CFP: SCMS 2013 Panel on "Quality Television" and Realism

Call for Abstracts: Quality Television and Realism

Society for Cinema and Media Studies 2013

This panel seeks to explore the various ways in which notions of realism
and the realistic are articulated to so-called "quality” television. In
the "post-network” and "post-Sopranos” era of quality television, how
is realism implicated in its production, aesthetics, and branding
strategies? How are realism, as well as the fantastic, deployed as branding
initiatives by premium and cable networks such as HBO, Showtime, AMC, and
Starz? Relationships among realism, program content, and branding could
take the form of niche marketing and the situating of audience communities,
tie-ins and promotional initiatives with other products and shows,
adaptations, convergence with other mediated platforms, and inter and
para-textual references to other narratives and discourses. Ultimately, the
goal of this panel is to investigate multiple, emerging dimensions of
television’s ongoing social influence and impact that are unique to the
current moment.

Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

*The role of The New York Times in disciplining networks’ brands through
reporting on and reviewing shows.

*Industry, Sets, and Production Practices.

*History of Quality Television Discourse 

*"Girls" and backlash