DANISH TELEVISION

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DANISH TELEVISION

• Palle Schantz Lauridsen,
• Associate professor, Ph.D.
• Department of Nordic Studies and Linguistics

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The structure of the lecture

• Introduction Television in general
• Defining characteristics of broadcasting
• Which are the dominant types of television
  channels
• Which are the typical types of television viewers
• Particularities of Danish Television
• Recent developments in Danish televised fiction
  serials

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TELEVISION AS FLOW
Super flow
Viewer flow
Channel flow
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Types of broadcasting according to Raymond
Williams

• A PUBLIC SERVICE
• NEWS
• PUBLIC AFFAIRS
• FEATURES AND DOCUMENTARIES
• EDUCATION
• ARTS AND MUSIC
• CHILDRENS PROGRAMS
• PLAYS

• B COMMERCIAL
• DRAMA (formulaic) series and serials, movies
• GENERAL ENTERTAINMENT Musical shows, game shows,
  talk shows, sports

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Programme categories on Danish Television-
historical examples
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4 TYPES OF MEDIA ORGANISATION

• THE AUTHORITARIAN TYPE
• THE PATERNALISTIC TYPE
• THE COMMERCIAL TYPE
• THE IDEAL DEMOCRATIC TYPE

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Three types of viewers

• THE MORALISTS
• THE HEDONISTS
• THE PRAGMATICIANS

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PHASES OF DANISH TELEVISION

• THE EXPERIMENTAL ERA, 1951-54
• THE MONOPOLY ERA, 1954-1988
• School teachers television, 1954-1964
• Journalists television, 1964-1981
• MIXED CULTURE ERA, 1982 - present
• Transitional period, 1982-1988
• Competetive period, 1988 - present

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Danish television channels - 2004
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Danes watch Danish Channels 2004/42 88
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Television drama
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Television Drama

• Theatrical plays
• 1 autonomous unit
• 1951 1994
• Mini series
• max 7 episodes
• 1965 1999. Again from 2007
• Serials
• long-running
• 1991 present (a few important examples prior to
  1991)

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Theatrical plays

• 1951 1965
• Televised theatre
• only plays written for stage performance
• national and international classics
• 1965 -1994
• modern and modernist plays written for
  television.
• Classics the 60s plays by modernist Leif
  Panduro
• First serials / mini series 1965
• 1970s
• Huset på Christianshavn 84 episodes, 1970-1977
• Matador (The Magnate/Monopoly), 24 episodes,
  1978-1980

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The Golden Age, 1994 - 2004

• 1994
• Riget (The Kingdom), 4 episodes, Lars von Trier
• 1996
• Charlot Charlotte, 4 episodesOle Bornedal
• 1997
• Taxa, 56 episodes
• Riget II, 4 episodes, Lars von Trier
• 2000
• Edderkoppen (The Spider), 6 episodes, Ole
  Christian Madsen
• Rejseholdet (Unit One), 32 episodes, Emmy
  Award 2002

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The Golden Age, 1994-2004

• 2001
• De udvalgte (The Chosen),13/12 episodes
• Den serbiske dansker (The Serbian Dane), 3
  episodes, Prix Italia
• 2002
• Nikolaj og Julie, International Emmy Award 2003
• 2004
• Krøniken (The Chronicle), 24 episodes planned
• Ørnen (The Eagle), 24 episodes planned

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Præmis - prævis

• Præmis/pitch
• the utterance all episodes discuss the question
  all episodes discuss
• i.e. should I intervene (Taxa)
• i.e. you search for a beast and find a human
  being (Unit One)
• Prævis (visual præmis)
• The visual concept of style that distinguishes
  the individual series/serial from the others

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Taxa a new style
Two camera shooting, moveable camera, avantgarde
editing, breaking of the established rules
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Rejseholdet Unit One
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Elements of Success

• IDENTIFICATION with likeable characters
• SERIAL LEVEL, the level of the serial as an
  entity

• FASCINATIONwith the unknown
• EPISODE LEVEL, the level of each individual
  episode

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Images of Danishness

• Huset på Christianshavn
• The restoration of a villagelike neighborhood in
  fear of urban modernity
• Matador
• The middle of the road in the conceptualisation
  of recent history (1929-1949)
• Landsbyen (the Village)
• The entire contemporary country depicted from
  within a small village

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Images of Danishness

• Taxa
• Urban Denmark, the family the workplace, the
  battle between Danish Krone Taxa and
  international City bilen
• Rejseholdet
• National coverage to search for a beast and
  find a human being
• Nikolaj Julie
• Young Urban Professionals life in modern
  middle class

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Images of Danishness

• Krøniken
• Denmark entering the modern post WWII , the
  world of television, the world of the EU
  eventually metafiction television on
  television.
• Ørnen
• Denmark in a post Schengen, post cold war world
  of international crime
• www.dr.dk/drama

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• Thats all folks!