<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p>In this article, I explore the reception of American “quality” serial television in Sweden from 1999 to the mid-2010s. My analysis includes how cultural critics and journalists writing for Sweden's leading newspapers conceptualised American serial television as “quality TV” and as legitimate “art”, and it charts the ways in which these discourses relate to the reconfiguration of Swedish television from public service monopoly to niche-oriented multichannel system. The analysis uncovers a process of cultural consecration that was based on comparisons with already consecrated art forms, applications of authorship discourses that promote certain individuals as genius television auteurs, and deployment of critical protocols borrowed from literary criticism – all in service of pre-established cultural hierarchy and “good taste”. This article also highlights the ubiquity of American quality serial television across the Swedish television landscape, which suggests that such programmes represent both a niche product and a mass phenomenon with extensive reach and multidimensional appeal.</p>
</abstract>

In this article, I explore the reception of American “quality” serial television in Sweden from 1999 to the mid-2010s. My analysis includes how cultural critics and journalists writing for Sweden's leading newspapers conceptualised American serial television as “quality TV” and as legitimate “art”, and it charts the ways in which these discourses relate to the reconfiguration of Swedish television from public service monopoly to niche-oriented multichannel system. The analysis uncovers a process of cultural consecration that was based on comparisons with already consecrated art forms, applications of authorship discourses that promote certain individuals as genius television auteurs, and deployment of critical protocols borrowed from literary criticism – all in service of pre-established cultural hierarchy and “good taste”. This article also highlights the ubiquity of American quality serial television across the Swedish television landscape, which suggests that such programmes represent both a niche product and a mass phenomenon with extensive reach and multidimensional appeal.

Renegotiating quality TV in the Swedish press<break/><italic>American serial television and Sweden's post-monopoly television landscape</italic>

Nordicom Review

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Renegotiating quality TV in the Swedish press

In this article, I explore the reception of American “quality” serial television in Sweden from 1999 to the mid-2010s. My analysis includes how cultural...

Renegotiating quality TV in the Swedish pressAmerican serial television and Sweden's post-monopoly television landscape

Published Online: Feb 26, 2021

Page range: 59 - 78

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/nor-2021-0012

Keywords
American serial television, quality TV, Swedish television culture, cultural journalism, cultural consecration

© 2021 Joel Frykholm, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Renegotiating quality TV in the Swedish pressAmerican serial television and Sweden's post-monopoly television landscape

Published Online: Feb 26, 2021

Page range: 59 - 78

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/nor-2021-0012

KeywordsAmerican serial television, quality TV, Swedish television culture, cultural journalism, cultural consecration

© 2021 Joel Frykholm, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Keywords
American serial television, quality TV, Swedish television culture, cultural journalism, cultural consecration