One of the most striking developments in entertainment over the past two decades has been the rise of complex and sometimes experimental serialized narratives on television programs. Jason Mittell, a professor of Film and Media Studies and American Culture at Middlebury College, published a book about this phenomenon in 2015 called The Poetics of Contemporary Television Storytelling. Complex TV accompanies Mittell's book, offering a synopsis of each chapter along with accompanying video clips. Each of these chapters examines a different aspect of the "complex TV" phenomenon - including the rise of complex narratives, character structures, and the "orienting paratexts" that viewers and critics have established to interpret and analyze these shows. Mittell illustrates each of these aspects with annotated clips from a number of shows, including Veronica Mars, The Wire, The Sopranos,and Breaking Bad.
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