Critical Viewing Log [Week Five]

Viewing Log 1: Week 5 Seminar [500 – 750 words]

The emphasis on textual analysis on this course cannot be stressed enough and it is vital that you have developed advanced skills in this method of media research. Television brings with it its own unique opportunities – and challenges – for research and the motivation behind the critical viewing logs can be identified as follows:

• Providing a structuring space for your own individual television viewing within the context of this course. 
• A springboard for in-depth discussion during seminars.
• Skills training in close textual analysis.

You are asked to choose two topics at the beginning of the course which you will focus your critical viewing logs on. Each should focus primarily on ONE EPISODE or SCENE from a television show you have watched in preparation for the seminar in that week. You are expected to undertake a close textual analysis of the programme that highlights the critical and generic conventions of its genre. You may find it useful to relate your discussion to the reading you have carried out in preparation for that particular week.

Please choose a TV genre from those in weeks 2-4 and then focus on one show - analyse one or two scenes in that show. I will add some notes on textual analysis to Study Direct. Think about how elements of the text can help you make arguments and points about wider critical readings of TV i.e. class/gender/race/genre studies. 

Format should be intro few sentences on the show and the scenes you picked (include original transmission time, date and year of show). Analysis. Concluding points. 

Please include academic reading in your log - at least three references from material we have covered. I strongly recommend you do this exercise to get feedback ahead of your assessed log for week nine.

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Countdown is a British game show incorporating word and number puzzles and has been broadcasting on Channel 4 since it became a terrestrial channel in 1982 and is the longest running game show to be broadcasted in the UK. I will undertake a critical textual analysis of this game show, highlighting the critical and generic conventions of its genre. I will be focussing on the scenes from episode 5571 that was broadcasted on 19 October 2012 at 3:10pm, as part of Series 67.

"Game shows depend on the display of knowledge or performance of skills, the acquisition of prizes, the display of celebrity and personality all presented in terms of fun and games." (Whannel, 1990, p.103-114) Countdown definitely meets the generic conventions of a game show stated by Whannel. For example, contestants start out equal and finish differentiated into a winner and losers by gaining points from various rounds, where their knowledge of numbers and letters being tested. Also, coinciding with the show's friendly nature and it's mass appeal to all generations, instead of competing for money, contestants compete to win a 'Countdown tea-pot' and a chance to play again in the following show, in hope that they can one day play in champions series finale. 
The display of celebrity is also apparent in Countdown with the show's present and of course, the celebrity guest assisting in the dictionary corner, being Dr Phil Hammond in this episode. With game shows like Countdown having a celebrated hosts with a charismatic presence, it agrees with Merrill's theory of how game shows possessing this trait are "capable of drawing in larger audiences of all backgrounds." (Merill, 1999, p. 28-30)

Countdown appeals to people of all ages as it is visually interpretable to members of it's studio audience consisting of students, pensioners and people from all walks of society, and classes. It is broadcasted around 'tea-time' when many people have just got in form work or school and are sitting down to relax before dinner.  On the other hand, Countdown's mass popularity in comparison to other game shows could also be due to it's gender representations and equality, having both male and female hosts as well as being represented in the dictionary corner. It possesses no gender limitations. 

Another generic convention of game shows which is apparent in Countdown is their tendency to cost little to produce in comparison to other television shows with their simplistic set designs and minimal cast members. Countdown has a basic studio set, containing a desk panels, the letters and numbers board and the centrepiece of the set, the 'Countdown clock.' The clock being the most important feature ,along with the music played as the time counts down.

However, I feel contestants may consider that being on television for at least one episode and being able to have conversations with the 'celebrity' cast on Countdown is actually more of a prize in comparison to the actual prize the show awards. Members of the public can go on the show and get their moment of fame and be in the public eye for at least one episode. On the other hand, contests could view this show more as a competition, gaining intellectual power and public approval from winning. Nevertheless, it's clear that Countdown is game show that "what counts is not just winning but having fun." (Wulff, 2000) 



Bibliography


Merrill, C. (1999) "Millionaire" gets America's attention, American Demographics (November 199) p. 28-30

Whannel, G. (1990) Winner Takes All: Competiton, in A. Goodwin and G. Whannel (eds) Understanding Television. New York and London: Routledge

Wulff, L. M. J.(2000) ‘Intertextuality and situative contexts in game shows: the case of Wheel of Fortune’ in Meinhoff, U. H. & Smith, J. (eds.) Intertextuality and the Media: From Genre to Everyday Life. Manchester U.P.