Sherlock and Elementary
This chapter explores the emergence of two tiers of international television programs, high end and routine, and argues that the two types of content serve different functions in their import markets. The content’s cultural and temporal proximity to the import market determines the uses made of it by broadcasters as they attempt to appeal to their domestic audiences. But understanding these different functions requires complicating and nuancing the long-established concept of cultural proximity and developing the concept of temporal proximity. In the case studies, Sherlock and Elementary are used as exemplars of the high end and the routine. The first section establishes the distinction between high-end and routine drama; the second establishes the concept of the cultural proximity index; the third argues that Elementary is characterized by cultural accessibility; the fourth establishes the concept of the temporal proximity index in relation to high-end and routine television.