Which is the best paradigm to interpret the genres in television programming?

Abstract

The number of television genres, that is already big, grows more every day. How to define which are the fundamental interpretants that would allow us to think, not only about the genres of the past, but also about those to come? This is the question that I try to answer through a conceptual model that has evolved over the years particularly from a characterization of mode of enunciation, to a characterization of universe. From mode to universe there is a change of paradigm. This article proposes, therefore, an epstemological return to three different ways of seen the television genre. Starting from a promise that guide the viewers’ interpretations and convictions, and that can be identified initially at a semiological level; then pragmatically, as a result of the recognition of a mode of enunciation that defines a TV program’s value of truth; and finally by its definition inside a universe, a model that explains the reason why different genre interpretations constitute a judicial problem, as well as an economical and comunicational issue.