Complex TV: The Poetics of Contemporary Television Storytelling

A fascinating and important work for tv professionals and audiences that love "complex" television shows. As a long-standing television dramatist and show creator, I have read a great number of books on TV and TV writing -- you never know, even the worst written books may have a nugget of insight that improves my craft. And that's about all most of them have, even the most famous and best-selling -- one nugget. COMPLEX TV has more than I can count. The author brings up many novel ideas about television, today; I now fully understand my own craft, thanks to him! Also, while almost all other books on TV shows and the craft of creating them refer to TV forms that are now outdated -- the old way of story-telling that dominated television from the 1950's to the early 2000's -- this book is cut from an entirely different cloth. The author knows what television is about today, what makes great series' tick. A remarkable achievement.

Jason Mittell always writes accessibly and lucidly about television studies, and culture and media studies in general. His book 'Television and American Culture' was a milestone in television studies, and this 'poetics' of complex TV shows such as 'The Wire', 'Lost', 'Breaking Bad' and 'Game of Thrones' is the best study of so-called 'quality TV' (a term which Mittell criticises and does not use). Mittell's book is sharply critical, and takes into account various different approaches, but he also takes his own position, which makes his writing more personal. Thankfully, he always clarifies when his own value judgements shape his argument, and takes a friendly position towards television, and its viewers. It's a book about new forms of television, about the cultural and technological changes that change the way we think about TV. It's about how we come up with value judgements, and about underappreciated gems of TV history. I really enjoyed it.

Excelente livro, faz uma ótima avaliação de como a televisão norte americana se transformou nas últimas duas décadas

AUNQUE los temas no son nuevos, es importante la puesta al día de aspectos conocidos que se cruzan con nuevas perspectivas narrativas.