La media serialità americana

The article makes an overview of the distinctive dramaturgical features of American TV series, focusing on the narrative revolution triggered by seminal shows like “Hill Street Blues” and, subsequently, “ER”, “Friends”, “Dawson’s Creek”, etc.. It is argued that the best criterion to analyze the different genres of these productions is to consider which rhetorical devices show runners has adopted in order to create characters who can stimulate at the same time viewers’ admiration and compassion. Mixing a semiotic approach with a screenwriting perspective, the article sketches a map in which each genre is presented with the key of its specific persuasive and emotional power. The new generation of procedural shows appear to count on characters who feel guilty for neglecting their families, but can’t find a remedy to their existential condition: in fact, it would mean giving up being the dedicated heroes whom society needs in hospitals and in police districts. Modern teen drama is based instead on characters who, under the surface of an adolescent body and of a teenager life, are endowed with adult minds, facing adult problems and crises. And the bohemian style of life of young adults characters in contemporary sitcoms is supported by emphasizing how insecure human relations and values are outside the group of friends. The article highlights the ideological implications of these dramaturgical devices.