A Discussion About the Problem of Quality in Television: The Case of Behzat Ç.

Starting from the question “What is television?”, this article examines the possibilities of an aesthetic approach to television and television dramas. The first part of the article dwells on the questions of “quality” and “cultural value” in television and the following parts attempt to clarify the terms of “quality television” and “quality drama”. The main aims of this article are to provide an historical overview of the quality drama productions, and to critically discuss the cultural and industrial dynamics of the drama production process itself in relation to the problem of quality in television. The case study proposed in the article shows that, Behzat Ç., a Turkish police drama series aired on Star TV, tends to differ itself from the rest of the current television offerings, and the broadcasting network is willing to promote Behzat Ç. as a “quality drama”. In this sense, Behzat Ç. will be analyzed with respect to its echoing features of the generic set of quality dramas and thus its rhetoric of quality will be problematized.