Trisha Dunleavy - Complex Serial Drama and Multiplatform Television

COMPLEX SERIAL DRAMA AND MULTIPLATFORM TELEVISION

This book examines the creative strategies, narrative characteristics, industrial practices and stylistic tendencies of complex serial drama. Exemplified by shows like HBOs The Sopranos , AMCs Mad Men and Breaking Bad , Showtimes Dexter , and Netflixs Stranger Things , complex serials are distinguished by their conceptual originality, narrative complexity, transgressive lead characters and serial allure. As a drama form that continues to expand and diversify in todays television, HBOs Boardwalk Empire and Game of Thrones , Netflixs Orange Is the New Black and Hulus The Handmaids Tale provide further examples. Dunleavy investigates the strategies that underpin the innovations, influence and success of complex serial drama, giving students and scholars a nuanced understanding of this contemporary TV form.

Trisha Dunleavy is Associate Professor in Media Studies, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. Her research focusses on television, in which the key areas of interest are TV drama, related institutions and industries, and national screen production cultures. Her earlier books include Television Drama: Form, Agency, Innovation (Palgrave Macmillan, 2009) and Ourselves in Primetime: A History of New Zealand Television Drama (Auckland University Press, 2005).

COMPLEX SERIAL DRAMA AND MULTIPLATFORM TELEVISION

Trisha Dunleavy

First published 2018

by Routledge

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and by Routledge

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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

2018 Taylor & Francis

The right of Trisha Dunleavy to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

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Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Names: Dunleavy, Trisha, author.

Title: Complex serial drama and multiplatform television / Trisha Dunleavy.

Description: New York: Routledge, 2018. | Includes bibliographical references.

Identifiers: LCCN 2017032513| ISBN 9781138927735 (hardback) | ISBN 9781138927759 (pbk.) | ISBN 9781315682310 (ebk.)

Subjects: LCSH: Television plays, AmericanHistory and criticism. | Television seriesUnited States. | Cable televisionUnited States.

Classification: LCC PN1992.65 .D85 2018 | DDC 791.45/6dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017032513

ISBN: 978-1-138-92773-5 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-1-138-92775-9 (pbk)

ISBN: 978-1-315-68231-0 (ebk)

Typeset in Bembo

by Deanta Global Publishing Services, Chennai, India

CONTENTS

This book owes much to the support and contributions of a number of individuals and organisations. Thanks first to my family my partner, Derek Neal, and children, Liam and Trees. Of all academic colleagues who supported me in this project, I am most grateful to my American friend and colleague, David Lavery (formerly of Middle Tennessee State University) for his infectious enthusiasm for this subject and the many insights he provided. Very sadly, David passed away in 2016. I am grateful to American scholar Douglas Howard for his feedback on some key book chapters and to Danish scholar Eva Novrup Redvall for her encouragement in the final months of work. Thanks also to the many of my colleagues at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, especially those in the Media Studies programme, for their support.