Transnational TV: What Do We Mean by “Coproduction” Anymore?

Abstract

Over the last two decades, transnational coproduction has become the new normal for high-end television drama and documentary. Obscured behind the attention paid to that other new global phenomenon, the reality format, other innovative program forms have emerged alongside newly constituted transnational publics, rich new constellations of cultural engagement, and a host of evolving practices of cooperative production. This article attempts to identify some of the issues that arise in studying new forms of transnational television coproduction between the United States and the United Kingdom , the world’s two largest global program suppliers, and to think through the research questions needed to explore them.