Lost is made by ABC a mainstream American company,directed by JJ Abram's who is looking to attract the widest mainstream audience possible in order to gain large profits. Losts audience is very wide due to the ensemble cast and enigma codes to rope in its audiences, its mainstream popularity is demonstrated in its views with its first season averaging 15.9 million viewers. lost won the emmy for "outstanding drama series" and its first season received a high critical acclaim being described as "the greatest television series of all time" however "the appeal narrowed as seasons progressed and the mythology became more complex with an ending that was strongly debated as meaningful to some and complete poppycock to others". Some audiences where captivated by the never ending enigma codes and formulaic structure to each episode which became familiar and allowed for more passive viewing, whilst others started to take an oppositional reading and got bored of this repetitive nature and getting lost in a mountain of un answered enigma codes that where dragged out to the point that they were forgotten before the answer was revealed.
More active audiences became less gratified with the mainstream themes of the episodes and predictable nature of the show and stated that Lost did not push the boundaries of its genre and played it too safe. Whilst others found this very appealing. this narrowing in popularity developed a relatively large cult like following of enthusiastic fans who created websites such as "lostpedia" in which each episode was discussed and debated at length. The enigma codes and overall plot mysteries where very popular among some of its audience, being described as "a mystery begging to be solved wrapped up by endless drama and exciting action sequences". its cult following got very invested in the characters more as the seasons went on and running for 6 seasons many viewers got attached to certain characters. fans on tv.com said that "like the title, they got truly lost in this show" and this was the case for both the lovers and haters of this show. whilst some enjoyed being lost in its plot and excited by the high production action sequences and being given answers to various mysteries , others did not like this "meaningless confusion of intertwining plots and being less involved with the text simply waiting around for answers to be given" arguing that the plot lacked meaning and got too caught up in delivering meaningless mysteries . this audience got very tired of the series as it went on generally loosing viewers. dropping from its peak viewers in season 2 at 23 million viewers to just 14.5 million in its final season.
Mad Men produced by AMC, who were a TV channel that only showed old black and white American shows, gathering a very niche audience they revamped the channel creating the original series that was Mad Men, Produced by Mathew Weiner. The purpose behind mad men was not to attract the masses and make huge profits like Lost, but was to produce a Quality series with integrity and authenticity. they target a more active audience who can decode their show and take the preferred reading for example in this episode 11 series 5 "the other woman" the character Joan was the woman of desire and is considered the ideal in the show, using her sexuality to gain power. audiences without an understanding of the 1950s and the appeal to a more curvy look being consider the desired shape they would take an oppositional reading to this narrative theme not knowing why this woman is the desired assuming that the thinner ideal of today would fit the role more. whereas people with this background knowledge and understanding will appreciate the realism of this characters sexual appeal of the time. a more passive audience will take an opposition reading to this text. because of this exclusion of a wide range of audiences that lost attempts to include, mad mens viewer ratings where lower however where we saw a decrease in viewers as the seasons of lost continued, mad mens average viewers increased from an average of 1.80 millions viewers to 2.49 millions as it affects a higher class niche audience first, this audience then slowly influences others to watch the show creating a larger but still niche following over time. mad men attracts a higher class audience who value production value and authenticity over meaningless action as a spectacle and value the gratifications of retrophilia that this show provides. as this higher class are the audience taking the preferred reading this meant that mad men had a more culturally significant influence. having an influence on business owners such as the heads of fashion companies and being featured in high end fashion magazines with the programme affecting the styling of high end fashion this then has an impact on high-street shops who mirror the high end fashion style meaning that mad men ended up influencing mainstream fashion. there have been websites in which fans talk in detail about the themes and individual scenes of each episodes, commenting on representations and narrative themes having high level active discussions and debates about the show.
this show with its niche audience has created a cult following of dedicated fans and live shows go on tour. mad mens audience appreciate the authenticity of this show , this is a major attraction of this show and one of its producers main aims is to be a realistically representative of the 1960s. the show spent $250,00 on a beatles song in series 5 episode 11. as peggy leaves the office "you've really got me goin" by the beatle is played for this short clip. this song fits the scene as peggy leaves and enters the elevator but is significant as this song was released in the exact year that this episode is set. this attention to detail is greatly appreciated within its cult following. president Obama was noted making reference to mad men ion a speech saying " it is time to do away with policies that belong in an episode of mad men" referring to the sexist polices in the wage gap between men and women in the programme. this shows the level of cultural impact this programme has had even in the world of politics.
peaky blinders is a historic crime drama, set in Birmingham in the 1920s and influenced by a real gang that existed at this time (post world war 1) this series received predominantly positive critical reception. the show has been praised for its stylish cinematography and charismatic performances from well known actors of which the show casted many. As well as casting an eye over a part of British history not often explored by television. the producer was quoted saying " we are not making a tv series we are making a film" and this is made evident firstly through its casting of well know and high quality actors capable of creating a high quality atmosphere with complex character interactions. secondly the cinematography is very movie like for example the fight scene at the start of the second episode is shot in slow motion using a wide range of camera angles,shots and points of view making it a very cinematic scene with its fast paste editing. peaky blinders also set a style/fashion statement with reviewers If Mad Men can set a style agenda, then Peaky Blinders (BBC2) deserves to do the same – this autumn, it should all be about Birmingham gangster style. A big attraction to peaky blinders was the famous actors which were very well received by the audience. the actors all received a lot of praise such as magnetic performances at every turn, with Sam Neill’s anguished investigator and Annabelle Wallis as Grace, a love interest with a hidden agenda, both outstanding. the use of these famous actors is a mainstream attraction that will bring in a more mainstream audience as fans of the actors will want to see the show. peaky blinders has been compared to the American series boardwalk empire set just a year later and has been said to be inferior to its American rival. the daily mail critised it on the ground that its 6 episode season did not bring enough depth to the characters and the plot was rushed. when it comes to making truly great television British tv cannot live up to the standards of American television some felt that the characters were not given enough background so could not get involved with the characters and was also described as all style no content
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