Television Studies Blog

In the third and final season (before its return) of “Arrested Development” the show uses a ‘Save Our Bluths’ campaign both in the story line and in real life.  This episode relies heavily on the fandom associated with the show.  “Arrested Development” is a show that is completely aware of who its’ audience is and what they want.  This is evident in the way the jokes are meant more for the audiences benefit instead of simply pushing the story line along.

“Arrested Development” is usually referred to as a cult show, but does not necessarily follow Hills’ interpretation of this.  Hills says that genres like scifi, horror, and fantasy are more likely to be cult shows due to hyperdiegesis.  “Arrested Development” is, however, a comedy.   There is over exaggeration of character’s personalities and times where things are possible in their world that would not be in the real one.  In this sense it is making the strange familiar and the familiar strange.

Active and loyal viewership are what kept the show running and eventually brought it out of cancelation.  Narrative involvement was used in the episode “S.O.B.s” in several ways.  Twice words appeared that said “put 3-D glasses on now” and then things were thrown at the screen.  The episode was about saving the company so they developed a website www.saveourbluths.com.  This was actually a real website to save the show from cancelation.  The producers designed this interaction with the audience to try and get fans to help save the show.

Jokes throughout the episode were aimed at the audience to help save it from cancelation.  The narrator at one point says, “the Bluths were desperate.  The press had them all but finished”.  George Sr. talks about rounding up a bunch of famous people who have nothing to do with their family as some kind of cheap stunt.  While the context was for a dinner party, they actually do have a lot of famous people join the cast for this one episode in order to try and raise ratings.  Michael gives a speech towards the end saying maybe the Bluths aren’t worth saving because they’re too self-centered.  Here it becomes very apparent that the characters actually know that they are playing to the viewers and asking for help.  It is a joke about the whole episode being a desperate plea to save the show and how self-absorbed they have been because of it.

The award-winning reality show “Top Chef” features chefs from around the nation competing for the title of the same name.  While the finale of the latest aired season is what will be examined in depth, the entire 10th season overall has a similar tone.  “Top Chef”, while about the chef and the food being prepared, is also about creating an audience of affluencers.  By doing this the cable television show can sell products more easily and establish an audience for future seasons.

The show is based around the idea that people don’t need to be chefs, but instead know about food from a consumer’s perspective in order to seem part of a higher social group.  The final two chefs and their helpers are dressed in aprons and chef coats.  The judges and diners are dressed in cocktail dresses and suits.  While the ones cooking are called ‘an elite group of chefs’, it’s the people eating that are actually considered part of the elite.  The chefs serve the judges and wait patiently in front of them as they eat and critique their food.  The cooks therefore are not who the audience is trying to be like, but more so the judges.

“Top Chef” uses four basic types of promotion in the finale.  First is the spot ads or commercials which are tailored to an audience that is of a more upscale and higher social class.  By doing this viewers feel as if they are part of something that is better and less sleazy than other reality shows.  Second is product placement.  Now that the audience feels higher end they will believe the products being used in the show are as well. Cuisinart, Figi water, Morton salt, and Sanford wine are all given close-ups camera shots during the finale.  During the credits sponsors are also listed. 

Integrated ads are used whenever a new chef is introduced.  Each judges’ restaurants are listed after their names and all the past winners of “Top Chef” have the name of the restaurant they work at advertised.  At one point an audience member even asks one of the contestants where their restaurant is located.  This is a way of telling the audience that these restaurants are considered better quality and higher end than normal ones.   Actors also regularly appear on the show.  This brings the idea that if the rich and famous are eating a certain way the audience should be trying to as well.

The last type of advertising is cross promotion.  This can be seen in a variety of cases, but is most prominent on “Top Chef” with the online webisodes “Last Chance Kitchen”.  At the end of each episode of “Top Chef” the narrator tells the audience that the eliminated chef can be seen on “Last Chance Kitchen”.  This is a mini show on Bravo’s website where the last two eliminated compete to get back in the game by winning a cook-off.  By using cross promotion the network hooks views onto another show, increasing ad sales.

“South Park” has always been known as a show that pushes the envelope, sometimes even going too far.  Episodes often mimic current events, but with a twist of reality.  South Park takes place in an alternate reality where everything is taken to the extreme and back-story doesn’t necessarily matter.  The episode “The Snuke” is a parody on the TV show “24”.  This episode centers on the character of Eric Cartman.  He is often politically incorrect, yet the show plays on the notion that there are actually people who may think this way.  This episode, like many others, follows the notion of “what if this were to happen”.

