ABSTRACT

As American television continues to garner considerable esteem, rivalling the seventh art in its "cinematic" aesthetics and the complexity of its narratives, one aspect of its development has been relatively unexamined. While film has long acknowledged its tendency to adapt, an ability that contributed to its status as narrative art (capable of translating canonical texts onto the screen), television adaptations have seemingly been relegated to the miniseries or classic serial. From remakes and reboots to transmedia storytelling, loose adaptations or adaptations which last but a single episode, the recycling of pre-existing narrative is a practice that is just as common in television as in film, and this text seeks to rectify that oversight, examining series from M*A*S*H to Game of Thrones, Pride and Prejudice to Castle.

part I|28 pages

Building Blocks

chapter |28 pages

Television and Adaptation

Defining Terms

chapter 2|30 pages

Beginning, Middle, and End

Structure and Seriality in Television Adaptation

part II|92 pages

Home Entertainment

chapter 3|25 pages

Familiarity and Novelty

Television Microadaptations

chapter 4|35 pages

Crossing Over

Television Adaptation, between Universality and Specificity

chapter 5|30 pages

Origin and Intention

Authorship in Television Adaptation

part III|33 pages

Broadcasting …

chapter 6|31 pages

Here and There and Back Again

TV’s Influence on Popular Fiction

chapter |4 pages

Conclusion