Primetime Drama

The two words primetime and drama combine to form a phrase whose meaning refers not simply to peak-time periods in television screening and viewing but also to the genre of drama itself. The consumption of this output and the dramatic representations themselves often reflect the specific gendered contexts of cultural reception as well as the wider social situations in which the output is received. Primetime refers to the period when television viewing numbers are at their highest in any one day. In the United States, in the Eastern and Pacific time zone, audience levels are at their highest between 8:00 p.m. and 11.00 p.m., and in Central and Mountain time zones, primetime is 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. The hours that usually have the highest HUT (homes using television) are 8:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m., though this can vary slightly depending on news reports, time of the year, and national holidays. These are commonly the times when people are watching television drama and when broadcasting networks air such output. A specific time slot in program scheduling, then, has long been defined in relation to primetime drama, with diverse locations and narratives that bring together the public and the private, the past and the present, and the social and the domestic.

The rise of other televisual output (particularly reality television) and the emergence of relatively inexpensive mass-digital and new media (such as the Internet and mobile technologies) have not seriously undermined primetime drama so much as they have challenged networks, producers, and writers to be more imaginative and challenging in terms of such output. Primetime drama continues to be written, and it manages to hold on to its audience share. Moreover, television drama in America, Australia, Britain, and Canada continues to attract audiences in [Page 675]high numbers in ways that both reflect and refract many of the cultural and political changes that have occurred in the last 30 years.

Primetime drama, then, refers to dramatic output broadcast on television and usually at times that aim to maximize viewing figures. While primetime more generally has historically been associated with the commercial channels and television networks, state-funded broadcasting organizations have also been forced to compete for audience ratings. To maximize viewing figures or to attain the highest number of HUT, the drama usually has to conform to popular conventions rather than those associated with high or alternative culture. However, when the more serious rather than the highly popular generic conventions are adopted, dramas nonetheless have traditionally been constructed in relation to heterosexual gender norms. Conventional dramatic settings frame the most popular narratives, and characters are commonly constructed around and in relation to discursive regimes associated with medicine (Marcus Welby, MD, 1969-1976, ABC; Grey's Anatomy, 2005-present, ABC), the law (Cagney and Lacey, 1982-1988, CBS; Prime Suspect, 1991-2006, ITV/Granada), history (Upstairs Downstairs, 1971-1975, LWT/UK; Elizabeth R., 1971, BBC/ UK), and politics (G. B. K, 1991, Channel 4, U.K.; The West Wing, 1999-2006, NBC).

Gender norms are dramatized in output whose main plot lines concern male-female relations. However, primetime dramas tend to use subplots as a way of integrating issues surrounding gender and sexuality into the dominant narrative. Prior to the 1990s, television drama was often written and broadcast for mass audiences, and the generic conventions that structured the dramas sometimes affirmed and at other times questioned hegemonic beliefs and values. While the primetime drama Roots (1977, ABC), for example, asked audiences to consider the history and implications of slavery, it did this through dramatic devices that were predominantly male and wholly heterosexual. Roots addressed and represented a very particular history, that of African American slavery. However, it took a much longer period of time for primetime television drama to question gender norms in the way that Roots questioned American identity. For example, lesbian and gay identities were either not represented or were denied representation altogether. Gender and sexual relationships, nonetheless, have underpinned many of the subplot developments in primetime dramas. Media and audience research additionally confirms that primetime output has almost invariably been consumed on a gendered and sexualized basis.

...