In his reflections on TV production, Jason Mittell (2010) refers to the concepts of risk and innovation as the driving forces of TV programs creation. The author suggests that the process of TV programs development is quite challenging since the projects’ directors are always vulnerable to the customers’ unresponsiveness and inattention. However, Mittell states that there is a unique formula, which focuses on the successful TV program verification. Thus, the new product should pass three stages on its way to the wide public. These are innovation, imitation, and saturation (Mittell, 2010).
Besides, the author dwells on the issue of pilots’ flaws. Due to Mittell (2010), many media workers do not recognize pilot production as competitive and winning on the market of TV programming. Thus, it is claimed that some popular trial episodes evolve into weak projects while no-pilot products can overtake the sales in real broadcasting. Therefore, there are some specialists, who refuse to work with the trial versions of TV programs.
Reference
Mittell, J. (2010). Television and American culture. Oxford: Oxford University Press.