TV Story Analysis

Catalog description

This text analysis course is designed to provide a platform for an in-depth study of how the story of a show is presented, what choices are made by the author, how information is offered or withheld and what effect this has on the drama. This class will be an “anthology” of different works, each selected for a different aspect of storytelling, exploring how the stylistic choices, themes, and dramatic devices reveal themselves within the body of work. This class examines the history and evolution of television/episodic, from the early days up to the present, with an eye toward how storytelling has changed and evolved. Various genres and shows will be viewed and discussed as we not only analyze the unique episodic universe but also connect what was going on in television to the larger currents of American culture and history, and see what lessons there might be for people who plan to work in episodic now.