Television “en abyme”. U.S. Prime Time Televisión as a Mirror of Itself

Abstract

The main aim of this paper is to analyze the figure of the “play within the play” in the television context, in other words, “the program within the program”. After an exhaustive search of the 65 years of U.S. prime time network television schedule, the study includes 63 fictional productions that insert into his account another television production. These productions are approached through a textual analysis, with the help of the theoretical frame provided by Dällenbach and Genette, with which it tries to identify the main characteristics and dynamic narratives of this figure on television. The analysis reveals that, in most cases, the programs within the programs reflect on television in a general manner (metatelevisión). However, it is possible to find real samples of mise en abyme, that is, second-level programs that turn on themselves and work as a reflection of the program in which they are embedded. The paper concludes that the insertion of second-level stories in television productions is an expression of the maturity state reached by the medium, a state that allows it to direct reflection and laughter to itself.