TV to Talk About: The CW and Post-Network Television Open Access
Bestor, Nicholas Charles Lyon (2012)
Abstract
The CW is the smallest of the American broadcast networks, but it has made the most of its marginal position by committing itself wholly to servicing a niche demographic. Understanding how The CW operates offers a useful perspective on how the industry has adjusted and continues to adjust to the realities of post-network television, where new technologies allow ever-greater amounts of viewer control. Whereas the major networks operate largely through a broadcasting model that favors mass audiences, The CW capitalizes on a narrowcasting approach. The network has forged a distinctive identity by marketing itself to a very specific slice of the viewing public: young women, 18 to 34 years old. The CW is important because it sheds light on the logic of the television industry in the post-network era; the operations of this network reflect on the whole range of television in the new millennium.
Chapter One offers a brief history of The WB and UPN, the two networks that merged to form The CW in 2006, and then examines the rhetoric of network executives as they explained the merger and defined the role of The CW. Chapter Two charts out the challenges faced by several programs during The CW's first year. Analyzing Everybody Hates Chris, Veronica Mars, and Supernatural on their new network shows how the corporate narrative of The CW translates into actual broadcast practices. Chapter Three illustrates several parallels between The CW and competing networks; the branding and distribution decisions made by HBO and ABC reflect on where The CW has succeeded and where it still has work to do. Chapter Four will look to the range of discourses surrounding The CW's highest-rated drama, The Vampire Diaries. Looking at the intersection of corporate ideology, advertising, serialization, fan engagement, discourses of quality, and new media technologies, The Vampire Diaries will serve as a final case study for understanding the operations of The CW, America's last-place network. The CW may not be leading the way, but the challenges and struggles that it must overcome are central to how television now operates.
Table of Contents
Introduction ... 1
Chapter One - Context
The History and Rhetoric of The CW ... 5
Tales of Deregulation ... 7
And Then There Were Five ... 13
Flow and Franchises ... 17
Under New Management ... 21
One-Stop Shopping ... 23
Chapter Two - Content The Transitional Season, Network Priorities, and Fan Engagement ... 25
The Abandoned Demographic ... 26
The Girl Detective ... 37
The Fan Favorite ... 47
Finding Its Voice ... 55
Chapter Three - Competition Reputation, Distribution, and Other Networks ... 57
HBO and Discourses of Quality ... 58
ABC and New Technologies ... 72
Lessons To Learn ... 84
Chapter Four - Conclusion
The Vampire Diaries, Authorship, and Women's Television ... 85
Credit Where Credit's Due ... 86
Authors and Audiences ... 98
Works Cited ... 106
Print and Internet Sources ... 106
Television Programs ... 111
Films ... 121
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