http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2011/08/amc_is_mulling_a_post-game_tal.html
One of my favorite things about watching sports, particularly football, is the postgame shows. Even after watching the entire game, its always interesting to hear the studio analysts discuss the events of the game that just happened (even if they are completely wrong and infuriating to listen to). Similarly, I am always looking for reviews of TV shows and movies that I have just seen, with the expectation of reading about something I may have missed or did not think about when watching the show. Currently, TV shows have their own version of "postgame" shows only in the realm of reality TV: Jersey Shore, Real World etc. often have a reaction show after, explaining what had happened, giving interviews with the cast and providing fans with more information about shows that they had just watched.
This article is interesting because the idea of AMC, arguably the top producer of high-end shows (Mad Men, Breaking Bad etc.), is considering adding a type of post-show to their prominent series. Because these series are so complex and have long narratives based on the previous history of the program, these types of shows would be able to help bring in new fans to well acclaimed (yet not necessarily well viewed) shows while catering to hard core fans who are attempting to form their own conclusions about the show and its major themes. I like to compare watching these shows to reading a good novel when trying to explain their appeal people who haven't seen them: its television, but if you do not know what happened earlier, you aren't paying attention to every minute of every scene, or the show uses confusing or oblique metaphors to convey the story, there will be something that will be missed in the narrative. I'm sure this type of show has been attempted before (I didn't watch Lost, but I recall people talking about recap shows), but it is very interesting that AMC is considering these recap shows for all of their original programming.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
AMC Considering "Postgame" Shows for Scripted Programming
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This is really interesting, Rob--I hadn't heard anything about it. Are they looking to do recap-style shows, or actual sit-downs with the producers/writers/directors/showrunners to have those folks explain what's been happening and why?
ReplyDeleteThe whole idea has really intriguing implications for what we consider "quality" television and the role that serialized storytelling plays in determining what's quality and what's not.