Jeremy, this probably is outside of the limitations of your book (I guess you cover US network television), but I suppose a good example is the Fassbinder series "Acht Stunden sind kein Tag" ("Eight hours are not a day") produced in the early seventies (as far as I recall). It was all in all only four to six episodes (produced for prime time public German television), an early and singular attempt to do something different with the family series format. The series focussed on an extended working class family, also focussed on the work place. The predominant visual distanciation device was the excessive use of mirrors (which he admittedly borrowed from Sirk, one of Fass- binder's favorites) - another device was language in that most of the characters spoke in an almost "formulaic" fashion - repeating their phrases over and over again. There ist also s.th. specific to the kind of acting you see there - especially with those actors who constantly worked with Fassbinder. But one would have to take a closer look at it. I suppose one could say that the series was a flop - I guess the viewing public couldn't take this "strange" kind of (re)presentation - I definitely enjoyed it at that time and still do - one of the more interesting aspects of German television history. So much for that - gaby