Introduction

Chapter 1 is an introductory chapter and the first of two conceptual chapters establishing the book&s;s critical framework and laying the groundwork for subsequent case studies discussed in this monograph. This chapter offers a theoretical overview of key debates on televisual authorship and gendered discourses of legitimisation and situates the book in dialogue with scholarship on the history of women in US television. Considering the interwoven changes in the US television industry, technology, and viewership which altered the production, distribution, and consumption of television, the chapter argues that the increased visibility of women-centred programmes and female TV creators after 2010 is the result of intensified marketing and promotion strategies that focus on female showrunners. Female authorship has thus become a new marker of distinction in contemporary television. Chapter 1 also considers relevant scholarly discussions on the current state of feminism, postfeminism, and neoliberalism in relation to female authorship in US television. It contends that female creators and their achievements have become part of the current conversations about feminist politics and diversity in popular culture and that the exploration of identity politics and feminist themes in female-authored productions has strongly contributed to the cultural legitimisation of women-centred television.