CIEE Contemporary Television

Class #6: TV Storytelling in the Golden Age of

Television
 “Narrative Complexity” (Mittell)
• Part I [pages 29-32]: Contextualizing narrative complexity
– Narrative complexity as a distinct narrational mode
– Value, judgment, and pleasure
– Historical analyses of television/the focus of Television Studies
– Historical poetics
– Changes in the television industry
• Part II [pages 32-35]: Defining and characterizing narrative complexity I
– Serial narration and the episodic form
– Narrative/plot closure
– Long-term story arcs vs. stand-alone episodes
– Series mythology
– Intersecting plot lines
• Part III [pages 35-39]: Defining and characterizing narrative complexity II
– Self-reflexivity
– Operational aesthetics
– Narrative special effects (or storytelling pyrotechnics)
– Viewer engagement, disorientation, and pleasure
– Unmarked storytelling devices
 “Putting the Premium into Basic” (Smith)
• Smith sets out to investigate how the institutional/economics dimensions of
basic cable television determine the form of slow-burn storytelling that most
characterizes AMC’s original programming (such as Mad Men and Breaking
Bad). In other words: what is the economic rationale/model that underpins
basic cable TV production – and how has AMC adapated this model?
• Smith argues that, in trying to shift its brand identity, AMC has leveraged its
original programming as brand equity (or a brand builder) – an approach
necessitated by (but also moving beyond) its status as a basic cable channel.
• The American TV industry can be divided into 3 types, each characterized by a
different economic model – and, in turn, a distinct mode of TV storytelling:
– Network/broadcast television: ad-dependent > short, sharp scenes +
brisk pacing to facilitate forward momentum of the story/plot
– Premium cable television: subscription-based > longer scenes +
significantly fewer cuts slow down the narrative pace
– Basic cable television: ad-supported + carriage fees (a dual revenue
model), but with a more determinitive commercial imperative > similar
storytelling to that of network TV
 “Putting the Premium into Basic” (Smith)
• Smith then goes on to illustrate how these divergent economic models
fundamentally shape the form of the television text:
– Network television: episodes are split into short scenes: units of plot
organization that naturalize the presence of commercial breaks + act breaks
that introduce the commercial pod (and provide a mini-climax) + frequent
cutting
– Premium cable television: longer scenes decompress the storytelling, allowing
for complex character interaction and sophisticated scene setting + longer
episode length (since breaking for commercial is not required) +
fewer/delayed cuts + slow-panning and slow-tracking
– Basic cable television: AMC shares many of the same characteristics of
premium cable television, including a shorter duration of commercial pods
• By commissioning original programming, AMC borrowed a page from HBO’s
playbook, which mobilized its original series as retention devices that tie the
audience to the network’s specific identity
 “Putting the Premium into Basic” (Smith)
• AMC’s original programming was designed to both extend and reorient its
existing brand, but faced unique challenged when compared to HBO’s
programming strategy, because AMC did so in an ad-supported industrial
context – and having to make its complex TV make sense economically.
• AMC was able to achieve this by leveraging its original programming as loss
leaders, which increased the value of its overall schedule to advertisers and its
brand name to cable channel companies.
• Even though the revenue AMC secures through advertising is minimal, the
value of its overall schedule increased – allowing for higher ad price rates
throughout its “regular” lineup; in other words, its original programming has
had a multiplier effect.
• By increasing the value of its brand, AMC has become more attractive to cable
companies and can now command higher carriage fees, which offsets the
lower ad revenue
• In other words: the value of AMC’s original lineup is both indirect and
institution-specific
• But, there are strings (and asterisks to success).
“Putting the Premium into Basic” (Smith)