Television Analysis

Since its inception in the early 20^th century, television has been—perhaps more than any other medium—associated with everyday life. While, in today’s increasingly mediatised society, TV has to constantly compete with other media (e.g., social media, streaming media, video games) for the audience’s attention, watching television remains an everyday activity for many people. This seminar provides an introduction to television analysis. Over the course of the seminar, we will approach a wide range of current television programmes (e.g., Game of Thrones, Yellowjackets, Star Trek: Picard, South Park, Ru Paul’s Drag Race) from various genres from a television studies point of view. Our investigation will primarily focus on the narration, reception, and aesthetics of contemporary television, but we will also touch on other subjects such as television genre, performance, and distribution. We will investigate what distinguishes television from other types of media and discuss several theoretical concepts that are essential for the analysis of television. These include—but are not limited to—dailiness, liveness, and seriality. Beyond analysing television on a textual level, we will focus on how viewers engage with television programmes on an emotional level (e.g., pleasure, empathy, antipathy) and examine the participatory culture surrounding contemporary television programmes.