A new student named Bahir Hassam Abdul Hakeem joins the boys’ class, making Cartman uncomfortable.   Cartman asks the teacher if he has be been checked for bombs because not all Muslims are terrorists, but most are.  This begins the adventure of Cartman calling the CIA and the search for a bomb to commence.  Having originally aired in 2007 the presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton becomes the target for a nuclear attack.

This episode, like most others, relies heavily on pop culture references.  Hillary Clinton is called more often than not “Hildog”.  When trying to find the bomb and the terrorists the characters spout random Internet sites like Myspace, Ebay, Ask Jeeves, and Eharmony.  Like mentioned before, the episode is a parody on the show “24”.  There is a clock (which is also the bomb) that beeps to show the audience how much time has lapsed.  They also use split screens to show where different people are at the same time.  These are both used in “24”.

South Park uses immature and sometimes dark humor.   Cartman sends Kyle a picture of his balls in one scene. The CIA also allows Cartman to interrogate a Muslim family where he farts over and over in their faces to get answers.  The main joke, and what the episode is named after, is the bomb in Hillary Clinton’s vagina.  The technical term, they say, is snatch.  The bomb is referred to at first as a “suit case nuke meant to fit in a sniz called a snuck”.   They also joke that no one wants to go in to get the bomb because “it hasn’t seen action in over 30 years.  It could be toxic”.  When someone finally does go to get the bomb out an unseen monster eats him.

Cartman eventually claims all the credit for stopping the British, the real people behind the nuclear attack.  “It was my intolerance of Muslims that saved America.  Me being a bigot stopped a nuclear bomb from going off, yes or no?  Bigotry and racism saved the day.”  This goes back to the politically incorrectness of Cartman’s character.  They then say that people need to learn not to profile a certain race, because most of the world hates us.  While “South Park” goes for the laughs, some of what they say can be sadly true.  The writers of the show use real life problems to get a point across.

“Modern Family” in general is about the differences between traditional families and new modern ones.  A basic stock plot dealing in family comedy is challenged with new definitions of what a family is.  Race, age, and sex are the most prominent issues brought up in a show that is meant to be an exaggeration on reality.  The stereotypes associated with these issues are exploited and used to the shows advantage.

Claire and Phil Dunphy represent the traditional family.  They are a white, middle class couple with three children.  The oldest, Haley, is the average teenage girl who wears too tight of clothes, is boy obsessed, and doesn’t want anything to do with her parents.  Alex is a nerdy middle school girl and Luke is the dumb little brother.  Phil tries to play the cool dad role and be hip, this is the first instance of age mentioned.  Claire’s role is that of the overbearing mother.  She doesn’t want Haley to make the same mistakes she did so she does things like barging into the room Haley and a boy are watching a movie in.  The Dunphy’s act as the control family, that is, the standard that all others are compared too.

Jay and Gloria Pritchett is were the ‘modern’ part of the show comes in.  Jay is Clair’s dad and well into his 60s.  Most of the issues that surround him have to do with his age from asking if he is his wife’s father to the clothes he wears getting him mistaken as a mall walker.  He recently married a Columbian sexpot thirty years his junior named Gloria who has a son, Manny, the same age as Luke.  She is loud, feisty, and speaks extremely broken English.  She is supposed to be the stereotypical Latin woman.  Manny, on the other hand, acts more like someone Jay’s age then his own.  He writes love poems, wears silk shirts, and has a vocabulary larger than his mother.   While Jay would be what is considered ‘normal’ his new family is anything but.  He spends most of his time trying to become as ‘modern’ as they are.

Mitchell Pritchett and Cameron Tucker is a homosexual couple that have been together for five years and just adopted a baby girl from Vietnam, Lily.  Their story line revolves around the issue of their relationship, starting in their first scene by Mitch telling a plane full of people that there is nothing wrong with being homosexual.  It seems Mitch cares more about being a gay couple than anyone else does.  He even comments that they need to get friends with “less gay names” than Pepper and Andre.  Cam on the other hand is the stereotypical gay man.  He wears flamboyant clothing, talks in a higher pitched voice, and is what Jay calls “a drama queen”. 

