ABSTRACT
Given the paucity of critical studies on television drama it is perhaps understandable that Robin Nelson's dense but stimulating book is bubbling over with ideas, allusions and theoretical references. Flexi-narrative and flexiad drama are terms which Nelson introduces to describe those forms of popular television drama (Hill Street Blues, Casualty) which meet the distracted attention span of the new 'postmodern' audience. According to Nelson, television drama is in transition as a result of the social, cultural and economic changes of the last two decades and these changes have had considerable impact on the tastes and habits of the television audience, and on television companies. Nelson discusses both British and American dramas, critical realist and formulaic dramas, critical postmodern and popular postmodern dramas, and concludes by advocating diversity, arguing that there is space for both critical realist/postmodern drama and popular/formulaic drama in the television schedules.
