Convergence Television (Last Blog Post Due Anytime Before Final Exam)
Discuss how you see two of John Caldwell’s five elements of convergence television (outlined on page 46 of his essay) applying to the television you consume today.
The five elements of convergence television that Jon Caldwell talks about in his essay include ancillary textuality, conglomerating textuality, marketing textuality, ritual textuality, and programming textuality. Ancillary textuality is probably the most useful element of convergence television for my uses. With ancillary textuality I am able to watch shows that I enjoy watching after their original air date. One of my favorite television shows is The Office. Even though the show has stopped airing new episodes, I am still able to watch old episode that are still airing on other television channels. Another element of convergence television that is important to not only the television I consume today, but also to the television I watched when I was younger, is programming textuality. With programming textuality, shows and networks want higher ratings for their specific show during the times when Nielsen is measure the ratings. In order to get these high ratings there are some different techniques that usually draw larger audiences. One example from when I was younger is the combination of two Disney channel shows and stars all being in the same thirty-minute episode. This technique would encourage fans from both of the shows to watch the combined show, which in turn would give Disney a higher viewing rating.
Five elements of the convergence are, ancillary textuality, conglomerating textuality, marketing textuality, ritual textuality and programming textuality.
Cougar Town was originally picked up by NBC, and was cancelled. However, tbs picked up the show. Same happened to Longmire, a show was cancelled by A&E but picked up by Netflix. Those practice is repurposing a program and migrating the content online. Netflix recycles media contents online, so does hulu. It is the ancillary textuality.
Jimmy Kimmel has a youtube channel that often puts out interesting clips online. Along with its nightly show. It is conglomerating textuality.
Marvel brands expanded its reach beyond comic and movies into television. Shows like Marvel’s S.H.E.I.L.D and The Flash are part of the marketing textuality.
CBS’s sit-com 2 Broke Girl has an obvious pitch idea. And the sit-com is written by a group of writers rather than one creator. It is the ritual textuality.
Shows like Glee and How I Met Your Mother often have guest celebrity appearances and flashback episodes. It is the programming textuality.
Convergence offers various methods for different tv shows to survive and pushes the media innovation. And essentially, it benefits both creators and audiences.
The five elements of the convergence include: ancillary textuality, conglomerating textuality, marketing textuality, ritual textuality and programming textuality.
Programming textuality involves that of stunting, which is a technique that television shows and networks use to increase viewership. It usually involves a special event, such as guest-stars, the making of, cross-network stars, etc.
When I think of television today, I especially think of show that are on the SyFy network. Multiple times during their season do they have cross-network stars. For example, one week they had Claudia from Warehouse 13 appear on Eureka. It was a special episode in which she helped to “save the world.” On the other hand, Douglas Fargo, from Eureka, appeared on Warehouse 13 another time.
Another show that has this occur quite often is Doctor Who. Captain Jack Harkness has played both a big role on Torchwood, as well as Doctor Who. After having the lead role on Torchwood, he is continually shown on Who episodes during huge plot lines and finales.
Conglomerating Textuality is when there is an extension of the show that goes beyond the episode itself. For example, many shows today have websites that include backstory of the characters, games for people to play, pictures of the characters, blogs from the characters, and so on.
One of the biggest ways I see this happening today is through the Disney Channel. Even as a kid, I remember playing the Hannah Montana “paparazzi” game, trying to capture the perfect image of Hannah. Then, there’s also the clothing designer games, the singing popstar, etc. Disney Channel is such a huge conglomeration and has such a great way to keep children connected to the show – such a great marketing strategy.
Caldwell’s 5 convergence industrial and aesthetic changes are ancillary textuality, conglomerating textuality, marketing textuality, ritual textuality, and programming textuality.
Conglomerate textuality refers to the TV shows combined with the internet through websites about the show for the viewers. Caldwell mentions that,” the most effective websites for TV succeed by keeping viewer-users engaged long after a series episode has aired, and this requires greatly expanding the notion of what a TV text is”. The example that I want to mention here is the “NBCHannibal”, where the viewers of Hannibal were able to interact with NBC. The establishment of “NBCHannibal” increased the number of fans. Through Twitter, NBC was able to interact with fans. There are also some show’s websites that enable the viewers to learn more about the background information about the characters in their favorite shows, the productions facts of the show, the predicted storylines, etc. These websites offer a good way for the viewers to feel connected with the show and strengthened their loyalty towards the show.
Another thing I want to mention is the programming textuality. Today television shows produce over the top events that could excite the audience to increase their fan base. For example, they invite celebrity guests to the show in order to raise the ratings.
