Crisis TV

Book excerpt: Crisis TV addresses the motif of crisis that has come to dominate contemporary Hispanic televisual production since 2008 and the onset of the global financial crisis. In almost unprecedented fashion, the global economy came to a standstill, reshaping both geopolitical organizations and, more importantly, the lives of billions across the globe. The Great Recession, sociopolitical instabilities, the rise of extremist political parties and governments, and a worldwide pandemic have resulted in a mode of crisis that pervades contemporary television fiction. 2008 also marks a revolution in television, as local and global streaming services began to gain market share and even overtake traditional over-the-air transmission. The essays in Crisis TV identify and analyze the narrative tropes and aesthetic qualities of Hispanic television post-2008 to understand how different regions and genres have negotiated these intersecting crises and changing dynamics in production, dissemination, and consumption.