Genre Research

TV Dramas:Drama is an integral part within the range of genres that ITV has to offer, as they offer a variety of programmes within the drama genre in order to entice a primarily adult audience. Dramas on television channels can either include mini-series that would typically run for a couple of weeks or specifically made for television dramas that will conventionally run for over an hour. This genre of programming is typically shown at night because this genre costs a lot of money to make, with shows like Doctor Who costing up to £1 million for an episode that is broadcast for an hour – though it makes this money back plus profit due to the fact that it attracts such a mass audience. Furthermore, this programming is depicted to be targeted at an adult audience, though this depends on the channel that a drama is being shown on, for example – Skins is a drama that is shown on E4 with the audience being teenagers as this is the integral audience for this particular channel. However, on mainstream channels like ITV and BBC – the focus is put upon an adult audience at night as the children will be expected to be asleep.

Different types of TV dramas aim at different audiences and this is conveyed through several different factors, with one of these aspects being the channel that a drama is shown on.

Hollyoaks

Hollyoaks is a long running teen drama, which is shown on Channel 4 which is very effective due to the fact that Channel 4’s subsidiary channel E4 are predominantly a teenage audience – subsequently meaning that they will tune into this drama because it appeals to their demographic. It targets teenagers and this is represented due to the fact that most of the cast members within the show are around the ages of 16-35, connoting that similar people of this age group are likely to view the drama. Moreover, an audience that find delving into the theme of escapism will like Hollyoaks because they can immerse themselves within a storyline – though this is concurrent for people that enjoy aspects like soap operas also.

Downton Abbey

Downton Abbey is broadcast on ITV, with this being a period drama which differs entirely from Hollyoaks and this connotes that different types of genres are intrinsically dependant on the channel that they are broadcast on. The resigned demographic are targeted for Downton Abbey, due to the fact that the show is set in former traditional times, hence meaning that an older audience is primarily aimed at due to the fact that they will gain a sense of nostalgia from watching the show. ITV show this programme because of the fact that they are able to attract an older audience through their programming as they have to have a diversity within their ethos, depicting that by having a show for aspirers that they can find status alike how the characters in the show do.

Casualty

Casualty is yet another sub-genre of the drama category with this being shown on BBC One – it is a medical drama series that has been running for many years and becomes part of a flagship Saturday night on BBC. This show targets a variety of audiences, with the psychographic audience that are aimed at being succeeds due to the fact that they will seek a sense of prestige, meaning that the audience will see the doctors within the show and subsequently gain satisfaction from this genre. It varies an audience from between 25+ to around 50, with the flagship Saturday night time of around 9 o’clock typically highlighting that male and female adults with kids can watch the show – as well as those already in the profession of healthcare.

Genre TheoryJonathan Culler states that ‘generic conventions exist to establish certain expectations’ – with this applying in all genre theory but I see it as paramount within the drama genre due to the fact that there is such a variation within this genre with a mass of sub-genres, though fundamentally the narrative structure stays relatively similar to Todorov’s narrative structure. Freytag’s drama theory is divided into 5 different segments, with this being highlighted to represent a similar sense of Todorov’s theory, with the rising action being the disequilibrium in order to entice the audience towards the show, especially in drama’s that are shown over several episodes or are part of a series. Storylines can run over in different episodes which means that equilibrium may not be seen for several episodes, or in the case of a show like Hollyoaks, potentially a storyline could run over months without denouement ever being achievable until months ahead, with this technique being used to attract an audience back towards a drama until the climax is ultimately reached.

RealityReality television presents unscripted and follows ‘real life’ events as they occur – though this genre of programming is among the most mediated shows on television – with shows like ‘The Only Way is Essex’ having to convey before they even start their shows that some of the events that unfold have been purposely set up, which instantly gets rid of the unscripted aspect of the genre. This genre attracts a lot of criticism subsequently, as it appears to utterly contradict itself due to the fact that unscripted aspects are shown to not be reality at all. Stereotypes play a massive part in reality TV, with characters from Made in Chelsea shown to be extremely posh and wealthy through their possessions, highlighting that a psychographic of materialistic people will enjoy these programmes as they aspire to have the possessions that these people have. A massive example of a stereotype within reality TV involves Jade Goody, with her entire life and death focusing upon her following the ‘dumb blonde’ stereotype though she had the intention of subverting this stereotype through her portrayal on reality TV, in order to get the audience to like her.