How’s this for “ancillary afterlife”: the CBS and Time Warner buys the rights to the Gossip Girl book series, they turn it into a show, air it on their jointly owned CW network, and it’s a hit. I avoid watching it while it’s on the air because it looks like a bunch of crap to me. Then Netflix buys Gossip Girl. I subscribe – no, that’s a lie, my parents subscribe – to Netflix and at some point realize that watching a bunch crap is kind of amazing sometimes. Now, years after the show’s even cool, years after it’s even cool to watch it because it’s so uncool, I’m watching Gossip Girl with my girlfriend. Wecan’t watch one show without watching another. Like it’s some kind of drug, we “pop” two or three shows at a time. In one way this is powerful evidence that television isn’t what I watch on the tube anymore, it’s what I watch on a computer monitor. But it also demonstrates that convergence television allows television programs to be watched in new ways after its initial run. While it was on the air, people were watching Gossip Girl once a week. On Netflix, I can watch two or three episodes at a time. Gossip Girl lives in my bedroom a second life not as a CW program, but as a migrating text that I can find in clips on Youtube and that I can pay to watch hours of on Netflix. What I like about Gossip Girl is it’s just like the O.C. Except it’s in New York and there’s slightly less heavy porn star makeup. I don’t think this is a coincidence but has something to do with another one of Caldwell’s five elements of convergent television: ritual industrial practices. A pitch-mode mindset is obviously at play here: I can just imagine the producers of Gossip Girl pitching the story saying something like, “We should by the rights to this seminal literary novel series called Gossip Girl because it’s just like the OC except it’s in New York and we can use slightly less heavy porn star makeup on the actress because thank God that style isn’t cool anymore.” And, check it out, I just did a search online and the two shows have the same executive producers: Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage! Makes sense then that the two shows have such similar structures, which brings us to the ritual of writing by committee. All the episodes of the OC and Gossip Girl I’ve watched so far have pretty much the same structure. This suggests to me that the executive producers laid out the general structure they wanted and then a committee of writers just plugs in who almost has sex with who, who almost gets in a fight who, etc. Through these rituals like pitching (i.e. OC in New York) and writing by committee, convergence television perpetuates a cycle of rehashes of successful show types that obey formulas that make shows predictable.
The five elements of convergence television that Jon Caldwell talks about in his essay include ancillary textuality, conglomerating textuality, marketing textuality, ritual textuality, and programming textuality. Ancillary textuality is probably the most useful element of convergence television for my uses. With ancillary textuality I am able to watch shows that I enjoy watching after their original air date. One of my favorite television shows is The Office. Even though the show has stopped airing new episodes, I am still able to watch old episode that are still airing on other television channels. Another element of convergence television that is important to not only the television I consume today, but also to the television I watched when I was younger, is programming textuality. With programming textuality, shows and networks want higher ratings for their specific show during the times when Nielsen is measure the ratings. In order to get these high ratings there are some different techniques that usually draw larger audiences. One example from when I was younger is the combination of two Disney channel shows and stars all being in the same thirty-minute episode. This technique would encourage fans from both of the shows to watch the combined show, which in turn would give Disney a higher viewing rating.
ReplyDeleteFive elements of the convergence are, ancillary textuality, conglomerating textuality, marketing textuality, ritual textuality and programming textuality.
ReplyDeleteCougar Town was originally picked up by NBC, and was cancelled. However, tbs picked up the show. Same happened to Longmire, a show was cancelled by A&E but picked up by Netflix. Those practice is repurposing a program and migrating the content online. Netflix recycles media contents online, so does hulu. It is the ancillary textuality.
Jimmy Kimmel has a youtube channel that often puts out interesting clips online. Along with its nightly show. It is conglomerating textuality.
Marvel brands expanded its reach beyond comic and movies into television. Shows like Marvel’s S.H.E.I.L.D and The Flash are part of the marketing textuality.
CBS’s sit-com 2 Broke Girl has an obvious pitch idea. And the sit-com is written by a group of writers rather than one creator. It is the ritual textuality.
Shows like Glee and How I Met Your Mother often have guest celebrity appearances and flashback episodes. It is the programming textuality.
Convergence offers various methods for different tv shows to survive and pushes the media innovation. And essentially, it benefits both creators and audiences.
The five elements of the convergence include: ancillary textuality, conglomerating textuality, marketing textuality, ritual textuality and programming textuality.
ReplyDeleteProgramming textuality involves that of stunting, which is a technique that television shows and networks use to increase viewership. It usually involves a special event, such as guest-stars, the making of, cross-network stars, etc.
When I think of television today, I especially think of show that are on the SyFy network. Multiple times during their season do they have cross-network stars. For example, one week they had Claudia from Warehouse 13 appear on Eureka. It was a special episode in which she helped to “save the world.” On the other hand, Douglas Fargo, from Eureka, appeared on Warehouse 13 another time.
Another show that has this occur quite often is Doctor Who. Captain Jack Harkness has played both a big role on Torchwood, as well as Doctor Who. After having the lead role on Torchwood, he is continually shown on Who episodes during huge plot lines and finales.
Conglomerating Textuality is when there is an extension of the show that goes beyond the episode itself. For example, many shows today have websites that include backstory of the characters, games for people to play, pictures of the characters, blogs from the characters, and so on.
One of the biggest ways I see this happening today is through the Disney Channel. Even as a kid, I remember playing the Hannah Montana “paparazzi” game, trying to capture the perfect image of Hannah. Then, there’s also the clothing designer games, the singing popstar, etc. Disney Channel is such a huge conglomeration and has such a great way to keep children connected to the show – such a great marketing strategy.
Caldwell’s 5 convergence industrial and aesthetic changes are ancillary textuality, conglomerating textuality, marketing textuality, ritual textuality, and programming textuality.
ReplyDeleteConglomerate textuality refers to the TV shows combined with the internet through websites about the show for the viewers. Caldwell mentions that,” the most effective websites for TV succeed by keeping viewer-users engaged long after a series episode has aired, and this requires greatly expanding the notion of what a TV text is”. The example that I want to mention here is the “NBCHannibal”, where the viewers of Hannibal were able to interact with NBC. The establishment of “NBCHannibal” increased the number of fans. Through Twitter, NBC was able to interact with fans. There are also some show’s websites that enable the viewers to learn more about the background information about the characters in their favorite shows, the productions facts of the show, the predicted storylines, etc. These websites offer a good way for the viewers to feel connected with the show and strengthened their loyalty towards the show.
Another thing I want to mention is the programming textuality. Today television shows produce over the top events that could excite the audience to increase their fan base. For example, they invite celebrity guests to the show in order to raise the ratings.
How’s this for “ancillary afterlife”: the CBS and Time Warner buys the rights to the Gossip Girl book series, they turn it into a show, air it on their jointly owned CW network, and it’s a hit. I avoid watching it while it’s on the air because it looks like a bunch of crap to me. Then Netflix buys Gossip Girl. I subscribe – no, that’s a lie, my parents subscribe – to Netflix and at some point realize that watching a bunch crap is kind of amazing sometimes. Now, years after the show’s even cool, years after it’s even cool to watch it because it’s so uncool, I’m watching Gossip Girl with my girlfriend. Wecan’t watch one show without watching another. Like it’s some kind of drug, we “pop” two or three shows at a time. In one way this is powerful evidence that television isn’t what I watch on the tube anymore, it’s what I watch on a computer monitor. But it also demonstrates that convergence television allows television programs to be watched in new ways after its initial run. While it was on the air, people were watching Gossip Girl once a week. On Netflix, I can watch two or three episodes at a time. Gossip Girl lives in my bedroom a second life not as a CW program, but as a migrating text that I can find in clips on Youtube and that I can pay to watch hours of on Netflix.
ReplyDeleteWhat I like about Gossip Girl is it’s just like the O.C. Except it’s in New York and there’s slightly less heavy porn star makeup. I don’t think this is a coincidence but has something to do with another one of Caldwell’s five elements of convergent television: ritual industrial practices. A pitch-mode mindset is obviously at play here: I can just imagine the producers of Gossip Girl pitching the story saying something like, “We should by the rights to this seminal literary novel series called Gossip Girl because it’s just like the OC except it’s in New York and we can use slightly less heavy porn star makeup on the actress because thank God that style isn’t cool anymore.” And, check it out, I just did a search online and the two shows have the same executive producers: Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage! Makes sense then that the two shows have such similar structures, which brings us to the ritual of writing by committee. All the episodes of the OC and Gossip Girl I’ve watched so far have pretty much the same structure. This suggests to me that the executive producers laid out the general structure they wanted and then a committee of writers just plugs in who almost has sex with who, who almost gets in a fight who, etc. Through these rituals like pitching (i.e. OC in New York) and writing by committee, convergence television perpetuates a cycle of rehashes of successful show types that obey formulas that make shows predictable.