CALL FOR PAPERS British Television Drama and US Imports: Aesthetics, Institutions, Histories. Friday 24 March 2006. A one-day symposium organised by the Centre for Television Drama Studies at the University of Reading, under the auspices of the AHRC-funded project British TV Drama and Acquired US Programmes 1970-2000. While the study of British television drama and US television drama respectively continues to thrive, little work exists on the interconnections between British and US television. American television programmes have been extremely popular in Britain, yet they are frequently omitted from critical discourse on British television. On the basis that a nations television landscape never consists merely of indigenous production, this symposium aims to explore how British television drama is affected by the import of television drama from the USA. In particular (though not exclusively) we welcome papers that address the following questions: * What shapes the selection processes involved in the acquisition of US TV drama? What are the institutional and practical factors involved in this acquisition (e.g. regulation, package deals, scheduling and cost)? * How are US imports used by, and how do they work as part of, British broadcasting (especially in terms of scheduling, promotion, channel identity and public service)? What are the aesthetic consequences of these broadcast processes? * How do the meanings of television texts change because of their transatlantic journey? * How has the import of US television drama influenced aesthetic forms, genres, representations (e.g. gender, class, race), and production practices of British domestic television drama? * How have US imports affected the viewing experience of British television audiences? * What may be the national specificity of television drama from Britain and the US, and what may be shared? How does television drama locate this specificity? * How do the different histories, institutions and evaluative schemas in the US and Britain inflect the term quality differently and contribute to the quality debate? * Conversely, how are British programmes exported to the US? How are they used, scheduled, received, and what is their influence? The day is expected to run from 10am 5pm. Papers should be no more than 20 minutes in length (including any audio-visual extracts). Please send abstracts of 250 words by Monday 16 January 2006 to Simone Knox via email (<mailto:[log in to unmask]>[log in to unmask]) or post: Simone Knox, University of Reading, Department of Film, Theatre & Television, Bulmershe Court, Woodlands Avenue, Reading, Berkshire, RG6 1HY. Visit the symposium website at <http://www.rdg.ac.uk/fd/research/BritishTVdramaandUSimports.htm>http://www.rdg.ac.uk/fd/research/BritishTVdramaandUSimports.htm. Michele Hilmes Professor of Media and Cultural Studies Director, Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research Department of Communication Arts University of Wisconsin-Madison 6040 Vilas Hall 821 University Ave. Madison, WI 53706 608-262-2543 608-262-2547 608-262-9953 fax ---- For past messages, visit the Screen-L Archives: http://bama.ua.edu/archives/screen-l.html