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Ms calidad, mejor difusin y tramas adictivas han creado un nuevo espectador: el serifilo. El profesor Alberto Nahum Garca lo examina.

Adicto A lAs series

series Addicts

Professor Alberto Nahum Garca looks at the new audience created by better quality, wider distribution and addictive storylines: the series addict.
Texto: Alberto Nahum Garca. Ilustraciones: David de la Torre

ace una dcada las series jugaban en segunda divisin. en years ago, TV series were a second division club. That Hasta que, sin mucho ruido, el cine se col en la pequea was until the cinema sneaked over to the small screen. The pantalla. La revolucin se vena fraguando desde mucho fires of revolution were lit a long time ago with the success antes, con xitos como Seinfeld o Expediente X, pero el gol por la of Seinfeld or The X-Files, but the golden goal was scored by HBO escuadra lo marc HBO con Los Soprano (1999-2007). Los mafioand The Sopranos (1999-2007). The mafia family of David Chase sos de David Chase llegaron escoltados por las cabalgadas de la were escorted on to the pitch by crowds of people addicted to 24, adictiva 24, la hiperrealista CSI o la inteligente El ala oeste. Tras the hyper-realistic CSI or the smart West Wing. In the wake of esas joyas y otras como Buffy, The Office o Carnivle la televisin these gems, and others like Buffy, The Office and Carnivle, comcomercial se puso a la altura del cine en el imaginario colectivo. mercial television rose to the heights of cinema in the collective Ya poda competir de t a t, conjugando una mirada de autor imagination. It could now compete on a level playing field for the con el gusto comercial de los grandes pblicos. Como en el commercial taste of large audiences; just like in a Hollywood clasHollywood clsico. As, hoy pasean por la tele actores consagrados sic. For that reason, such famous actors as Dustin Hoffmann como Dustin Hoffman (Luck) o Glenn Close (Daos y perjuicios), (Luck) and Glenn Close (Damages) can now be seen on our teledirectores como Darabont (Los muertos vivientes) y productores visions in projects by such directors as Darabont (Walking Dead) como Scorsese (Boardwalk Empire). Es un crculo virtuoso: cada and producers as Scorsese (Boardwalk Empire). The vicious circle vez aterrizan ms estrellas y continues: more stars and talento porque los espectadoAhora el espectador no solo reina sino more talent are getting involres demandan ms calidad. ved because viewers are que tambin gobierna. internet ha demanding even more quality. supuesto un cambio de paradigma Dejando de lado las polmicas en torno a las descargas, es Leaving aside the controversy innegable que parte de todo surrounding the issue of Nowadays, the audience not only este xito procede de internet. downloads, it is undeniable reigns but governs too. the internet Paradjicamente, la televisin that part of this success is has created a new paradigm ya no tiene por qu verse en down to the Internet. Paradotelevisin. Ah radica el gran xically, television no longer salto: desmarcarse de la tirana de las cadenas. Ahora el espectador needs to be watched on a television. Therein lies the great leap: puede descargar el ltimo captulo de la excepcional Breaking Bad escaping the tyranny of the networks. Viewers can now download en HD, rememorar los DVD de Friends en la cama, con el ordethe latest episode of the exceptional Breaking Bad in HD, watch nador, o, incluso, meter en su mvil las ltimas carcajadas de Friends on DVD in bed, on the computer or even enjoy the latest Cmo conoc a vuestra madre o Misfits para hacer ms llevadero el gags from How I Met Your Mother or Misfits on a mobile teletrayecto de metro. En esta nueva era, el espectador no solo reina phone while taking the tube. In this new era, the viewer not only sino que tambin gobierna. Decide el qu, el cundo y el dnde. reigns but governs too. They decide the what, the when and the Adems, con el cambio de paradigma que ha supuesto internet, where. Furthermore, with the changing paradigm brought about ahora cualquier amante de Dexter tiene acceso a una web oficial by the Internet, any fan of Dexter has access to an official website donde bucear en detalles, puede seguir el twitter de cada personaje for more details, can follow the tweets of all the characters from de Skins o animarse a comentar el ltimo episodio de House en Skins or comment on the latest episode of House on specialised blogs especializados. El pblico demanda estar en la conversacin. blogs. The audience is demanding to be included in the converY en este sentido Lost resulta proverbial: es una serie que ha reclasation. Lost is the perfect example of this: a series that created mado exgetas, con tantas preguntas abiertas como promesas de experts through just as many questions left unanswered as proresolucin. El espectador, en este entorno 3.0., se ha devanado los mises of closure. In this 3.0 environment, viewers wracked their sesos resolviendo los acertijos y proponiendo teoras no solo brains trying to resolve clues and propose theories not only in

