Art television

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Art television is a television program genre or style which shares some of the same traits of art films.

[edit] US art television

Kristin Thompson, the author of Storytelling in Film and Television argues that television shows such as David Lynch's Twin Peaks series has "...a loosening of causality, a greater emphasis on psychological or anecdotal realism, violations of classical clarity of space and time, explicit authorial comment, and ambiguity." ^[1] She claims that series such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Sopranos, and The Simpsons "...have altered long-standing notions of closure and single authorship", which means that "...television has wrought its own changes in traditional narrative form."

Thompson compares David Lynch's film Blue Velvet and the television series Twin Peaks and "...asks whether there can be an "art television" comparable to the more familiar "art cinema." ^[2] Other television shows that have been called "art television," such as The Simpsons, use a "...flurry of cultural references, intentionally inconsistent characterization, and considerable self-reflexivity about television conventions and the status of the programme as a television show." ^[3]

In the 1990s and 2000s, a new model of television storytelling began being used in some US television programs such as Seinfeld, WestWing, and The X-Files, which emphasized narrative complexity and innovative plot frameworks. Some television programs used "interweaving...and...disjoined sound and image from five different time frames," which is a "presentational mode more common to European art cinema than American television." The cable channel HBO made a number of narratively complex shows, such as The Sopranos, Six Feet Under, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and used these shows to help "brand" HBO as an alternative to conventional television channels^[4]" Many of the innovative television programs of the past twenty years have come from creators who launched their careers in film, a medium with more traditional cultural cachet," such as David Lynch, Barry Levinson, Aaron Sorkin, Joss Whedon, Alan Ball, and J. J. Abrams. ^[5]

As television shows become increasingly popular as DVD rentals and purchases, media industries are trying to increase the “rewatchability” of programs. If a television program has a simple plot that can be understood in a single viewing, viewers will be less likely to want to purchase a DVD recordings of this television show. However, if a show as a complex narrative construction and richly detailed content, viewers will be more inclined to want to "rewatch episodes or segments to parse out complex moments." ^[6] As well, the "...rise of narrative complexity has also seen the rise in amateur television criticism, as sites like televisionwithoutpity.com have emerged to provide thoughtful and humorous commentaries on weekly episodes." According to Steven Johnson narratively complex television shows provide viewers with a "cognitive workout" that can help to increase their "...problem-solving and observational" skills. ^[7]

[edit] European art television

British television drama writer John Hopkins helped to develop art television in the UK with his “...successful pioneering of the short series for serious drama,” which “...established an important precedent in Britain” and served as a model for subsequent television writers such as Dennis Potter and Alan Bleasdale.^[8]Kristin Thompson argues that the BBC's The Singing Detective has art television aspects, similar to those in Lynch's Twin Peaks series ^[9] In 2006, researchers did a case study on European art television. ^[10]