TV: Introduction to TV Drama

1) What is serial television drama? Write your own definition.
A serial television show which has an ongoing plot that unfolds throughout the season or series.

2) List five of the TV dramas discussed in the history of the genre on page 1 of the factsheet. How has the genre evolved over time?
Doctor Who, The Avengers, Danger Man, The Sweeney and Minder over time. Many TV dramas use the feature of cold openings which is when the opening scene is shown before the title sequence which creates enigmas for the audience and draws them in. This is a beneficial technique to broadcasters as it episodes can be shown in any order, providing the audience with easy to follow narratives

3) List the sub-genres of TV drama featured in the factsheet. Come up with your own example of an existing TV dramas to fit each category.
Medical: Holby City 
Police: Luther
Period: Eastenders
Sci-fi: Doctor Who
Family: Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
Teen: Sex in the city

4) Why is setting so important for TV drama?
Most dramas are defined by their location and iconography (mise-en-scene) is vital when communicating the sub-genre and narrative expectations to the audience

5) How do TV dramas typically use character? What audience pleasures can be linked to character in TV drama? (Hint: Uses & Gratifications theory!)
Most TV dramas have a large ensemble cast and these characters are usually stereotypical, communicating a lot to the audience. They are often recognisable and easy to relate to which gives audiences the pleasure of identification and an ongoing relationship.

6) What is a multi-strand narrative? Give an example of a TV drama that features a multi-strand narrative.
Most TV dramas have multi strand narratives which tell a range of interconnected storylines sometimes through different characters. An example of a show with a multi-strand narrative is Eastenders.

7) What is a cold opening?
A cold opening is operating in a touch, commercial environment and drama producers need to maintain their audience with each episode. They put a teaser at the beginning of an episode to hook the audience in, maintaining their audience with each episode. This generates enigma or intrigue.

0 8) How can Todorov's theory of equilibrium be applied to TV drama serials?
The theory of equilibrium can be applied to TV drama serials because after each episode the equilibirium is restored to what it was before. There is always a disequilibrium to keep the audience engaged, having something new and unexpected to look forward to. 

9) What is the typical form for TV dramas and how are the programmes typically distributed to an audience?
In the USA the commercial networks schedule most of their dramas in blocks of 24 episodes which effectively spans the whole calendar year. In order to accommodate many commercial breaks the running time of a network drama is around 42 minutes, presenting easy to follow narratives that can weather frequent interruptions. 

10) How have subscription channels (such as HBO) and streaming services (such as Netflix and Amazon Prime) changed the form and content of TV dramas?
Streaming services like Netflix allow you to have access to the full episode list for shows therefore if you want to watch a TV Drama you can watch from any episode as most likely it'll be multi-strand with  a new plot within each episode providing an easy to follow narrative. In the UK serial dramas fill one hour with some dramas commissioned to span a two hour slot. Drama serials on subscription channels (e.g. HBO, AMC and

11) Choose a TV drama and do your own analysis of it using the SETTING / CHARACTERS / NARRATIVE / FORM headings as featured on page 3 of the factsheet.
Stranger things

Setting
 Stranger Things is set in the fictional rural town of Hawkins, Indiana during the early 1980s.

Characters
Stranger Things features 5 main characters who go by the names: Mike, Will, Dustin, Lucas and Eleven. They are all fleshed out characters that you get to know better and better as you continue to watch the series. Each character also has their own mini story set in a certain episode or in Will's case he is the source of the main narrative in season 1.

Narrative
Stranger Things is a TV Drama on Netflix that is set in a fictional town in America in the early 1980s. The main plot is based around a young boy that suddenly goes missing one night after leaving his friends house after playing a board game. This strange event then happens again as another person goes missing. Afterwards an unusual girl turns up wielding supernatural powers and multiple dimensions are also brought into the story line. The boys looking for their missing friend be-friend the unusual girl and team up to try and find the missing friend whilst trying to evade the Government and find out their secrets to find a hint as to what has been occurring in their town.

Form
Distributor: Netflix 
Running time: 42-62 minutes
Production company(s) 21 Laps entertainment Monkey Massacre

12) How might the TV drama genre evolve in future?
The way that TV dramas are going to survive is to increase its promotion with a better distributor that receives large scaled audiences as television is beginning to move away from smaller content because of domestic audiences. TV drama is filling the void vacated by the mid-budget movies.