In practical terms, television shows had historically been too cumbersome to sell directly to customers on home media. Until relatively recently, syndication was treated as the be-all and end-all of television production. Syndication was also a driver in the episodic nature of most shows in the late eighties and early nineties the idea being that viewers should need to watch a syndicated show everyday to understand a given episode. The more episodes had been produced, the longer the show could run in syndication without repeating itself the more attractive the package was. Until relatively recently, the ideal was to produce a large volume of episodes that could be sold into syndication, thus allowing old shows to keep earning a profit. Popular returning shows tend to generate more news and more coverage than new shows. Creating new shows takes an investment of time and money in something that has (statistically speaking) a low chance of success, while keeping an old successful show on the air comes with a built-in audience and a known brand. The most obvious was that a successful show continues to make money for all involved. Under the classic model of television, shows would continue for as long as was deemed viable. However, it also affected how television shows approach endings, in that audiences came to expect that their shows would have clear delineated endings. In recent years, it has become increasingly trendy to think of television as a format that is “novelistic.” This attitude reflects itself in a number of different ways, most notably in the diminished importance of the episode as its own story and in the increase importance of the episode as an installment or unit of story. In some ways, this theory was rooted in a contemporary understanding of how television works. Perhaps Mulder would finally get to tackle the threat of colonisation that had lingered over the show since Talitha Cumi. Perhaps they would reconcile with William. Gillian Anderson had even suggested as much in some of her early public appearances following the announcement. Upon the announcement of the six episode limited series, there was a sense that Chris Carter might use the episodes to bring closure to the characters and the show, that this might legitimately represent the end for Mulder and Scully.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |