Quotes and Notes for TV Essay

A starting definition of the sitcom genre might be “a short narrative-series comedy, generally between twenty-four and thirty minutes long, with regular characters and setting” (Neale and Krutnik, 1990, p. 233).

This relationship between channel and audience is apparent in Britain too, though in a slightly different way. That is,it is only really in the last couple of decades, with the advent of Channel 4, subsequent developments on BBC2, and the proliferation of cable and satellite channels, that specific sitcoms have aimed to actively engage discrete sections of the audience.
(Mills, 2005, p. 6)

While sitcoms have been produced and been popular in other countries, it has been British or American 150 programmes that have been the most critically acclaimed, culturally influential and successful in sales worldwide, despite the truism that comedy has difficulty crossing borders (Mills, Television Sitcom 60). 

 The success of the character and its apparent resonance with British sensibilities set a particular course for the content of sitcoms in the UK. The battle with everyday life by a character, pair or group of characters who evade success through their own failings but who occasionally retain some vestige of audience sympathy
(Wickham p. 151)

 As Sky is a subscription channel it may be that sitcoms will be able to develop audiences away from ratings pressures, as with models such as HBO in the United States but it remains too early to say whether this activity and investment will be maintained or whether it might just prove to be a method of applying commercial pressure to the BBC and Channel 4 by diminishing their claim to original and innovative programming. However at the moment the BBC still remains the broadcaster most associated with sitcom and the particular practices and culture of the corporation have helped to create a distinctively British model for the genre. (Wickham p. 152)


Sitcom also developed its own narrative structures that presented a different kind of seriality to other forms of television fiction. Neale and Krutnik believe that “what the sitcom pivots around is the ‘refamiliarizing’ of the recurring situation, protecting it and redefining it in the face of various disruptions and transgressions… the sitcom’s process of narrative transformation relies much more emphatically, then, upon circularity” (234-5).


 Gillian Swanson says for instance that “change is not possible in 156 conventional sitcom at a structural level as the situation must remain the same for the series to continue in its recognisable form” (33). Yet it is important to understand that although circularity is an important element within sitcom, its narrative structure is often much more complex than might be apparent. 



Conclusive quote:
Perhaps what is most significant about this recurring pessimism (dying genre) is that the decline of the sitcom can only be a recurring topic if it's assumed that the genre matters; the fact that so many executives and creatives, as well as audiences and reviewers, bemoan the lack of high-rating, era-defining sitcom shows that there's a hunger for the genre to occupy precisely this position, and to give audiences a form of entertainment and pleasure that it cannot find anywhere else.
(Mills, 2009, p.126)
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=7HmFmw6OBSMC&pg=PA124&lpg=PA124&dq=sitcom+a+dying+genre&source=bl&ots=1RsrKS_-Ap&sig=pSQUL9u9_HyW8LYGnyOGhy06R-s&hl=en&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=0ahUKEwiNx7Wv17vMAhVD3CwKHSJ2DTAQ6AEIQzAH#v=onepage&q=sitcom%20a%20dying%20genre&f=false

My Family

- 3 headed monster - live studio audience - laughter track - traditional domestic settings


The Sitcom - Brett Mills

Vaudeville died, didn't it? Music hall died. And I think we have to be aware of the possibility that sitcom has died. (Bill Dare 2005)

Nick Lacey notes that genres are 'cyclical' while its desirable to the see the current state of the sitcom as representative of all genres' tendencies to go through 'rise and decline', the fact that he also sees some genres having a limited '"life"'cycle' (2000: 225) could be seen as sounding the death knell for the television sitcom, the outlook is pretty bleak.

The abandonment of the traditional sitcom, along with its contemporary association with lower quality; than that of newer forms, is therefore a highly ideological move in which the sitcom becomes embroiled in ongoing tussles over cultural distinctions. (p.134)
However, as many interviewees noted, the death of the sitcom has been heralded many times before. As Jon Plowman eloquently put it, 'I think that the death of the sitcom is much predicted and much talked about and probably bollocks' (2005). Similarly, Sioned Wiliam (2005) had a newspaper article from 1967 about the death of the sitcom. (p. 126)

However, sitcom has often been defined as "remarkably stable" (Hartley 2001: 65), and the genre has been seen as less experimental - particularly in terms of its aesthetics - than other kinds of programming. And it's certainly the case that the 'traditional' sitcom exists and continues to flourish. My Family (BBC1, 2000-) and After You've Gone (BBC1, 2007-8) are the most-watched comedy programmes on British television. (p. 127)

When thinking about the 'death'; of sitcom, the key question should be why it is that traditional sitcom has lost much of the social position it once had, to the point where some creatives working in broadcasting refuse to be associated with it. As Sioned Wiliam (2005) notes, "It's very difficult for actors to be in comedies now. It's very difficult to get companies to want to make them, because they're fed up of being crucified for daring to try and make a sitcom." (p. 135)

The only option available to creatives desiring cultural legitimacy, therefore, is to alter television aesthetics, and this has been achieved through visual styles often read as "better, more sophisticated, and more artistic than the usual network fare" (Thompson 1996: 13). For these reasons, traditional sitcom has become the scapegoat of a cultural hierarchy that necessitates certain texts to be defined as less worthy:


For Charlie Higson, 'people always need different kinds of comedy' (2008); the death of the sitcom would herald the death of a certain kind of communal conversation, and it's hard to see any society willingly allowing that to happen.

The sitcom has responded to developments in quality television in ways which have altered its aesthetics and performance style, and it's clear that, for both the television industry and its audiences, the notion that traditional sitcom may not have the cachet it once did is apparent. Yet I want to end this book by arguing that the more genres develop, the more they stay the same. While it's clear that a broader range of sitcom is available now then ever before, this is not to suggest that these have replaced the traditional format completely. (p. 142)
Is sitcom a dying genre or has it reinvigorated itself? 
How the genre's conventions have innovated to retain their popularity and importance in British society.

TV Essay: Argument Plans

Argument 1: Sitcom TV

Sitcom TV is not dying but is constantly redefining itself.
- The Peep Show
- Only Fools and Horses

--> Look at academic works of why sitcom is dying, argue against it with the transition of the genre to family viewing and more niche audiences.
--> Talk about how the genre has changed over time with their format and the audiences they appeal to

Brett Mills on Sitcom -
Andy Medhurst book on comedy
Lots about Ab Fab

google scholar the shows you want to analyse 
- How has sitcom innovated
- why has it been positioned as a dying genre
look at the critiques online - Victoria Wood (true sitcom is gone)
Miranda returns to the idea of sitcom
formulaic sitcom (homages the old school - nostalgia)

does it even need to innovates, just new situations.

Innovation in relationships and genre in sitcoms

the issues 

How have academics and critics have positioned sitcom as a non-innovative genre
in what ways through textual analysis it.

victoria wood - academics of why it's dead.

the mighty boosh playing with reality
him and her, spaced

Kathleen Rowe - Unruly woman challenging stereotypes
ab fab

The Sitcom by Brett Mills
http://universitypublishingonline.org/edinburgh/ebook.jsf?bid=CBO9780748637539


Sources:

Medhurst, A. (1989) 'Situation Comedies' Daniels, T. & Gerson, J. (eds.) The Colour Black. BFI: London.
Medhurst, A. (2007) A National Joke: Popular Comedy and English Cultural Identities. Routledge: London.
Miller, T.,Tulloch, J. & Creeber, G. (2001) The Television Genre Book. BFI: London – there are several chapters on sitcoms and comedy in this collection. Mills, B. (2005) Television Sitcom. BFI.
Mills, B. (2004) ’Comedy Verité: Contemporary Sitcom Form’ in Screen 45(1). 63-78. [electronic resource]
Neale, S. & Krutnik, F. (1990) Popular Film and Television Comedy. Routledge: London 

Plan for Essay

Introduction

- Explain your essay argument.

- Give a simple definition and the sitcom.

1st Paragraph

- Contextualise the origins and conventions of traditional sitcoms.

- Mention where it stood in UK society today.

- Propose why theorists and critics think the genre is dead.
- Tell what show's I have chosen to analyse and why these go against the critics

2nd Paragraph

- Use academic theorist arguments which state why the genre is dead.

- Compare this to one of the shows.

- Give you own opinion on the matter.

3rd Paragraph

- Similar to the second paragraph, propose another theorist argument about why the genre is dying.

- Give a comparison regarding the other shows you have chosen to analyse.

- Voice my opinion on the matter.

4th Paragraph

.- Expose a flip-side to the argument, discuss how the genre is actually innovating itself

- Give a comparison regarding one of the shows.

- Voice you own opinions.

5th Paragraph

- Put forwards another argument regarding the innovations in the genre.

- Explain how one of the shows reinforces this notion.

- Explain maybe how the other does not.

6th Paragraph

- Do a deeper textual analysis into the shows.

- Are they part of the dying genre or the innovations. Traditional and innovative conventions

- Use a quote about the specific show or your own opinion.

Conclusion

- Summarise your arguments.

- Voice you're decision to your argument, yes or no.

- End of a Brett Mills quote.

Critical Log 2 - Lifestyle Cookery Shows

Critical Viewing Log 2: Lifestyle Cookery Shows

Simply Nigella (2015) is a British lifestyle-cookery show presented by the celebrated host, Nigella Lawson. It is traditional cookery programme that aims to inform and educate its audience about what, and how, we might cook for our friends and family from a wide variety of sweet and savoury recipes from around the world. This series aims to make the audience feel excited about cooking food and enthusiastic about trying to recreate her delicious dishes and also become a 'domestic goddess' like herself.
I will undertake a critical textual analysis of this lifestyle-cookery show, highlighting the critical and generic conventions of its genre. I will be concentrating on the scenes from episode 5 that was broadcasted on 30^th November 2015 at 8:30pm, as part of the 7-part series.

Lifestyle-cookery programmes often use production techniques such as specific camera angles and specialist sets to “create the fantasy of closeness and the pleasure of audience intimacy.” (Ketchum, 2005, p. 224) This is evident throughout Simply Nigella as both the host and the recipes she makes seduce the audience. For example, there are many close-up shots of her face, hands as she ​takes us through the methods of making ​her new recipes. As a spectator, we are placed in a comforting position as we sit facing Lawson at chest level, as if we’re a friend sat in her actual kitchen observing her cook. This careful positioning ​of host and viewer reinforces this ​close ​connection between​ both. 
Another example of how Simply Nigella creates fantasy of closeness and an intimate bond between the cook and spectator is through the manipulation of direct address. Lawson constantly breaks the ‘fourth wall’ in the show to engage spectators in her activities and this acknowledgment of her audience pulls us deeply into the action. She also directly addresses her audience through her dialogue. For example, just before Lawson reveals to her audience how not to not get syrup stuck on cookware, she says, “I am going to show you my magic trick.” She also has a glint in her eyes as she is about to reveal a trade secret, again making the viewer feel that she is forming an even closer bond. This relationship offers the potential reward of being part of Lawson’s sophisticated, culinary world and creates a 'synthetic’ friendship between host and audience. This relationship ​​is so close that we even refer to the​ host​ on a first name basis.

With regards to its mise-en-scene, Simply Nigella is mainly set in Lawson’s kitchen at her home in west London. It is a very expensive house, full of quality furnishings and fixtures as well as expensive cooking utensils, gadgets and cookware. Her kitchen is illuminated in very soft light and painted and decorated in an extravagant, yet homely, manner. ​In this episode​ we even go out into her neighbourhood and visit her local Middle-Eastern deli as she acquires niche ingredients for her chicken shawarma dish. This aligns with Wright and Sandlin research on celebrity lead cooking shows since it’s "promoting an upper-middle-class lifestyle enhanced by the appropriation of goods and commodities." (Wright and Sandlin, 2009, p.406)
Furthermore, this also agrees with Laurie Ouellette's work on lifestyle television conventions for female-lead cookery program as these shows “are usually more practical in nature and are often set inside the home [or on a studio set designed to resemble a home kitchen].” (Ouellette, 2016, p. 103) In fact, we rarely see Lawson wield sharp knives or cut up large pieces of meat from animals whilst she constructs her dishes. She is a very feminine cook and her approach makes the method look simple, easy and accessible for any cook to tackle. 

To strengthen this idea, the traditional feminine colour of pink used the most frequently within the mise-en-scène. For example, her kitchen walls, some of her kitchen appliances and her outfit all use the same colour palette. However, Simply Nigella ​does​ attract a male audience too as it provides visual pleasure of not only the ​food but of ​the​ host​ too! In my opinion the show is filmed with a ​​male gaze. “Women are simultaneously looked at and displayed, with their appearance coded for strong visual and erotic impact so that they can be said to connote to-be-looked-at-ness.” (Mulvey, 1975, p. 62) Unlike other celebrity chefs, Lawson has a strong sex appeal. The show captures her body language, which can be cheeky at times as she pouts, gives wry grins and makes a few intimate comments about the food. The creative use of ​camera angles ​captures​ her voluptuous body​ and lips very well. The fact she doesn’t even wear an apron in the show exaggerates that importance of her appearance over her cooking skills. ​

The weekly late peak time slot for the show suggest it is intended for a mature audience, Simply Nigella may not appeal to all ages of audience. Lawson to some people is ​like the metaphor she uses about ​​liquorish in the episode. You’ll either love her or loathe her.​ ​For example, some viewers would feel put off​ watching her show because​ Lawson​ has such a ​posh public school accent and upper class lifestyle. ​On the other hand, ​others are seduced by the whole event of being invited into her life and share ​the lifestyle ​package of a beautiful host with a mesmerising, coquettish voice showing us how easy it is to impress diners with simple comfort food of high quality. ​Some people will wallow in t​he beauty of her kitchen; the intimacy of her own home; the ability to feel ​they​ have been allowed to share some of her intimate tips and stories and ​will love the feeling of thinking she is talking ​to,​​ and cooking for just them.

I agree with Lewis and Martin's findings on television programs of this genre as “while these shows vary considerably in terms of generic conventions and content, we can argue that they all share a concern with teaching audiences how to reflexively shape and optimise their personal lifestyles.” (Lewis and Martin, 2010, p. 320) Lawson empowers the audience into feeling they will be able to cook as well as her, be as happy as her and be as impressive to their family and friends as her through the nature of her intimate episodes.  They often end with wealthy friends arriving to eat her menu and gather around her table and eat, chat and drink together. The show aims to transform our consumerist’s tastes and lifestyle habits when it comes to what we eat through Lawson’s seduction, or should I say Nigella’s?

Word Count: 1092

Bibliography

Ketchum, C. (2005) "The Essence of Food Cooking Shows: How the Food Network Constructs Consumer Fantasies." Journal of Communication Inquiry 29: p. 217-234

Lawson, N. (2015) “Simply Nigella: Feel Good Food.” United Kingdom: Chatto & Windus.

Lewis, T. and Martin, F. (2010) 'Learning modernity: lifestyle advice television in Australia, Taiwan and Singapore', Asian Journal of Communication, 20(3), pp. 318-336.

Mulvey, M. (1975) ‘Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema’ in “Visual And Other Pleasures” (2009). Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire [England]: Palgrave Macmillan.

Ouellette, L. (2016) “Lifestyle TV”. United Kingdom: Routledge

Wright, R. R., and Sandlin, J. A. (2009)"You are What You Eat!?: Television Cooking Shows, Consumption, and Lifestyle Practices as Adult Learning". Adult Education Research Conference. Paper 70. p. 402-407

Simply Nigella (2015). TV program, British Broadcasting Corporation, BBC Two, 20:30, 30th November. [Accessed online 08/04/16: http://bobnational.net/record/334226 ]

Sci-Fi, Fantasy and Cult - Week 9 [Seminar Notes]

There will be two tutorials to do with your essay plans. You will need two good ideas for your essay and what you want to research for it. You need to combine them in your essay.

You should focus your essay on two topics you like, and something you think you'll be good at.

Construct questions from your reading from the debates that are raised.

Do not do the same debates in your essay that you've done from your critical log.

Sci-Fi, Fantasy and Cult
- Introduced a the prospect of a new world in the living room
- Opportunity to explore contrasts
- A sense of competition was introduced between channels
- Bigger budgets meant biggest audience
- Promises a cinematic spectacle

Cult Shows:
- Generic convention cross overs, appealing to a wider audiences
- Intertextual references in the shows
- Production of an extended universe.

Dr Who - Cult Success
- Time travel narrative play on nostalgia for the viewer as well as prospects for the future
- It has a multi-generational appeal and has it's own spin-off shows e.g. Torchwood and Sarah Jane adventures which can make a wider audience invest in the show.

Black Mirror
It doesn't have positive narratives, rather they are syndical and critical commentaries on critical issues is contemporary society.


"The fan audience is valuable to a network ... attempting to break into an increasingly competitive environment, because of the loyalty of fan viewers. A consequence, Matt Hills argues in 1990s 'fandom has begun to furnish a model of dedicated and loyal consumption which does, in point of face, appeal to television producers and schedulers within a fragmented multi-channel environment."
- Johnson, C. (2005)

Brett Mills, sitcoms

Do background readings, specific argument readings and particular TV shows 

Week Seven [Reading Notes]

Children's Television

Gunter, B. and McAleer, J. (1997) Children and Television: The One Eyed Monster London: Routledge

• Under the ethos of the public service broadcasting, television has been required not only to entertain, but to educate and inform. [p. 56]
• Television is commonly cited by people as their major source of information about what's happening in the world. In public opinion surveys, samples often claim that they learn a great deal about the world from watching television, and that news on television is more important in keeping them informed than any other sources. [p. 56]
• There is no doubt that children do learn some things from watching television, both from programmes designed to entertain and from those whose main objective is to inform. [p. 56]
• If children decide to view for amusement and entertainment, much of what they watch will simply wash over them; little will stick. On the other hand, if they are motivated to find out about something through viewing, then learning is more likely to occur. [p. 57]
• Ultimately, whether or not children learn from television depends on a mixture of factors which relate to the viewers' background knowledge and interests, reasons for watching television, degree of concentration and attention while viewing, and the way that the programmes are produced. [p. 57]
• Educational television programmes represent one area of television output which has been dedicated to improving children's know-how. Some of these productions are broadcast as part of mainstream television for children, while others have been specifically made for schools audiences. [p. 57]

Learning from TV Quiz Shows

• Children can learn from programmes that are designed specifically to entertain. Research among children in Britain has shown that, by watching TV quiz shows, children's general knowledge (on topics covered by the questions on the show) can be improved. Thus, even entertainment orientated shows may provide a source of learning for young viewers. [p. 59]
• One of the key reasons given by children for watching quiz shows was 'to compete against contestants'. This means that, when watching quiz shows, children may be encouraged in generating their own answers. Participation, as well as the additional mental effort in processing an answer from the question may produce an atmosphere in which children actually learn from these programmes. [p. 59] 

Learning from TV News

• Television news is defined both by it's producers and it's audiences as programming designed specifically to inform. This is not to say that news is not also found entertaining. Indeed, it often tries to arouse and entertain. [p. 60]
• Despite its central aim to inform the public, research has shown that audiences often display poor memory for news on television. This happens consistently, even though people subjectively feel that television news provides well for their news needs. [p. 60]
  
  TV News and Political Learning
• Parents and school are known to have an influence over children's and adolescents' political opinion forming, but their is some indication too that the media can play an important role in this as well. (Chaffee, S.H., McLeod, J.M. and Wackman, D.B. 1973) [p. 61]
• Political knowledge has been found to be related to children's and adolescents' use of the mass media and in particular to their interest in news and current affairs. (Gunter, B. 1997) [p. 61]
  
  Remembering What News Programmes Said
• Recall of television news varies with the type of story and the way in which it is presented. The presence of film footage in news items can have a significant effect on how well it is remembered. Dan Drew and Stephen Reese found that memory and understanding among 10- to 16-year-olds were better for TV news accompanied by film footage than when presented by a 'talking head' only. [p. 65] 
• 
  

Week Six [Seminar Notes]

Lifestyle Television

Three types:
- Cooking
- Property
- Fashion

First introduced via Radio broadcasts

Local business for food, soap and other domestic products sponsored early educational programmes and radio shows. Many were sponsored by kitchenware manufacturers.

Broadcast channels and magazines are now dedicated to these areas of consumerism.

Lifestyle programmes were linked to the reproduction of the heterosexual post-war nuclear family.

Lifestyle formats have become more closely associated with the expression of consumer difference, the aesthetication of everyday life.

Examples [On Hand-Out]
Take Care of the Refridgerator' [Korean Cooking/Interview show] 
- It is a host-lead programme with celebrity guests.

How to Look Good Naked [Women's Lifestyle program]
- Idea of the 'Male Gaze' comes into play with this show, with women being insecure about their body image. The influence of a 'queer' host reinforces the debate of this lifestyle in a women's genre of TV.
- Gok Wan - openly gay in the public eye. He's the 'gay best-friend'.

Location, Location, Location
- Male and female hosts, mainly the female host with a separate narrator.
- The male is seen as the dominating sales element, the women is involved in the design.
- Male = Practical, Female = Picky


Theoretical Relations
These shows seems spontaneous and natural [un-scripted], representing a true image of the participants with their opinions.





Textual Analysis of the Genre:

Fanny Cradock v Nigella Lawson

Direct Gaze - Breaking the fourth wall
Simple domestic appliances in a plain colour kitchen [Fanny]

Nigella has an upbeat melody in comparison to Cradock.
There are a vast amount of cuts and a huge variety of colours represented in the show.

Nigella's kitchen has a lot more appliances, cooking more internationally renown dishes.
A much more extravagant yet homely feel to the show.
Nigella uses a lot more immersive language.

They had similar costumes and a strong representation of femininity.

Cradock's is a much more traditionally British show with her food.

Aimed at a middle-class audience [Nigella] and the other aimed at the working class [Fanny]

Nigella has a male gaze essence to it, with her costumes, make-up and overall appearance. 

Week Six [Reading Notes]

Powell, H. & Prasad, S. (2010) ‘"As Seen on TV." The Celebrity Expert- How Taste is Shaped by Lifestyle Media’ in Cultural Politics 6 (1). 111 -124

Lifestyle templates are available primarily through multiple media channels, where lifestyle is an example of a new “social form” based on specific patterns of consumer choice.

Television, print, and advertising play a role in constructing media stars who transfer particular lifestyle knowledge through to the lived experience of ordinary people. 

The genre of D.I.Y. programs has always been popular on British television. However, of specific interest here is both the shift in style of these programs and their sheer volume internationally. Therefore, the questions this article considers are: Why have celebrity experts grown to such prominence and how do they seek to function as the conduit through which mediated lifestyle becomes lived experience?

Within the “new economy,” information and the symbolic are highly valued and they allow for those who specialise in such culturally specific materials to increase their standing based not on their education but rather on their knowledge of the aesthetic in all its forms. In this way, the sign value of goods creates a new social order whereby increasingly a sense of collective identification is informed by market choices and guided by the rhetoric of advertising, design, and the television celebrity expert.

Celebrity experts/hosts become role models through highly performative, mediated interaction. They offer a lifestyle template located within a setting of familiarity and trust accrued through a weekly slot on television (Chaney 2001; Powell and Prasad 2007).

How Not to Decorate 
Operates on the basis of transformation, set against a backdrop of a race against the clock leading up to the final reveal. However, the discourse of the two presenters throughout the program makes it clear that transformation takes place within a context: the transposition or implementation of one taste culture over another. Colin and Justin reinforce each other’s values and, from a position of authority as presenters of the show, are allowed their choices to be legitimised and implemented. Interestingly, these celebrity experts are not involved in the actual transformation: they show no skill in painting, carpentry, plastering. Rather they remain firmly rooted in the world of the aesthetic and knowledge of the communicative value of objects and styles. Their own value and status is therefore located in the decision-making process made apparent on television which legitimises their own particular cultural tastes and preferences.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Linda Barker and DFS

If lifestyle is manifested in the choices we make in relation to interior design or the food that we cook and serve and if such choices make statements concerning our sense of self and social positioning, then celebrity experts become important by providing, through the media, templates of possibilities. 

