the UK and overseas. It demonstrates the ways in which UK national identities are intertwined with ideas of a sense of humour, and the extent to which this is a performative act. Beginning with a historical approach, the article shows how the BBC, over time