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en el saln de casa o en la cafetera, sino prolongando la conversacin en redes sociales, bitcoras y wikis. As, el visionado se retroaliment y el embrujo de Lost infect la madrugada de medio mundo.

their living rooms at home or in the caf with their friends but in long conversations on social networks, blogs and wikis. The storm fed on itself and the bewitching effect of Lost captured the minds of half a world.

ciNeMA MAde iNto teleVisioN. The Pacific, the warciNe HecHo eN teleVisiN. The time mini-series about the Pacific, la miniserie blica sobre la campaa US campaign on the Japanese estadounidense en las islas japonesas, solo islands can only be described puede calificarse de impresionante. Con Spielberg as impressive. With Spielberg y Tom Hanks como productores, se recrea la guerra and Tom Hanks as producers, con un realismo tan extremo que consigue que hasta la the war is recreated with such muerte huela. Es un ejemplo seero de los despliegues extreme realism that you can para que el espectador contemple un espectculo visual even smell the death. It is a masdesde su sof: la imperial Roma, el sucio Oeste en terful example of the efforts Deadwood, la aristocracia eduardiana en being made so that audiences can Downton Abbey, los elegantes sesenta witness a visual spectacle from de Mad Men, el futuro apocalptico the comfort of their sofa: impede Battlestar Galactica o el reino rial Rome, the dirty west in Deadpico de la fantasiosa Juego de trowood, the Edwardian aristocracy nos, la ltima chuchera de la telein Downton Abbey, the elegant sixvisin americana. Este gusto por los ties of Mad Men, the apocalyptic future of grandes relatos confirma que la teleBattlestar Galactica or the epic kingdom visin actual se atreve con todo. No hay of the fantastic Throne of Kings the latest tema que se le resista. El cable estadounioffering from American television. This dense en especial HBO, Showtime o Starz trend towards great tales simply confirms se ha caracterizado por elevar el nivel de lo visithat modern television will give anything a ble. Sangre, sexo y lenguaje soez distinguen a go. There is no topic strong enough to resist. US propuestas tan explcitas como True Blood, Calicable television (especially HBO, Showtime or Starz) has fornication o el violento pplum hormonado de defined itself by raising the bar. Blood, sex and coarse Spartacus. Pero, ms all de poses escandalosas, language distinguish such explicit offerings as True Blood, lo relevante es la compartimentacin de la parrilla Californication or the violent sword-and-sandal genre of yanqui. La romanticona CW, por ejemplo, se espeSpartacus. However, all the scandal aside, it is important to cializa en relatos para pblico femenino postadolesnote the compartmentalisation of the US market. The romancente (Gossip Girl, The Vampire Diaries); la poderosa tic CW network, for example, specialises in stories for a postFX apuesta por varones de entre 18 y 45 aos, de modo adolescent female audience (Gossip Girl, The Vampire Diaries); the que se permite productos speros como la crucial The Shield, la powerful FX focuses on men between 18 and 45, allowing the provocativa Nip/Tuck o la punzante Sons of Anarchy; Syfy busca el creation of such rough shows as The Shield, the provocative Nip/ nicho friki de la ciencia ficcin y el gnero fantstico (Warehouse Tuck or the biting Sons of Anarchy; Syfy is hoping to conquer the 13, Caprica); y as con tantos otros canales. De este modo, la telenerd niche of science fiction and fantasy (Warehouse 13, Caprica); visin se ha sacudido su preand the list of networks goes tensin de llegar a todos los Television has la ficcin televisiva no ha inventado nada, on.old aspiration toshaken off pblicos, conscientes los its reach all anunciantes de que la calidad simplemente ha actualizado los mecanismos audiences with advertisers de un target especfico puede becoming aware that the quade la tradicional literatura por entregas superar en rentabilidad a lity of a specific target is often pblicos masivos, pero ms more profitable than large, but Fictional television has not invented indiscriminados. Para el more indiscriminate, audienanything new, it has simply updated the espectador? Se traduce en una ces. Whats in it for the viewer? oferta ms jugosa, variada y The result is a larger, more traditional episodic literature format atractiva, en la que siempre varied and more attractive habr una serie para ti. Esta inercia tambin salpica al mercado offer in which everyone can find something for them. This espaol: el pblico se ha hecho ms exigente y los creadores arriesmomentum is starting to hit the Spanish market: the audience gan escenarios y gneros en sus nuevas apuestas. has become more demanding and the creators are taking greater risks on their newest projects. el juego de uN relAto AdictiVo. La ficcin televisiva no ha inventado nada; simplemente ha actualizado los mecatHe secret lies iN AN AddictiVe storY. Fictional televinismos de la tradicional literatura por entregas. Est la version has not invented anything new; it has simply updated the tiente autoconclusiva con CSI como paradigma, donde el traditional episodic literature mechanisms. Some series have espectador puede entrar y salir con facilidad, sin extravos por opted for the self-conclusive format (CSI for example), with which perderse un captulo. Pero tambin cobran fuerza los relatos viewers can come and go as they please, not needing to worry too que reclaman un espectador fiel, capaz de seguir una historia much about missing one single episode. However, other shows

