A2 MEDIA STUDIES

Unit 2734
Critical Research Project
TV DRAMA
What is TV Drama?

Dramatic programming is television content that is

scripted and (normally) fictional. This excludes, for
example, sports, news, reality and game shows,
stand-up comedy and variety shows. Also, by
convention, the term is not generally usually used for
situation comedy.

Wikipedia

• Does not have to be “high brow”

• Can be series based, or can be one-off

• Overarching topic: What is the significance of TV

Drama?
POSSIBLE RESEARCH
TOPICS
• Schedules
• Genre and sub-
genre
• Representation of
social groups
• Authorship
Schedules
• How much of what is on
TV is Drama?
• How does the placing of
Drama reflect audience?
• Comparisons between
Terrestrial and Digital
• Are schedules audience
driven or are audiences
schedule driven?
Genre and Sub-genre
• Soap Opera
• Costume Drama
• Medical Drama
• Crime Drama
• What sub-genres exist?
• How have sub-genres
developed?
• How do genre
conventions reflect
changing audiences?
Representation of social
groups
• How are social groups
represented?
• What is the relationship
between the representation,
why it has been created and
the impact on the audience?
• You can look at one TV
Drama and its
representations
• You can look at one social
group and its representation
across a variety of TV Dramas
Authorship
• Can link to Auteur work in
Film Studies
• The signature style of an
individual
• Director, scriptwriter, cast
etc.
• How does this impact on
the audience?
• Does it affect marketing?
• Does mainstream audience
hinder individualism?
TASK 1…

• List as many TV Dramas as you can

• Put them in to Genre categories
• Now put them in to Sub-genre categories
• What assumptions can you make about
audience?
• Do you know when they are aired? Can you
guess by the content?
Task 2…
• Research the following TV Dramas and give a 2 minute presentation to the class:
– Torchwood
– The Singing Detective
– Buffy the Vampire Slayer
– The Sopranos
– Eastenders
– The O.C
– West Wing
– 24
– Misdsomer Murders
– Tales of the Unexpected
– Star Trek
– Xena the Warrior Princess
– Wire in the Blood
– Silent Witness
– The X-Files
– ER
– NYPD Blue
– Prime Suspect
– Morse
– CSI
– Ghost Whisperer
– All Creatures Great and Small
– Lost
– Nip/Tuck
– Queer as Folk