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