Many serial shows have gained significant success, such as AMC's Breaking Bad, A&E's Bates Motel, and HBO's Game of Thrones. Are serial shows becoming more popular? Is it possible that recording technology, along with the internet, has allowed more networks to take on serial shows? People no longer have to worry if they miss an episode, compared to in the past where a missed episode could mean lost viewers for a serial television series.
Why do commercials cut other commercials off? What are they trying to accomplish? Do they wish to turn off potential customers by blaring their product at you or getting their ad out first?
Supposedly, there is a rule/regulation in the US that commercials can't be louder than the show/movie that you're watching, but I don't know if this ever really happened. It seems that the commercials are still louder than the program I'm watching. The point of ads are to get your attention, even if you don't buy the product. Sometimes, you get a jingle stuck in your head or remember a bizarre or humorous add, and that recognition in itself might be some sort of victory for the ad agencies. – S.A. Takacs9 years ago
The cutting off of other commercials may not be a conscious choice by advertisers, but rather a time constraint by the network. If the spot goes over its 15/30/60 second allotment or doesn't have enough trail visuals, it may get cut off. The audio is most definitely a way to grab your attention.
– AloraP9 years ago
At one point, Walter White mentions prohibition and how alcohol became a legal market just a matter of years later. Discuss the parallel between Walt cooking meth and Hank, the show's authority symbol, experimenting with home-brewing. Would the legalization of meth have prevented the destruction Walt caused? How much does the law really play into his morals?
This is certainly an interesting topic, but I wonder if it would deviate too much from Breaking Bad and head into legal territory. While an analysis of Walt and his metamorphosis of the course of the show could draw parallels to prohibition, I think that concentrating on prohibition itself and the current idea that legalizing drugs would help curtail the drug wars would involve much more political rhetoric and analysis than cinematic analysis. In essence, I suggest that perhaps this topic should deal more with how Walt decides to bend the law to his will and the implications of that rather than how our legal system is portrayed in the show. – August Merz9 years ago
Drawing from various interviews Nic Pizzolatto (the showrunner for True Detective) has given, the recent season 2 teaser, and the themes explored in season 1, discuss what audiences may come to expect from season 2 (premiering on June 21).
As Public Broadcasters are not funded by commercial and/or private companies, this would mean that they offer unbias coverage and more in-depth programming of specific topics. Are they any other benefits or maybe cons regarding Public Broadcasters?
Given the popularity of Downtown Abbey and Mr Selfridge, is it best to accurately represent situations as they would have been in the historical period, or should adaptations show evidence of our more inclusive modern perspectives? Ie. racial diversity, social mobility, and female figures in influential positions.
Mad Men, from what I've seen of it, does a stellar job accurately portraying the way things were but with modern insight. It depicts the ways in which men marginalized and mistreated women but it doesn't glorify it and write it off as "the way it was". In fact, it often shows the repercussions of that from the female perspective. Perhaps that's the best, or most socially responsible, way to approach a period piece ? – zackwards9 years ago
Lately, Lifetime has been trending films about women and kidnapping. What I want to know is why is this a trend, and why would the network choose to focus on this genre? What is the writer's opinion of the choice to air these films? Do the films really empower women, or are they sending a degrading message to the viewers?
Another interesting factor to look at might be how these films tell us to think of men: that they should not be trusted, or that one should do anything in order to attain a husband.
I found a couple articles that might be interesting to look at:
http://www.avclub.com/article/how-navigate-weepy-world-lifetime-movies-218180
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/29/middlebrow-lifetime_n_6555732.html – Nicole Wethington9 years ago
You might also consider the financial reason lifetime chooses their topics. – LaurenCarr9 years ago
Lifetime is a network targeted towards woman. Specific types of women. Do these lifetime dramas function as a sort of "women level" horror film? I know people of minority demographics who can't take many horror films seriously because as it is often said "No [minority] person would do that? Why are they doing that" in which cases these tropes become part of their story about the majority community. You can relate this so writings by feminist writer bell hooks who wrote an article "Representing Whiteness in the Black Imagination". You can consider the differences between traditional American horror movies and Japanese horror movies as an example. The tropes in Japanese horror movies are different the terrifying little girls for one. How different would horror movies be if they were targeted towards people who don't enjoy horror. People who were stereo typically housewives who took care of their families. I think you can make the argument that Lifetime's women and kidnapping films fill that role for these women. Or at least Lifetime would like them to. – wolfkin9 years ago
It would be good to not just analyse what is different (and why it is inevitably wrong…) but also, what the show could improve upon if it is clever, new characters and what the difference between film and show says about our cultures then and now…
Talking about the gender swapped characters could be a key topic here. It shows a great deal about society's change to change the gender of a character. – Tyler McPherson10 years ago
