Storytelling in Film and Television

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this study concerning some of the contrasts in the ways that the movies and television handles narrative, not least because for the past year or so this has been one of the topics of most interest to me. At least part of my enjoyment of the book came because Kristin Thompson confirmed many of the conclusions I have drawn in reflecting upon the changes that have taken place in television over the course of the past two decades, though in the end I believe she missed on an opportunity to recognize one of the major developments in television narrative in recent years. More of this in a second. The four chapters in this book originated in a series of lectures that Ms. Thompson gave a few years ago at Oxford University. Her background is film, but unlike many film theorists she obviously takes television quite seriously. Quite unusually, her analysis treats individual shows as texts to be analyzed on their own, unlike many today who analyze television primarily in the role its plays in culture as a whole. I do not think that that approach is completely void of interest, but I also believe that what should be foundational-the careful reading of individual shows-has been neglected to the detriment to most television theory. Most television theory focuses on the forest to the exclusion of virtually all the individual trees. The first chapter deals with this precise issue, by analyzing the negative and limiting impact that Raymond Williams's famous concept of "flow" has had on television studies. "Flow" refers to an imagined way that television functions, taking the viewer from show to commercial back to show to another commercial and finally to the next show and so forth throughout the evening. Under such a way of conceiving TV, an individual show is merely one element among others. But as Thompson very correctly points out, viewers are far more likely to recognize commercial breaks as opportunities to dash to the restroom, check to see if the water for dinner is boiling, or chance to run to the kitchen and grab a snack. Thompson argues for a focus on individual shows. Since the lectures were given in 2001, the role of DVDs has utterly altered the landscape. Videos were unable to do this simply because of their sheer bulk. A single season of STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION could fill an entire bookshelf, whereas now one could fit the entire STAR TREK franchise, movies include, on a shelf and a half. Viewing a show on DVD makes "flow" irrelevant, since no one in their right mind would argue that somehow the show has been diminished by eliminating the commercial breaks. Ironically, there is a new kind of flow, as I recently experienced when rewatching the first season of VERONICA MARS, this time on DVD. The second chapter focuses on analyzing television narrative through examining writing strategies for the medium by reference to screenplay writing manuals. I had never considered looking at such books for gu