Formula, Genre and Branding in Usa Network's Programming and Promotional Content
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GENRE WELCOME?: FORMULA, GENRE AND BRANDING IN USA NETWORK'S PROGRAMMING AND PROMOTIONAL CONTENT Cory Barker A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate College of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS May 2012 Committee: Dr. Jeffrey Brown, Advisor Dr. Kristen Rudisill Dr. Marilyn Motz © 2012 Cory Barker All Rights Reserved iii ABSTRACT Dr. Jeffrey Brown, Advisor In the fragmented post-network era of television, networks are looking for any advantage in attracting audiences. One way networks try to draw attention is through branding. Branding helps networks stand out among the hundreds of other choices, but can also link all of a network’s programming under one carefully-crafted theme. When viewers access a network’s content from numerous devices, it is crucial that each experience evokes similar images, styles and themes. It is my assertion that cable giant USA Network has succeeded with its branding campaign like no other contemporary television network. By combining a programming formula of blue skies, cool cases and pretty faces with thematically-connected branding under the “Characters Welcome” label, USA Network and its structurally formulaic programs are activated into a new genre of television. This activation from formula into genre is accomplished narratively, thematically and aesthetically within the programs themselves, but is primarily driven by the commodification of those narratives, themes and aesthetics through an overarching branding campaign (television spots, on-screen chyrons, print ads, web sites, Tweets, various other intertextual directives) that promises diverting, but not mindless, fare. The brand emphasizes escapism and inclusivity through sunshine-drenched imagery and a laid-back, summertime ideology. Using Jason Mittell suggestion television genres exist as “cultural categories” created through discourse, this thesis discusses how USA Network exists as a generic category shaped by branding and how critics and audiences embrace and acknowledge that generic category. iv To J.L. Forever welcome. v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank Dr. Jeffrey Brown, Dr. Kristen Rudisill and Dr. Marilyn Motz for their insightful feedback, support and most importantly, their trust in me to complete this ambitious thesis with my vision intact. I am forever grateful for the support of my family throughout this project and throughout my life. My parents, John and Sherry Barker, and my grandmother, June Holcombe, have inspired me to push harder, to be smarter and to learn more for as long as I can remember. My partner, Jamie Lennartz, is an invaluable source of optimism, encouragement and love that I could not have needed more as I wrote my thesis. I must thank Dr. Max Dawson of Northwestern University and Dr. Travis Vogan of St. Anslem College for inspiring me as an undergraduate student at Indiana University to think more critically about television and the media, and ultimately, take the academic path. I would also like to thank Adam Lukach, Noel Kirkpatrick, Myles McNutt, Andy Daglas, Les Chappell, Dr. Christine Becker, Ryan McGee, Carrie Raisler, Zack Handlen, Louis Peitzman, Jaime Weinman, Timothy Yenter, Todd VanDerWerff, Wesley Ambrecht, Rowan Kaiser, Chris Castro, Austin Morris, Brad Sanders and Daniel Walters for talking about television with me, both in-person and online, and spurring me to be a better thinker. Finally, my fellow Class of 2012 cohort members. Thank you for making this experience easier, better and more fulfilling than I could have imagined. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page INTRODUCTION. GENRE WELCOME?: FORMULA, GENRE AND BRANDING IN USA NETWORK’S PROGRAMMING AND PROMOTIONAL CONTENT ............................. 1 CHAPTER I. STRUCTURAL PATTERNS AND CULTURAL MEANINGS: EXPLORING FORMULA AND GENRE .................................................................................................... 18 CHAPTER II. INDUSTRIAL MEANING: BRAND IMAGE AND COLLECTIVE CORPORATE AUTHORSHIP ............................................................................................. 41 CHAPTER III. SUNSCREEN, SUNGLASSES AND A BLOCK OF C4: EXPLORING USA NETWORK’S GENRE-DEFINING BRAND IMAGE ........................................................ 63 CHAPTER IV. “WHY DOES USA KEEP MAKING THE SAME SHOW?”: SURVEYING CRITIC AND AUDIENCE RESPONSE TO THE USA NETWORK GENRE ................... 101 CHAPTER V. OFFICIAL OUTLAWS: CONSTRUCTING THE USA NETWORK CHARACTER .................................................................................................. 137 CHAPTER VI. PURPOSEFUL POINTLESSNESS: THE PULPY, ESCAPIST NARRATIVE STRUCTURE OF USA NETWORK’S SERIES .................................................................. 