Introduction to TV drama

1) A serial TV Drama is when a show has a continuing narrative that requires you to watch the start of the show to properly understand what's going on. (Usually done with adaptions of novels).

2) Doctor Who, The Avengers (1961), Danger man (1962), The Sweeney (1975) and Minder (1979). Over time the TV drama genre has evolved and changed in multiple ways with who they marketed to (The Sweeney and Minder were the firsts to largely target a domestic audience).

3) Sub Genres of TV dramas: Police Procedural/Crime (E.g: Luther). Medical (Holby City), The periods/Costume (Rome), Science fiction/Sci Fi (legion), Family (My Wife and Kids), Teen (13 Reasons Why).

4) Serial TV dramas are defined by there setting as its where the ensemble of characters inhabit each episode. In shows like lost characters may come and go but the setting is usually the only stagnant feature. This means the show is based around the location the characters are based in rather then being based on the characters themselves.

5) Serial TV dramas usually use characters to reflect modern audiences with a large ensemble of characters so that consumers should have at least one characters they can gain gratification through personal identification. Characters within the story can go through arcs but can never change too much or they may risk losing there purpose within the story. 

6) A multi-strand narrative is a story told from several characters perspectives. Each character usually has there own strand where they go through a journey. These stories can overlap with other characters which creates new interactions for the audience to get pleasure from. Some narratives even span over the entire lifetime of the show. Coronation Street is a show that uses multi-strand narratives 

7) A cold opening is a teaser at the opening of an episode to hook the viewer into the show and continue watching the rest of the episode. 

8)Todorov's theory of equilibrium could be applied to TV drama serials multi-strand narratives as many of the stories within these shows go through the stages of equilibrium and disequilibrium but usually never truly return to a new equilibrium where world within the show is completely safe or changed drastically even when the episode is over.

9) TV dramas are typically distributed on subscription services or cable channels (E.g AMC and HBO). These channels allow them to tackle darker themes and content that other channels wouldn't want to associate themselves with.

10) Subscription services have changed the format of TV dramas as usually people would have to wait for the rest of the show to come on each week but due to services like Netflix and Amazon prime audiences are able to get instant gratification from the whole show. 

11) Lucifer- Setting: Usually revolves around Los Angeles and the LAPD. Characters: All of the main characters are adults with them taking the usual character archetypes and twisting them slightly (E.g Lucifer being an Anti hero yet he's the protagonist of the show) Narrative: It usually only has a few narrative strands an episode with an overarching plot about Chloe and Lucifer's affection for each other that continues through seasons. Distribution: The show used to be on Fox but was cancelled and picked back up again by Netflix where they continued the series.

12) I believe the TV drama genre might evolve further by tackling issues within society that haven't been discussed as much and possibly push the boundaries when it comes to certain topics.

Extension: I believe TV drama shows are the key medium when it comes to storytelling for several reasons. Firstly, the quality of these shows has drastically improved over the years and can even be comparable to how films are produced but just with a lower budget. Nowadays people cant watch films in cinemas which take away half the pleasure and experience you get from watching films and currently there seems to be an influx of great TV shows and services that provide them. While films can continue their narratives through sequels or foreshadowing it's usually rare and only happens if the film is successful. Lastly, I believe films are far more limited when it comes to their narrative arcs with them usually having multi-strand narratives that all get resolved by the conclusion yet in comparison to films Tv dramas are far more flexible with some stories going across the entire length of there showing which can far more satisfying for consumers to see the pay off to the build-up.  

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