Producing zombie television: AMC, The Walking Dead, and the institutional dynamics of green-lighting hard-edged horror on cable

This study documents the industrial conditions that permitted the green-lighting and production of The Walking Dead (2010–present) on AMC, a network that built its reputation through high-brow series like Mad Men (2007–2015) and Breaking Bad (2008–2013) . The findings challenge two major arguments forwarded to make sense of the show’s airing: 1) the diagnostic model which suggests that zombies dovetailed into a zeitgeist-coloured paranoia of Others and the aftereffects of a neoliberalised social order and 2) the reputation model, which maintains that the industry track records of the personnel behind projects significantly enhances the chances of receiving a green-light.

The curation of European Netflix catalogues on social media: The key role of transnational and local cultural traits

This article aims to analyse how Netflix uses social media to generate a dialogue between the local and transnational layers of television, to position its brand and curate content in domestic markets. Within the frame of transnationalism, a cross-cultural comparative study has been conducted in three different local European markets: the United Kingdom, Spain and the Nordic region. The results show the negotiation between transnationalisation and the needs of local cultural distinctiveness through language adaptation, emphasis on in-house original US flagship productions, the overrepresentation of original local content and use of cultural references at different levels.

‘SKAM Italia did it again’. The multiple lives of a format adaptation from production to audience experience

SKAM Italia, the Italian version of the Norwegian SKAM format, was first released in Spring 2018 and has reached its fourth season in May 2020, overcoming several industrial struggles and slowly engaging an increasing, young and local audience. This article aims to integrate a production–distribution and reception perspective, showing how they mutually reinforce the series’ identity: the peculiarity of SKAM’s distribution system fostered the audience’s engagement, until its complicated production history brought the series to a more conventional circulation. Mutual exchanges between professionals and audiences on a global level are always counterbalanced by national negotiations, influencing the series’ life cycle.