ABSTRACT
This chapter examines its relationships with the American TV drama paradigm that Robert Thompson examined as "quality TV". The focus on conceptual innovation, which is posited here as a first American Quality Drama (AQD), feature, offers a way to gauge the extent of its departure from established norms. AQD, as Thompson suggests, has held the capacity to attract a higher proportion than other programming of "blue chip demographics", whose value to advertisers centers on their "upscale, well-educated, urban-dwelling" qualities, as well as their youth. 'Quality drama', as Thompson acknowledges, has often identified itself as such through the use of 'generic mixing' and 'self-reflexivity'. The creative revolution represented by the inception of AQD was well overdue in the early 1980s, during which cable penetration reached a quarter of American homes. Examining AQD's creative legacies and its influences on complex serial drama, the chapter provides a cultural and creative complement to the institutional influences on complex serials.
