Television Genres and Formats was written by Jonathan Bignell and published in 2013 as part of his book An Introduction to Television Studies.
Genre comes from the French word for 'type' and how programmes are sorted into these categories depends on their specific codes and conventions. However, programmes can usually belong in many different genres because they are made up of so many different elements. Although, a show's title sequence can usually provide hints at the genre of the show. For example, the title sequence for the show Veronica Mars, hints that the show will be set mainly in a high school due to the notebook doodles showing the actors names, but that the show will also feature crime as some of these doodles show objects such as handcuffs and prison cell bars. It also shows the audience that the show will be centered around one main protagonist, Veronica Mars, as she is shown in many of the segments:
The format details the main features of the TV show such as it's main characters, location, genre(s), and theme(s). This is usually set up in the pilot episode of a show so audiences can tell what to expect from the rest of the show's run. It can become legal property so if a programme that follows the format of another closely is made, the creators of the new version may be sued by the creators of the original.
Ideology is how people view the world because of their beliefs depending on their class and where they come from. In both genres of crime drama and news there are opposing ideologies of order being disrupted, usually by an outside force, making these genres similar, even though audiences see them as being very different from one another.
News sometimes seems to separate its stories into different genres as the most important stories are reported first, such as breaking news of disasters or scandals, with the least important stories being reported towards the end of the show, usually celebrity and sports news.
TV constantly talks to itself, with channels and programmes communicating with each other through references of allusion, quotation, or parody. This is defined as them communicating intertextually and can also occur between TV and cinema. An example of this is when in The IT Crowd, an episode featured a storyline where a character competed in Countdown leading to the show parodying the stereotype of people who appear on that show:
Genres in TV are usually categorized by the show's format and contents but they could potentially be categorized differently, for example in terms of how the characters relate to each other. This would mean that shows with people stuck somewhere, such as Lost and Once Upon A Time would be in one genre, with shows revolving around families, such as Modern Family and This Is Us forming a different genre.
Shows that are categorized as being in the soap opera genre usually feature people that are related because of their family or working relationships with each other, or their age group, race, and gender. Other genres may also feature these elements such as hospital dramas like Casualty and Holby City but they are not in the soap opera genre because they are not set in a place of gathering, for example a pub, or a domestic setting as soap operas are. The audience mainly find out information from the characters in soap operas through their dialogue with one another, rather than through their actions.
This is different in crime dramas, as evidence is usually shown to the audience through zoom and close-ups, representing how close crime investigators must look so they do not miss any vital clues about the case they are working on. These shows usually feature long takes, different from soap opera's much shorter ones, and non-diegetic music to create suspense and tension for the audience. Usually from the evidence that is found, the committing of the crime is reconstructed for the audience to view in flashbacks.
Non-fiction shows such as talk shows usually deal with the public sphere, which is the world outside the domestic setting, involving public affairs such as politics and economics. Because of this, talk shows usually feature debates about issues surrounding these topics which is supposed to create resistance against stigma towards controversial issues. However, there are questions of morality surrounding these shows as some of them can include aggressive behavior and even confrontation from the guests. Due to this, the line between the soap opera genre and the talk show is becoming blurred as more and more talk show guests are made to show excessive emotions such as rage or guilt, similar to actors who are performing in a soap opera.
The line between documentary and reality TV is also becoming more and more blurred. For example, both claim to be unscripted and feature 'real' people and events. Documentaries are often controversial and feature topics such as politics, whereas reality TV features normal situations which are heightened to create interesting drama for the audience. An example of reality TV that features elements which overlap into the documentary genre is The Only Way Is Essex as it can feature emotional realism but some of the moments are exaggerated, requiring a performance from the 'real' people being featured, also making it a docusoap:
Fixed camera series such as One Born Every Minute are set in reality but are documentaries as they reveal life to the audience. However, by focusing on the expectant mothers to give the audience identification, they use an aspect of fiction. Another aspect of fiction in documentary is the use of music to highlight the emotion. Although in this show, all the action is unstaged and by having fixed cameras the show attempts to be noninvasive but still intimate.
Animated series have no limits because they are drawn so impossible things are able to happen. To create a comic effect similar to sitcoms, animation parallels the ordinary with the extraordinary and, also similar to sitcoms, highlight their artificiality by making the background and foreground both as in focus as each other. Narrative is usually the focus of animation so places can change location from episode to episode depending on the storyline being told. To create a distance between the viewer and the animation, the point of view is usually one that is looking into the animated world as if it were a set built in a studio with the camera placed at the edge making it more realistic. Realism also comes from the possibilities of animation combined with the component of genre that episodes are closed at the end. Animation can however present real life problems that seem as if they could not be solved within only half an hour in a typical sitcom and then solve them, parodying sitcom's artificiality and showing that animation can do things live action is unable to. Because of this, it can be said that animated shows such as The Simpsons are self-conscious enough to be described as postmodern TV, meaning that it uses techniques of parody and irony to be a part of, but also to critique, consumer society:
References:
Bignell, J. (2013) An Introduction to Television Studies. (3 ed.) New York: Routledge. pp.124-144
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