Race comes into play briefly with Lily when Jay calls her a “little potsticker”.  It becomes a larger matter in later episodes when they start to teach her about her heritage, but for now the issue of race is held pretty exclusively with Gloria and Manny.

With 23 pilots ordered for the 2013 season it would seem that CBS doesn’t know exactly what they are looking for, but they definitely have an idea.  While the overall premises in both the comedy and drama categories are seemingly different, there are some stark similarities among them.  CBS’s 2013 pilots seem to be full of stars returning or switching to television.  With several shows in both the drama and comedy categories having large, A-list names attached. 

It seems the network knows what they are looking for and are having a competition to find the best match.  There is a parent-child relationship theme among many of the comedy pilots.  The untitled Tad Quill project deals with a widowed father and his son, “Mom” is about a single newly sober mother and her mom, and “Crazy Ones” deals with a man working with his daughter in advertising.  There is also “The McCarthys” which has to do with a son struggling to spend less time with his family.  This family dynamic has proven to work with shows such as “Modern Family”, ‘Raising Hope”, and CBS’s own “Two and a Half Men”.

CBS is known for their procedural cop dramas like “NCIS”, “CSI”, and “Criminal Minds”.  This year it seems they are trying to add more serial programs, especially with a political background to them.  “Surgeon General” and “Hostages” are both medical dramas that also deal in politics.  “The Ordained” is focused completely in politics with the logline claiming the family involved to be Kennedy-esque.  Political dramas have also been shown to do well with “Scandal” and “House of Cards”, and “The West Wing”.

While it is obvious that CBS is trying to get a new variety of shows, they are also sticking to what they know best.  Out of the 12 dramas this year at least half are cop dramas.  CBS’s comedies cover a wide range as is.  With “Two and a Half Men” likely to not last much longer, it makes sense they would want to solidify a new family orientated show before it goes.

The pilots that will most likely get a time slot are those that have some big name actors, producers, and writers attached.  Greg Garcia has had success on CBS as well as other networks so it is easy to assume at least one of his two pilots will find a slot in the fall.  “Crazy Ones” has Robin Williams and Sarah Michelle Gellar as its leads while Anna Faris and Allison Janney star in “Mom”.  “The Ordained” and “Hostages” both have an abundance of television stars.

CBS drama pilot “The Ordained” has added to its cast some familiar faces.  Sam Neill and Jorge Garcia, both of which were in FOX’s “Alcatraz”, have been cast.  They will join Emmanuelle Chriqui from “Entourage”, Charlie Cox from “Boardwalk Empire”, and Audra McDonald from “Private Practice”.  The drama follows Tom (Cox) who leaves the priesthood to become a lawyer and his politically involved family.  It is being called a legal thriller.

  The actors involved in this project all have impressive resumes.  With so many pilots ordered from CBS this season, this is what will help a project stand out.  Politics seems to be a popular theme among the dramas ordered.  “Surgeon General” is a medical drama that is sure to have a politically backdrop.  “Hostages” involves a surgery on the president and also has a notable cast.  There are also several cop dramas on the list, something CBS has been known for with “CSI”, “NCIS”, and “Criminal Minds”.  

This article talks about all broadcast networks, but this summary will only talk about CBS.  This season CBS has ordered 23 pilots (12 comedies and 11 dramas), which is a massive increase to the 15 they ordered last season (8 comedies and 7 dramas).  CBS Corp chief Les Moonves has said that there are not going to be many new shows next season.  This makes the competition ever more tough, especially since CBS is known to be one of the hardest to get a new series on.  The comedy side has the most competition with two spots likely going to “Mom” and one of Greg Garcia’s two pilots.  “The Big Bang Theory”, “2 Broke Girls”, “How I Met Your Mother”, and “Mike & Molly” will all return and very possibly “Two and a Half Men”.  There will be three possible dramas ending this year: “CSI: NY”, “Vegas”, and “The Mentalist”.  So spots are limited in that category also.

  The 53% increase in pilots ordered between this season and last is strange and nerve racking for producers.  The drama series are all fairly different with legal, cop, and medical procedurals and some serialized thrillers.  This makes it hard to predict what will get one of the few spots available.  However, there does seem to be a political theme throughout several of the different shows.  The Untitled NCIS: L.A. spinoff will most likely grab a slot due to those shows being successful in the past for the network.  With several comedies probably coming back the amount of spots open is not known yet, but there will not be many.  Pilots with big names attached will have a better shot this year.

