The Classic Series: Television Institutions and Narrative Forms
Abstract
In the late 40s and early 50s television was finally coming out of its experimental stage and becoming a national medium all around the world. During this period, in the United States, the tv series was only one of the emerging narrative forms, in competition especially with the live anthology drama, which at the time seemed to be the most interesting and televisual one. While in Europe the anthology form will continue to thrive until the late 70s, in the United States it will virtually disappear in less than a decade, superseded by the filmed episodic series.
Aim of this essay is to describe how the episodic series became the most important narrative form in the US, and how the gradual definition of television’s governance and financing system during the 50s had a great influence on the development of its narrative forms.
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