Žižek And So On Television Theory w/ Ryan Engley
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Oct 21, 2025 Ryan Engley, a television theory scholar and co-host of the Why Theory Podcast, dives into the fascinating world of TV aesthetics and history. He explores how laugh tracks and studio audiences create an imagined community for viewers. Engley contrasts the fluid storytelling of TV with the structured nature of film, discussing how shows like Twin Peaks and The Sopranos revolutionized serial narratives. He also examines how the commercial nature of television has influenced audience engagement and memory in storytelling.
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Film Theory's Clear Arc Versus TV's Messy Story
- Film theory followed film's tech and narrative changes, creating distinct theoretical periods from formalism to theory-braids like psychoanalysis and Marxism.
- Television lacked that neat development because it was treated as a lesser, domestic, and commercial medium for decades.
Liveness And Flow Define Television
- Television developed its own key concepts like 'liveness' and Raymond Williams's 'flow' that film doesn't need.
- Those concepts explain TV's aesthetic of seeming live and its continuous, segmented programming experience.
I Love Lucy's Live Feel Was Engineered
- Early TV was transmitted live and many first sitcoms weren't recorded, so we can't watch them today.
- Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball shifted production to filmed, LA-shot shows to recreate a 'live' feel with studio audiences and laughter.
