Television as a Medium

Every time a new medium is invented, something about how it gets used makes it evolve into a distinctly different art form. Generally, there are associations and connections with other media, but each medium is distinct in its combination of traits. The three main traits I love about television are not unique to it, but combine uniquely to make television great.

1) Visual/auditory—Let’s start off with the easy one. Television is a visual medium, and as such can do many things non-visual media cannot. “Show, don’t tell” is frequently espoused advice for creative ventures, and this is an easier rule to follow for visual media. A set director can showcase a character’s personality simply via how they create the character’s home, clues can be given via wordless cuts, and actors can show us what they are thinking. For stage plays, the proper formatting is to have the dialogue start out on the left margin, with all stage directions indented. For screenplays and teleplays, the format is inverted: stage directions are on the left margin, and dialogue is indented. For movies and television, what you see is more important than what you hear. That’s not to say that dialogue isn’t important in its own right, but the visual is primary. Like movies, television combines the visual and the auditory to enhance the experience for the audience; it becomes because of this one of the most lifelike forms of media.

2) Serial—This is another obvious trait of a television series; it is, by its nature, serial. Rather than being confined to a movie’s two hour (give-or-take) time limit, a series can last for years. Characters can evolve over time, arcs are possible, and plots can take their time. Television's serial nature also makes continuity possible, which can make a more interesting and exciting viewing experience. TV is in this case most like a book series, but released at a much quicker pace.

3) Accessibility—This is the part of television I find fascinating, but is often overlooked: it is designed to be accessible at all times. The networks want to make money, and thus every episode should be able to draw in new or casual viewers. It’s the reason for the invention of the “Previously on…” sequence. Television is the most fluid medium that is in some ways required to be disjointed. No one expects someone to start a book halfway through, but for TV, you have to be able to bring in people regardless of where you are in the season or story arc. I don’t know about you, but I haven’t watched every show from the very beginning. I started Veronica Mars in the middle of season two. I started watching Alias halfway through its season one finale. Most people haven’t watched all their shows from their pilot episodes. A lot comes from channel flipping, promos, or word of mouth—but then the show has to deliver. And it has to be written every time to deliver to a person who has no clue what’s going on. And that is pretty amazing. A medium that requires similar accessibility is the comic book, but even then, you’re not expected to be able to start in the middle of an issue. A TV show should be able to hook you mid-episode, wherever you start.

So those are three of the main facets of the television medium—not all, by any stretch of the imagination—but ones that make me remember why I love it as an art form. It manages to combine some of the most interesting parts of movies, book series, and comic books to create the television series—its own unique brand of art.