de fondo, expandida a lo largo de varias temporadas. En ellas, los guionistas trabajan la sorpresa y los requiebros de la trama para excitar el deseo del pblico por saber ms y ms; esa adiccin del necesito-ver-otro. Las posibilidades de estos juegos narratolgicos son mltiples y muy sofisticadas: la originalidad de 24 es el relato en tiempo real; Fringe trabaja los universos paralelos; Perdidos y la fallida Flashforward sustentan su arquitectura narrativa en un puzle temporal que multiplica la ansiedad narrativa... Desde una perspectiva ms densa, la prestigiosa In Treatment ofrece un relato horizontal (de lunes a viernes) que, en un segundo visionado, puede seguirse verticalmente. Sin embargo, es The Wire el paradigma de esta nueva literatura audiovisual por entregas: en lugar de un policaco trepidante, sus creadores optan por un ritmo pausado, anticlimtico, donde cada caso ocupa toda una temporada. Un relato coral, minucioso, que esculpe una reflexin sociopoltica sobre la ciudad contempornea. Como sintetiza la ambiciosa The Wire, la tradicin televisiva anglosajona ha generado una incesante vitalidad artstica que, sin desdear lo comercial, es capaz de explorar nuevos caminos narrativos, estticos y hasta morales. Una tele hecha, por su misma definicin, para enganchar al espectador. Una caja lista que, por fin, puede jugar en primera divisin artstica... y ganar.
alberto nahum garca
Es profesor de Comunicacin Audiovisual y Subdirector del Mster en Guin de la Universidad de Navarra. Ha co-editado Landscapes of the Self. The Cinema of Ross McElwee y es autor de El cine de no-ficcin en Martn Patino. Desde hace dos aos su trabajo acadmico se centra en la televisin paradores228x148.fh11 20/5/11 13:57 Pgina 1 anglosajona, estudiando series como The Wire, Supernatural o In Treatment. Escribe el blog especializado Diamantes en serie.

are emerging that demand a loyal following, an audience capable of sticking with a story to the end, expanded over the course of several seasons. For these, the scriptwriters use surprise and minor hints at the main storyline to arouse interest in an audience to know more; that need to see the next episode addiction. The possibilities of these narratological games are many and sophisticated: the uniqueness of 24 lies in real-time storytelling; Fringe works with parallel universes; Lost and the failed FlashForward maintain their narrative in a time-based puzzle that enhances the narrative anxiety From a more complex perspective, the prestigious In Treatment offers a horizontal story (from Monday to Friday) that, when watched again, could be followed vertically. However, The Wire is the paradigm of this new audiovisual episodic literature: rather than a frenetic police show, its creators have opted for a slower, anti-climactic pace in which each case takes up an entire season. A detailed storyline that fosters socio-political reflection on modern city life. As can be seen from the ambitious The Wire, the Anglo-Saxon television tradition has generated an incessant artistic vitality that, without scorning the commercial aspects, is capable of exploring new narrative, aesthetic and even moral paths: television that is, by definition, made to hook the audience. A clever box that can finally play in the artistic first division and win.

He is a professor of Audiovisual Communication and Vice-Director of the Masters Degree in Scriptwriting at the University of Navarre. He co-edited Landscapes of the Self: The Cinema of Ross McElwee and wrote El cine de no-ficcin en Martn Patino. For the last two years, his academic work has focused on Anglo-Saxon television, studying The Wire, Supernatural and In M Y CM MY CY CMY K Treatment. He writes a specialised blog entitled Diamantes en serie.

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