Weeks 9 and 10. Cult TV.

Wilcox and Lavery (2002) identify 9 defining characteristics of ‘quality TV’ – can you apply any of these to other television series that you have viewed recently?

As discussed in the piece written by Wilcox and Lavery (2002), quality TV can be described easily by nine defining characteristics. The following will highlight each charasteristic and decide how it can apply to popular TV series today. It is important to note that a quality tv series ‘enlightens, enriches, challenges, involves and confronts’ (Wilcox & Lavery, 2002).
The following are the nine characteristics defined by Wilcox and Lavery (2002).

1.       “Quality TV usually has a quality pedigree.”
Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator, Joss Whedon had a very modest beginning to his career. His first attempt at creating the series was rebuffed at first thus leading him to lend his creative writing abilities to the creators of well known movies today such as Speed, Toy Story and Twister (Wilcox and Lavery, 2002). By doing so, it provided Joss Whedon with the credibility needed to move forward and create his own hit series.

2.       “Desirable demographics notwithstanding, quality shows must often undergo a noble struggle against profit-mongering networks and non-appreciative audiences.”
When the ‘Buffy’ series first went into production it struggled to land a secure a time slot on network television as the content of the show did not always sit well with those that would be viewing it. However, the popuarity of the series increased enough to have it’s time on the network extended. It is worth noting that that ‘Buffy’ eventually moved to another channel as the popularity of the series plateaud and then withered away (Wilcox & Lavery, 2002).

3.       “Quality TV tends to have a large ensemble cast.”
The ‘Buffy’ series had a very vast ensemble cast and often had many actors and actresses play recurring guest roles (Wilcox & Lavery, 2002). This is also seen in a TV series today known as ‘How I Met Your Mother’ as it features multiple main characters, side characters while also employing the use of guest appearances.

4.       “Quality TV has a memory.”
According to Wilcox and Lavery (2002), Joss Whedon was hugely disappointed in TV series that had no memory of other episodes contained in it’s series. He moves on to highlight the lack of memoy by extracting an example from the TV series, The X-files wherein main character Scully repeatedly is shocked and amazed when coming accross beings from another world despite the series itself being based solely around the extra-terrestrial. An example of a TV series that utilizes memory effectively is the show known as ‘How To Get Away With Murder’. This series is based primarily on an event that happened in the past with the characters having ongoing flashbacks that help facilitate the telling of the plot to viewers.

5.       “Quality TV creates a new genre by mixing old ones.”
As seen in the ‘Buffy’ series, the overall genre of the show was a mashup of many genres both traditional and modern. The genres that were covered by this series included ‘supernatural fantasies’ and ‘gothic romance’.

6.       “Quality TV tends to be literary and writer-based.”
Series creator of ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’, Joss Whedon compared writing for Buffy to novels he enjoyed reading that were written by Charles Dickens (Wilcox & Lavery, 2002). I believe that Joss Whedon states this to highlight the importance of having great writing as it will ensure that viewers remain engaged and lead to them becoming attached to certain characters.

7.       “Quality TV is self-conscious.”
Wilcox and Lavery (2002) defines the ‘Buffy’ series as being self-conscious by the nods and references it makes to other shows on the same network such ‘Xena’ as well as to current trends from the real world. This is seen in the TV series, ‘Suits’, where in one episode they discuss fantasy sports teams which is very popular in America.

8.       “The subject matter of quality TV tends toward the controversial.”
This characteristic is highligted in the  ‘Buffy’ series in many episodes. A specific episode that lead to controversy included one that saw Willow coming to the realization that she may be a attracted to women (Wilcox & Lavery, 2002). This is a common characterisitic that is seen in a large amount of TV series today such as ‘The L Word’ and ‘Orange is the New Black. Both shows are deemed highly controversial as they both deal directly with female-female attraction.

9.       “Quality TV aspires toward ‘realism’.”
Realism is exhibited through TV series today by having main characters that are realistic and relatable.

Reference List

Wilcox, R. & Lavery, D. (2002). Introduction, in R. Wilcox & D. Lavery (eds) Fighting the forces: what’s at stake in Buffy the vampire slayer. Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield.