In 2014, the UK science-fiction television series Black Mirror was released on Netflix worldwide, quickly becoming a hit with US audiences. Like other beloved British imports, this series piqued Americans' interest with hints of dark comedy, clever plotlines, and six-episode seasons that left audiences frantic for more. In Transatlantic Television Drama, volume editors Michele Hilmes, Matt Hills, and Roberta Pearson team up with leading scholars in TV studies and transnational television to look at how serial dramas like Black Mirror captivate US audiences, and what this reveals about the ways Americans and Brits relate to each other on and off the screen.
Focusing on production strategies, performance styles, and audience reception, chapters delve into some of the most widely-discussed programs on the transatlantic circuit, from ongoing series like Game of Thrones, Downton Abbey, Orphan Black, and Sherlock, to those with long histories of transnational circulation like Masterpiece and Doctor Who, to others whose transnational success speaks to the process of exchange, adaptation, and cooperation such as Rome, Parade's End, Broadchurch, and Gracepoint. The book's first section investigates the platforms that support British/American exchange, from distribution partnerships and satellite providers to streaming services. The second section concentrates on the shift in meaning across cultural contexts, such as invocations of heritage, genre shifts in adaptation, performance styles, and, in the case of Episodes, actual dramatized depiction of the process of transatlantic television production. In section three, attention turns to contexts of audience reception, ranging from fan conventions and fiction to television criticism, the effects of national branding on audiences, and the role of social media in de- or re-contextualizing fans' response to transnational programs.
Introduction: Flying the Flag for Contemporary Transatlantic Television Drama
Matt Hills, Michele Hilmes and Roberta Pearson
Part One: Transatlantic Industries
Section One Introduction
1) Making Masterpiece Matter: The Transnational Cultural Work of America's Longest-Running Prime-Time Drama Series
Michele Hilmes
2) Traveling Without a Passport: 'Original' Streaming Content in the Transatlantic Distribution Ecosystem
Karen Petruska and Faye Woods
3) BBC America: Cloning Drama for a Transnational Network
Chris Becker
4) Branding Bridges: Sky Atlantic, 'Quality' Imports and Brand Integration
Sam Ward
Part Two: Transatlantic Programs
Section Two Introduction
5) Sherlock and Elementary: The Cultural and Temporal Value of High-end And Routine Transatlantic Television Drama
Roberta Pearson
6) Mainstream trends and Masterpiece Traditions: ITV's Downton Abbey as a Hit Heritage Drama for Masterpiece in the US
Eva Redvall
7) Meta-commentary and Mythology: Episodes as a Performance of Transatlantic TV
Jonathan Bignell
8) Boundary collisions in HBO-BBC transnational coproduction: Rome and Parade's End
Robin Nelson
9) Game of Thrones: Investigating British Acting
Gary Cassidy and Simone Knox
Part Three: Transatlantic Fans and Audiences
Section Three Introduction
10)Black Mirror as a Netflix Original: Programme Brand 'Overflow' and the Multi-Discursive Forms of Transatlantic TV Fandom
Matt Hills
11) Contextualizing Quality US Television Programs for the UK: The Guardian's Media and Televisions Blogs and the Role of Critics
Paul Rixon
12) Fans, Fezzes and Freebies: Branding British Television Series at the San Diego Comic Con
Lincoln Geraghty
13) From Imagined Communities to Contact Zones: American Monoculture in Transatlantic Fandoms
Lori Hitchcock Morimoto
14) Crossing Over the Atlantic: SuperWhoLock as Transnational/Transcultural Fan Text
Paul Booth
Glossary
Index
Glossary