158 CONCLUSION. THE ‘HAPPY TIME NETWORK’: CONSIDERING USA NETWORK’S SUCCESS ..................................................................................................... 177 1 INTRODUCTION. GENRE WELCOME?: FORMULA, GENRE AND BRANDING IN USA NETWORK’S PROGRAMMING AND PROMOTIONAL CONTENT “Today when considering scripts, [former USA Network President, now NBC Universal Cable President Bonnie] Hammer and her team ask a routinized series of questions: Does the show have a fun sensibility? Does it have a ‘blue sky’ tone of hopefulness? Does it revolve around an ‘aspirational,’ if quirky, lead character with a moral and ethical center? Potential shows are scored based on how closely they match these dictates; only high scorers make it on air.” – Johnnie L. Roberts, Newsweek, 20091 Although it is something of a simplistic list, the batch of questions used in USA Network’s developmental process outlined by former USA Network President Bonnie Hammer to Newsweek reporter Johnnie L. Roberts easily and succinctly describes the cable network’s formula. What started out as the sports-centric, middling Madison Square Network in the early 1970s that continued to undergo identity and name changes throughout the cable television expansions of the 1980s and 1990s has now blossomed into the most watched basic cable network during primetime viewing hours.2 A number of factors contributed to USA Network’s major successes over the last decade. First, the smart decision making of the network’s executives like Bonnie Hammer and recently appointed Jeff Wachtel led to a consistent run of new scripted programming that has been generally well-received by critics and fans alike. Secondly, Vivendi’s 2001 purchase of USA Network and the subsequent 2004 merger of Vivendi and NBC that created NBC Universal (hereafter referred to as NBCU) placed USA Network inside one of the world’s largest media conglomerates. This position surely permitted USA Network all the benefits of horizontal and vertical integration wherein NBC Universal 2 Media Studios can produce series in-house or easily cut profitable deals with other large production studios, air the series on USA Network and market them across the media conglomerate’s countless other arms of content output. Finally and, I will argue most importantly, USA Network has succeeded because of its stylistically appealing branding campaign that emphasizes the thematic and aesthetic connections between all products of the network’s programming formula. This distinctive combination of branding, formula and genre has been fully digested and embraced by critics, audiences and the television industry as whole wherein now the phrase “USA Network programming” denotes very specific meanings in promotional and programming content. With branding becoming an ever-integral aspect of the television industry, the current state of USA Network serves as an exceptional case study of how commerce and art blend overtly and successfully, but it also presents a possible path for how television networks, channels and the industry as a whole could change in years to come. Of course, these three facets of USA Network’s strategy are interrelated. Without attractive, similarly-themed content, the branding campaign might not work, and without said branding, audiences might not tune in to the series no matter how attractive or good they are. Without the economic and production advantages that come along with being part of one of the world’s largest media conglomerates, USA Network might not have been able to produce or promote at the highest levels. It is in this interconnected relationship between production and promotion where USA Network has taken a formulaic template of programming and turned it into one of the biggest and most recognizable stables of content in American television. By combining a programming formula of blue skies, cool cases and pretty faces with a thematically- connected branding campaign all under the “Characters Welcome” label, USA Network has taken its similar, formulaic batch of programs and “activated” them into a separate generic 3 category. This activation from formula into genre is accomplished narratively, thematically and aesthetically within the programs themselves, but is primarily driven by the commodification of those narratives, themes and aesthetics through an overarching branding campaign (TV spots, on-screen chyrons, print ads, web sites, Tweets, scheduling and various other paratextual and intertextual directives) that promises escapist, but not mindless, fare to the viewers. These programming and branding strategies emphasize escapism through sunshine-drenched imagery and a laid-back, summertime ideology. Primarily using concepts introduced by television scholar Jason Mittell that suggest television genres