Another Kind of Narrative Payoff: The Concept of Temporal Prolongation As an Improved Alternative to TV Seriality

Abstract

This paper explores the particularities of television’s temporality or, more specifically, the particular aesthetic capacities it has at its disposal in virtue of its distinctive temporality. Drawing from a methodology that combines studies on seriality that have proliferated both in Television Studies and in the Philosophy of Aesthetics, we argue that the extant notions of “seriality” do not offer a full account of television’s particular temporal character and the aesthetic capacities it has. For this reason, we dig deeper into a new term: “temporal prolongation”. This includes, unlike the concept of seriality, both the specific way in which the television medium uses temporality, as well as the aesthetic effects that this handling generates in formats and genres as diverse as endless soap-operas, serial dramas, episodic procedurals, sitcoms, television newscasts, sports broadcasts, weekly contests, reality TV, and even documentaries. We attempt a definition of “temporal prolongation,” distinguishing it from seriality, and we support our claims by working through some assorted examples —of both specific formats and programs—, which shows the validity of our theory. In the first place, we deal with fiction series, where temporal prolongation can work though recurring gags, the monster-of-the-week structure, and the “special episodes.” The second case study is the TV news anchor, where the concept of familiarity establishes unique aesthetic rewards thanks to the passage of time. The last case to be examined is that of reality shows, with Kitchen Nightmares as the paradigm, where variations in expectations are essential to institute a fruitful comparison with previous episodes.