Reality The entire reality TV format allows the audience to have a sense of interactivity within the shows, with audience’s able to potentially vote for people that they enjoy watching, or with shows like ‘The Only Way is Essex’ represented on ITV 2 to an audience focused around teenagers, meaning that synergy within their adverts of drawing audience users to the Twitter hashtag ‘#TOWIE’ is vital for the audience to have their view. This involves the uses and gratifications theory, as an audience can find entertainment through shows like Geordie Shore as they see how a specific demographic of people act in a partially controlled environment, though shows like Crimewatch are vital for learning about new stuff in the world and therefore acquiring new knowledge about cases of crime. Ultimately, this allows people to find a personal identity due to the variety of reality TV sub-genres, as they can reinforce their own views by looking up to others – hence highlighting that those lower on the demographic scale are the predominant audience for this genre of programming.

Infotainment

This includes shows like Crimewatch which is shown on BBC 1 as a flagship show typically once a month. This is seen as the oldest type of reality show and differs tremendously from modern reality television – as this includes information on very important crimes so that the audience can respond to the reconstructions to help out issues that have occurred. BBC represent the audience of this show by having a sense of superiority of the audience, with a very professional identity of the show, as well as specialists in specific areas to add authority.

Docusoap

These programmes appear as more realistic than the average reality TV show, effectively using cameras to depict unscripted situations as they occur as they are set up within an atmosphere but then events unfold themselves. Airline was formerly a prevalent example of this as this was shown on ITV at flagship times to attract a massive audience, as they represent the lives of what appear to be ‘ordinary people’. They are extremely cheap to make and this is why they are broadcast so frequently, though the critical theories upon this sub-genre involve the fact that mediation occurs due to the fact that people will know they are being filmed. Furthermore, there is criticism upon this genre as participants will not like their views being shared, though will then willingly allow themselves to be represented on television in front of millions of people.

Lifestyle ProgrammesThis will involve programmes that involve ordinary people being transformed infront of the audience’s very eyes. This instantly creates a sense of hyperbole within the show and seeks out a lower demographic of people and a psychographic of people that wish to reform themselves alike the person that is undergoing a change on television. This includes shows like Gok’s Fashion Fix as women will be severely abused (though not to their own knowledge) and then suddenly appear as dominant feminine figures, highlighting that this genre can place a massive importance upon highlighting conventional stereotypes of men and women. According to Neale’s genre theory, ‘specific systems of expectations constitute genre’ – with this being shown as vital within lifestyle programmes due to the fact that there is an expectations put upon females in order to look beautiful and for image to be the predominant aspect in their life, but then with a gay man being the person to sort their problems out, connoting an expectation upon the aspirer psychographic to conform to the stereotypical expectation of gay men and women.

Reality talent showThis involves putting people into massive manufactured and mediated situations in order to show off their talents – or deliberately to make the audience laugh which highlights that comedy plays a paramount aspect within this sub-genre. Britain’s Got Talent is a flagship show for ITV which is why they consistently bring it back year after year because they know that they will gain a massive audience for each episode, therefore generating money for ITV themselves also through the use of audience participation due to voting. These shows are constructed in a way to portray each contestant in a specific way – for example by making a character appear as one of Propp’s character types initially through portraying them as a victim – but then if they perform extremely well then the audience get a sense of satisfaction and are ultimately more likely to spend money on voting for this person which creates more money for ITV.

Reality game showThis acts as a popularity contest which involves the use of celebrities in order to entice viewers towards a show. Shows like ‘I’m a Celebrity get me out of here’ involve 24 hour surveillance of putting celebrities within an environment to let events unfold, though there is an added aspect of the shows being deliberated portrayed so that ITV has an element of control under what does actually occur. There is a sense of unpredictability however, as it is unknown how all the people will react together in a certain environment – and this is shown with Channel 5’s flagship show Big Brother. This involves people that are not celebrities but still acts as a popularity contest, drawing audiences in by allowing them to vote for their favourite person to win which therefore makes money for the institution. This show uses all of Propp’s character types to allow the audience to have the opportunity to find their favourite character and then this also involves disequilibrium as Channel 5 will purposely wish for the ‘characters’ in the game show to clash to subsequently create entertainment.

ComedyThe comedy genre can differ upon its audience, with different demographics finding different things funny which means that when the comedy genre is looked into, that a programme must specifically target the audience with its initial advertising so that a specific audience can become engaged with the programming. ‘You’ve been Framed’ has been an integral show for ITV since 1990 which means that it has longevity and it is also popular among a range of audience’s that are young and old because of the way that it involves slapstick comedy – which can be humorous to anybody that is watching. ITV have used this show extremely smartly, as I aforementioned, a show typically needs to be aimed at a specific audience with a purpose, though because this show is literally numerous slapstick moments that occur frequently, anyone is able to find it funny regardless of which social class or psychographic audience that you belong to.