Lost and Sex and The City Essay

By choosing any two programmes that you are familiar with describe and discuss what the term ‘Quality Television’ means. Quality television refers to the development and rise of quality television drama. The term ‘quality television’ however mostly refers to the emergence of quality broadcasters’ they themselves use to describe a genre/style of television programming that they argue is of higher quality than other genres. ‘Television is for appearing on, not looking at.’ (Coward, 1993: 436) They are referring to the kinds of programmes that are perceived as more expensively produced and, especially more culturally worthwhile, due to their subject matter or content. In the history of ‘quality’ television, it presents a daunting set of challenges. There is no central register of quality programming quality style is defined by depth and warmth of its characters and the use of self reflexivity and the notion that the writers and viewers enjoyed an unusual degree of freedom. The term also associates mostly on the issue of gender representation. In this essay I will discuss television shows, Lost and Sex and The City and how they have both proved great quality television through their success and interesting storylines. (Jancovich, Mark, Lyons, James, Quality Popular Television, 2003) The complex characters, settings and dilemmas are what make good quality television. This brings me to Lost. Lost is an American television drama that follows the survivors of a plane crash that end up on a mysterious island. Each episode typically features what happens on the island as well as a secondary storyline of the characters lives. Most of the characters in Lost are driven to reconcile a patriarchal crisis; Jack must resolve an ‘Oedipal’ conflict with his alcoholic father, John Locke must redeem his masculinity and after being manipulated by his father and rebuild his disabled body and Kate and Sawyer are repetitively haunted by their fathers and dark pasts. The whole island is an experimental site, emphasizing the constant distress of mystery that the island holds and the unknowing. Within this, each episode continues a story about each character, most encountering their violent fathers and how this will shape the collective islands culture. In one particular episode, ‘The 23rd Psalm’, flashbacks consist between Nigeria, the present day and a Nigerian beechcraft airplane that crashed on the island. ‘Mr Eko’ becomes aware that drug addict ‘Charlie’ has possession of a heroin filled Virgin Mary statue that he realizes has a connection to his own past. After discovering the plane on the island, Eko finds his brothers corpse along with it. The episode has an overall theme of redemption of Mr Eko’s religious leanings that have created a major turn in his life. This also challenges our assumptions about coincidence and fate and how the overall series depicts spirituality and realism through the characters pasts. (www.uk.tv.ign.com/artcicles/101/1011812p1.html) The director, ‘JJ Abrams’, creates strong character development and long term plotting which is why the Lost series remained so strong and captivating for audiences. The fact that people were being forced to live together and survive, made it interesting to watch because relationships were created very fast and viewers wanted to see love, fights and dramas as well as action and supernatural happenings on the island. In the first pilot episode of Lost, the first scene shows an eye close-up and character ‘Jack Shephard’ as he awakens in a jungle and notices a yellow Labrador retriever darting through the forest. He then runs through the jungle to a beach where he is faced with the disaster of the plane crash and people fighting for survival. Quality TV dramas are what make audiences want to keep watching and Lost is a great example of this because in the very first scene, viewers are already given that mind blowing experience and the drive to keep watching. The characters are also faced with the unraveling of the islands mystery and the motives of the unknown ‘Others’ who may also inhabit the island. The series tracks two major, interconnected themes; first, the struggles to survive and live together on the island and second, the lives of the fourteen main characters before the crash which is retold through flashbacks. It doesn’t follow the stereotypical television back story and allows viewers to become connected with the characters, their secrets and motivations. Jack is a doctor becomes the leader of the group; helping Charlie kicks his drug addiction and encourages ‘Shannon’ to pursue her relationship with ‘Syid’. Jack is seen at the very beginning of the series and in the last episode in the last scene where it re creates the first scene again only in a different context. The way Lost starts off, during; with all the inconceivable and unthinkable story lines, makes it so mesmerizing for audiences. After six seasons of plot twists, there was a completely thrilling but not entirely logical finale. Audiences across the world became worried about what Lost would end like and how everything could be explained because of its constant complexity. Lost is full of mind puzzling and gripping drama that has become a huge success through its mind blowing performances. (www.tv.com/shows/lost) Another American quality TV show is Sex and The City. Broadcast from 1998 until 2004, the comedy-drama series follows the lives of a group of four women; three in their mid thirties and one in her forties and throughout their different natures and constant changing sex lives, they remain great friends with high confidence. Sex and The City becomes quality television through the continual of its quirky storylines and modern social issues that explore the differences between friendships, relationships and revolves around femininity. The main character ‘Carrie Bradshaw’ is the narrator of each episode which is structured through her train of thoughts. Throughout the entire series, Carrie is entangled with her on and off relationship with ‘Mr Big’ and whose name eventually is revealed to be John Preston. Each character has their own individual unique personalities which female audiences can relate to and connect with. Sex and The City has proven to be one of the most successful and controversial television programmes of the last decade. In transforms the idea of the incisive widow into the life of the single urban female and emphasizes an upper class life. It also presents sophistication and yet, much of the generic and stylistic conventions, are by no means new to this specific show. (LeMay, Matt, Sex and the City and the Discourse of Quality Television: 2) ‘Once upon a time on a small island not too far away, there lived four smart, beautiful women who were all very good friends’. (LeMay, Matt, Sex and the City and the Discourse of Quality Television: 2) This quote already establishes the genre of the show and the kind of characters the audience may expect to see. Much of the criticism both positive and negative, show degrees of realism which suggests how they are entwined in the history of industry and market standards of quality television and determines gender and class. Many other dramas can be traced back to earlier ‘realist’ family sitcoms and still remain relevant to contemporary quality television such as Sex and The City. There is a particular emphasis on self reflectivity and the program’s representations and intersexuality. Through Sex and the City, the relation to feminism and sexual taboos positions itself in the history of television. Intersexuality occurs through the importance and real-life impact of the cultural phenomenon called ‘Sex and the City’. (Akass, Kim, McCabe, Janet, Reading sex and the city. London: I.B. Tauris, 2004) In conclusion, the serve to clearly set out the intended debate and issue of ‘Quality TV’, is the way in which critics and audiences currently define it and supplying a broad overview of the critical contentiousness of quality TV as a collective term. Quality Television is about captivating storylines, unique characters and enabling viewers to want to watch excellent programming. Within this, audiences are able to connect with the show through the interesting structures that are included in them. Bibliography Books: Jancovich, Mark, Lyons, James, Quality Popular Television, 2003) McCabe, Janet, Akass, Kim, Contemporary American Television and Beyond, 2007) Akass, Kim, McCabe, Janet, Reading sex and the city. London: I.B. Tauris, 2004 Articles: (LeMay, Matt, Sex and the City and the Discourse of Quality Television: 2) Websites: www.uk.tv.ign.com/artcicles/101/1011812p1.html www.tv.com/shows/lost