As of February 7th CBS has picked up a total of twelve comedies.  The last three are discussed in this article.  “Jacked Up” comes from Greg Malins and Patrick Warburton, star of “Rules of Engagement”.   It is about a baseball player adjusting to retirement.  What effect this will have on “Rules of Engagement” is not known yet.  The untitled Tad Quill project (“Scrubs”, “Bent”) is about a single father dating after the death of his wife.  “Smash” Executive producers Julie Rottenberg and Elisa Zuritsky will write and produce an untitled project about a married mom balancing life.  This project is based off of an Israeli show. 

  Of the twelve comedies, half will be single-camera and half will be multi-camera.  Last season CBS only had two of it’s eight half-hour comedies to be ordered into series.  With at least thirteen in production for this year, it will be curious to see which one’s make it.  Rottenberg and Zuritsky have proven they can produce a hit show, but how will the transition from musical to comedy play out?  As discussed before, it is Israeli format, which has proven to work in the past.  The Tad Quill project has some stiff competition in the family comedy department, as talked about in post 3.  “Jacked Up” seems most unlikely to make it to air due to conflicts with “Rules of Engagement” and a premise that doesn’t appeal much to younger viewers.

CBS has ordered a new pilot from famed 1990s television writer and producer David E. Kelley. Two of Kelley’s shows, “Ally McBeal” and “The Practice” won Emmys in 1999 for comedy and drama series, respectively. “Crazy Ones” will be a half-hour sitcom starring Oscar winner Robin Williams in a father-daughter workplace comedy.  This will be Williams’ first regular live-action series since his sitcom “Mork & Mindy” in 1978.  Kelley also just debuted a medical drama on TNT called “Monday Mornings”.  CBS has also ordered a drama from the “Homeland” team called “Anatomy of Violence” about a criminal psychologist and young detective duo.

  CBS teamed up with Kelley in the 90s for the award winning show “Chicago Hope”. Kelley, while having consistent shows, hasn’t created a completely comedy series in some time.  Bringing in Williams could be a hit or miss since he has been off of television for so long.  He might not have the same audience appeal as he used to, especially in the coveted 18-49 age group.  There seems to be several comedy pilots on CBS this season that involve a parent-child relationship including the untitled Tad Quill project, “Mom”, and ‘The McCarthys”.  With “Mom” seeming likely to take a time slot, there won’t be room for all the others.

Samuel Blood, creator of FOX’s “Lie To Me”, is writing and executive producing “Surgeon General” for CBS.  The show is based on the surgeon general of the United States.  It is the 7th drama pilot ordered this season for CBS.  It is joining “Hostages” about a surgeon in a political conspiracy.  Other dramas ordered by CBS include an “NCIS: L.A.” spinoff and “Beverly Hills Cop”.

  With limited spots, it will be a battle between “Hostages” and “Surgeon General” to make it to air.  Both are medical dramas that seem to involve some kind of political aspect.  “Hostages” is based on the Israeli format, which has worked for shows like “Homeland”.  It stars television vets Tate Donovan, Dylan McDermott, and Toni Collette.  “Surgeon General” has two actors coming off of recently canceled shows, Beth Riesgraf and Jason Isaacs.  This show seems better in concept than it will ultimately be, so “Hostages” probably has the upper hand.

Allison Janney, from “The West Wing”, will join Anna Faris in Chuck Lorre’s new half-hour comedy “Mom”.  The CBS show has Janney playing the mom of a newly sober single mother (Faris).  Janney’s previous two shows ABC’s “Mr. Sunshine” and NBC’s “Friday Night Dinner” where both canceled soon after or before premiere.  Chuck Lorre Productions has two other comedy’s on CBS, “Two and a Half Men” and “The Big Bang Theory”.  “Mom” will be written by Lorre along with Eddie Gorodetsky and Gemma Baker who also serve as executive producer and producer, respectively.

  Janney hasn’t had a hit show since “The West Wing”.  She did have two movies in this years Sundance, one of which got the festivals best deal from Fox Searchlight.  She also has several other films coming out soon.  Anna Faris has been strictly a movie actress, but does specialize in comedies so she should be able to pull it off.  Considering Lorre’s deal and success with CBS, “Mom” seems like a shoe in for a time slot this season.