Global television formats : understanding television across borders

409 Pages·2012·1.8 MB·English

by  Oren

GLOBAL TELEVISION FORMATS
For decades, television scholars have viewed global television through the lens
of cultural imperialism, focusing primarily on programs produced by US and UK
markets and exported to foreign markets. Global Television Formatsrevolutionizes
television studies by de-provincializing its approach to media globalization.
It re-examines dominant approaches and their legacies of global/local and center/
periphery, and offers new directions for understanding television’s contemporary
incarnations.
The chapters in this collection take up the format phenomena from around
the globe, including the Middle East, Western and Eastern Europe, South and
West Africa, South and East Asia, Australia and New Zealand, North America,
South America, and the Caribbean. Contributors address both little known
examples and massive global hits ranging from the Idolfranchise around the world,
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se sitcoms and more. Looking to global television formats as vital for various cultural
r sthg meanings, relationships, and structures, this collection shows how formats can
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& ro M. Rivero, Tony Schirato, Biswarup Sen, Sharon Shahaf, Sharon Sharp, Joseph
lya Straubhaar, Paul Torre.
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Sharon Shahaf is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication
at Georgia State University.
Global Television Formats : Understanding Television Across Borders, edited by Tasha Oren, and Sharon Shahaf, Taylor &
Francis Group, 2011.
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Global Television Formats : Understanding Television Across Borders, edited by Tasha Oren, and Sharon Shahaf, Taylor &
Francis Group, 2011.
GLOBAL
TELEVISION
FORMATS
Understanding Television
Across Borders
Edited by
Tasha Oren and
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Global Television Formats : Understanding Television Across Borders, edited by Tasha Oren, and Sharon Shahaf, Taylor &
Francis Group, 2011.
First published 2012
by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Simultaneously published in the UK
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2012 Taylor & Francis
The right of the editor to be identified as the author of the editorial
material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been
asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced
or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means,
now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording,
or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Global television formats: understanding television across borders/
Tasha Oren and Sharon Shahaf [editors].
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Television program genres. 2. Television programs—Social aspects.
3. Television and globalization. I. Oren, Tasha G. II. Shahaf, Sharon.
PN1992.55G57 2011
791.45(cid:2)09—dc22 2011013325
ISBN: 978-0-415-96544-6 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-415-96545-3 (pbk)
.de ISBN: 978-0-203-92865-3 (ebk)
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Global Television Formats : Understanding Television Across Borders, edited by Tasha Oren, and Sharon Shahaf, Taylor &
Francis Group, 2011.
CONTENTS
List of Illustrations viii
List of Contributors ix
Acknowledgements xiii
Introduction: Television Formats—A Global Framework
for TV Studies 1
Tasha Oren and Sharon Shahaf
PART I
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4 A Political Economy of Formatted Pleasures 72
Eddie Brennan
Global Television Formats : Understanding Television Across Borders, edited by Tasha Oren, and Sharon Shahaf, Taylor &
Francis Group, 2011.
vi Contents
5 Interpreting Cubanness, Americanness, and the Sitcom:
WPBT-PBS’s ¿Qué pasa U.S.A.? (1975–1980) 90
Yeidy M. Rivero
PART II
Transnational Formats: Historical Perspectives 109
6 From Discrete Adaptations to Hard Copies: The Rise of
Formats in European Television 111
Jérôme Bourdon
7 “National Mike”: Global Host and Global Formats in
Early Italian Television 128
Chiara Ferrari
8 Telenovelas in Brazil: From Traveling Scripts
to a Genre and Proto-Format both National
and Transnational 148
Joseph Straubhaar
9 Reversal of Fortune? Hollywood Faces New Competition
in Global Media Trade 178
Paul Torre
.d PART III
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rolya Joost de Bruin
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13 We Are the World: American Idol’s Global
Self-Posturing 260
Erica Jean Bochanty-Aguero
Global Television Formats : Understanding Television Across Borders, edited by Tasha Oren, and Sharon Shahaf, Taylor &
Francis Group, 2011.
Contents vii
PART IV
Trans-Formats: Local Articulations and the Politics
of Place and Nation 283
14 The Social and Political Dimensions of Global
Television Formats: Reality Television in Lebanon
and Saudi Arabia 285
Marwan M. Kraidy
15 A Revolution in Television and a Great Leap Forward
for Innovation? China in the Global Television
Format Business 306
Michael Keane
16 Global Television Formats and the Political Economy
of Cultural Adaptation: Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
in India 323
Lauhona Ganguly
17 Global Franchising, Gender, and Genre: The Case of
Domestic Reality Television 346
Sharon Sharp
18 Reiterational Texts and Global Imagination: Television
Strikes Back 366
Tasha Oren
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Global Television Formats : Understanding Television Across Borders, edited by Tasha Oren, and Sharon Shahaf, Taylor &
Francis Group, 2011.
ILLUSTRATIONS
Figures
9.1 Ugly BettyAround the World 185
10.1 Mauli as All-American Teen Queen 217
10.2 Mauli marching in the Indian-American parade in New Jersey 217
10.3 The Wavy Wallop 218
10.4 Mo-Hawk 218
10.5 Bandana Badness 218
13.1 American IdolSeason 7—Opening Sequence 277
Tables
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.p (2008/9 season) 192
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Global Television Formats : Understanding Television Across Borders, edited by Tasha Oren, and Sharon Shahaf, Taylor &
Francis Group, 2011.
CONTRIBUTORS
Erica Jean Bochanty-Aguerois a Lecturer in the Department of Film and Media
Studies at the University of California–Irvine. She is currently working on a book
project entitled Music That Moves: Television Music, Industrial Travel, and Consumer
Agency in Contemporary Media Culture, which examines the relation ship between
television and popular music in relation to the concept of media travel. She teaches
classes on television theory and criticism; popular music and media; and film and
television genres. She received a master’s in critical studies and a Ph.D. in cinema
and media studies from the University of California–Los Angeles.
Jérôme Bourdonis Professor in the Department of Communications at Tel-Aviv
University and Associate Researcher with the Center for the Sociology of
.d Innovation (CSI-CNRS) in Paris. He also collaborates with the INA (National
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ir llA on a transnational history of television, and on the relations between collective
.p memory and the media. Recent publications include: “Together, Nevertheless.
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sicn European Journal of Communication, 26(1), 2011; “Inside Television Audience
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irypo and changing labor conditions in media production. Recent publications explored
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occupational humor as both a focus of, and a tool for media production research.
Current research examines the role of media in shaping collective memory and
shared visions of the anticipated future.
Global Television Formats : Understanding Television Across Borders, edited by Tasha Oren, and Sharon Shahaf, Taylor &
Francis Group, 2011.