Researching Television Serial Narratives in Italy: an Overview

Abstract

In the essay the authors would like to review the main Italian studies that have focused on the television series, including both studies that have dealt with national production, and those which have looked to foreign markets and its serial products. In the multiplicity of disciplinary approaches, the authors will focus on studies related to the language and narrative of serial products. The essay is divided into three large blocks which cover three specific periods (the eighties, the nineties and the block from two thousand to present). Each of the three sections will try to give an account of the extent of Italian studies on Italian products, on foreign products and on more theoretical studies, which focus on innovative formulas of the story. At the end of the survey, it is possible to observe positive and thorough input regarding the status of studies on the subject. From the eighties to present, in fact, the studies have not only increased in number, but they have spread out over different fields and divided themselves between the analysis of the national scene and the analysis of international scene.