Previously On Battlestar Galactica: Narrative Innovation in Contemporary American Science Fiction Television

Abstract

From the 1980s to the present, the American television industry has undergone many significant industrial and technological shifts which have enabled fundamental changes to the production and distribution of primetime television. Consequently, the structure of primetime television narratives has been significantly affected by these changes. Narrative experimentation has become increasingly common, most notably in the forms of seriality and narrative complexity, as a means for producers to differentiate their product in an increasingly saturated market. Changes to primetime narratives have not been limited to one particular genre, but with the shift from appeals to broad audiences and syndication-friendly programming to narrowcasting in primetime television, niche markets have become increasingly important and, as a result, an open site for experimentation. Perhaps more than any other primetime genre, science fiction has become a site for the implementation of technologies and marketing which have enabled narrative complexity and seriality. With the complex seriality of Battlestar Galactica (2003-2009) as a focal point, this thesis will examine the ways in which narrative in primetime American science fiction television series has been innovated, under the influence of policy, technology, and industrial shifts.