Complex TVMain MenuIntroductionVideos for IntroductionComplexity in ContextBeginningsVideos for Chapter 2AuthorshipCharactersComprehensionSerial MelodramaOrienting ParatextsTransmedia StorytellingEndsVideo GalleryTable of ContentsJason Mittell06e96b1b57c0e09d70492af49d984ee2f68945deNew York University Press
Evaluation
12015-03-15T11:35:06-07:00Jason Mittell06e96b1b57c0e09d70492af49d984ee2f68945de13504structured_gallery1303702015-03-18T12:11:41-07:00Jason Mittell06e96b1b57c0e09d70492af49d984ee2f68945deTelevision studies, as forged by the influence of cultural studies, has been loath to include critical evaluation in its toolbox, as television’s own spot on the receiving end of numerous aesthetic condemnations has pushed evaluative criticism off the field’s agenda. In this chapter, I explore a model of contextualized evaluation that does not re-create universal aesthetic values but rather looks at how a series can define its own terms and parameters of evaluation and how television scholars might productively engage with questions of value. Using the examples of The Wire, Breaking Bad, and Mad Men, all of which have been hailed by critics as among the greatest television series in the medium’s history, I discuss how we can enter into medium-specific debates over value without re-creating a canon or exclusionary critical practices, considering how complexity can function as an aesthetic asset in multiple ways.
12015-03-15T13:39:45-07:00Jason Mittell06e96b1b57c0e09d70492af49d984ee2f68945dep. 223-224: BREAKING BAD / THE WIRE5plain2015-03-18T06:58:41-07:00Jason Mittell06e96b1b57c0e09d70492af49d984ee2f68945de