ABSTRACT
Yuval Gozansky and Gabriela Jonas Aharoni address the ways in which one television drama series in Israel has continually involved children with content in any media available besides watching the linear core program. Released in 2016–2017 on The Children’s Channel (TCC) for cable (HOT) subscribers, the television drama for children Flashback serves as a case study for a close examination of the diverse ways in which transmedia storytelling is used on Israeli television drama. Gozansky and Jonas Aharoni discuss how Flashback’s strategy of promoting global educational and pro-social values, which notably feature in other Israeli television texts for children, is a continuation of both local and global traditions of children’s television. Even in the age of the construction of children as consumers, they are still perceived by Israeli producers of children’s media as needing education. Moreover, privately owned, commercial channels, which are a significant force of innovation in competitive television markets, still uphold in Israel certain public service values through their transmedial platforms. Thus, transmedia storytelling strategies that accompany television drama for children continue to play the role these drama series have traditionally played in negotiations of identities and in the promotion of educational values such as tolerance to and acceptance of alterities.