If we trace the DFS furniture campaign from 2003 to the present (2009), a series of “designers” reinforce the idea that taste is important for the ordinary homemaker, but more significantly it can be bought with the right guidance. Linda Barker has played a key role in promoting the brand and her latest “Why I love DFS” advertisements guide the public to examine particular features of a sofa which her expertise can validate. [www.dfs.co.uk/linda-and-dfs]

Experts like Barker are there, we suggest, to facilitate the decision-making process. In turn, they reduce the anxiety that, in a consumer driven culture, might come with seemingly limitless choice. She provides reassurance and practical guidance but ultimately her function is one of cultural intermediary and tastemaker (Philips 2005). 

The success of Barker in this was to present good taste in a form that was palatable for mass consumption and to appear to reflect the sensibilities of ordinary people; what some social commentators have described as a democratisation of taste. But this notion of the ordinary is problematic as Taylor suggests:
Lifestyle never floats free of class. The “ordinary” people of terrestrial lifestyle television for example, are usually at least lower middle-class; the embrace of working class people is extremely rare in lifestyle programming. (2005: 115) 

Tastemakers and, by extension, celebrity experts have seized the opportunity to legitimise their role as bearers of aesthetic knowledge, as function is replaced by the expressive qualities of any object in terms of what it says about a sense of self or aspirational standing. Knowledge thus becomes a currency that allows for distinctions and judgments to be made, played out through the format of makeover television (Lury 1996: 88).

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Jamie Oliver

Jamie Oliver broke the mould of the traditional cookery show format through The Naked Chef (beginning in 1999) by positioning food at the center of his lifestyle construction and placing family and friends at the heart of program content. This format enabled the genre to develop away from its traditional didacticism and into the realm of narrative story telling with a culinary theme.

In addition to his known culinary expertise, Oliver’s appeal derived from his youthful appearance and enthusiastic manner of presentation, which struck a chord with a younger and indeed more masculine demographic. Therefore, the emphasis placed within Oliver’s television program on the choosing and acquiring of suitable quality ingredients was transferred to Sainsbury’s with a knowing consumer believing and trusting that the products must indeed be of high quality if a celebrity chef uses them.

The celebrity expert:
A cultural intermediary emerging from the growth of the communications and pro- motional industries and shifts in patterns of social organisation. Such celebrities have found their niche in contemporary culture through the development of a particular genre of reality television, namely lifestyle.

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Lifestyle television becomes important, according to Skeggs (2004: 97), “for recognition of difference is a lot more difficult to maintain, to know and to see; boundaries are far more permeable than in the past”. In this context, it becomes a site where the taste of the expert can gain mass appeal and confirms their status as a celebrity. It makes those with symbolic power visible and provides a medium whereby their judgments and classifications can be legitimised. This strengthens their market value and brand extensions can follow.

 

Bibliography

Chaney D. 2001. “From Ways of Life to Lifestyle: Rethinking Culture as Ideology and Sensibility.” In J. Lull (ed.) Culture in the Communica­tion Age, pp. 75–88. London: Routledge. 

Lury, C. 1996. Consumer Culture. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Philips, D. 2005. “Transformation Scenes: The Television Interior Makeover.” International Journal of Cultural Studies 8(2): 213–29.

Powell, H. and S. Prasad. 2007. “Life Swap: Celebrity expert as lifestyle adviser.” In D. Heller (ed.) Reading Makeover Television: Realities Remodelled, pp. 56–66. London: I.B. Tauris. 

Skeggs, B. 2004. Class, Self, Culture. London: Routledge. 

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Brunsdon, C. (2004) ‘Taste and Time on Television’ in Screen 45(2) p115 – 129.