Television: His Dark Materials - Audience and Industry

 Audience

1) What audience do you think His Dark Materials is aimed at and why? Think about demographic and psychographic groups. You can revise Pyschographics here.

2) What audience pleasures are offered by His Dark Materials - The City of Magpies? Apply Blumler and Katz's Uses and Gratifications theory to the episode. Make sure you provide specific examples from the episode to support your ideas.

Personal Identity: 

Devoted fans of the fantasy genre would enjoy His Dark Materials as it includes conventional aspects of fantasy TV, through the daemons, the witches, the tear in the sky, etc. 

Personal Relationships:

 Audiences could form parasocial relationships with any of the characters of the show, although it's more likely these relationships would be formed with the protagonists rather than the villains. 

Diversion (Escapism): 

Audiences can find diversion in essentially all aspects of the show, however, the most obvious example of this is in the large establishing or over-the-shoulder shots used to show the fantasy settings, such as when the "city in the sky" is shown

3) Thinking of the 3 Vs audience pleasures (Visceral, Vicarious and Voyeuristic pleasures), which of these can be applied to His Dark Materials? Refer to specific scenes or moments in the episode to explain your answer.

His Dark Materials books by Philip Pullman would most likely also enjoy the show. With Psychographics, I think that the target audience is most likely the Explorers, since the show is based on Lyra's quest and adventures in new worlds. Potentially, fans could also be Reformers, as the cast is quite diverse. Moreover, as the show has some political commentary on religion and the patriarchy through the Magisterium, it's possible that Reformers would agree with their representation of those groups and hence, enjoy watching the show. On the other hand, this would likely make the Resigned not fans of the show, as they respect institutions 

4) How did fans react to Season 2 of His Dark Materials? What about critic reviews? You can find some possible answers for this in this BBC website article on the critical reception for His Dark Materials and watch the fan reaction video above.
From this thread on Reddit, the episode was generally praised. with people enjoying and talking about some aspects of the episode. However, there was some discussion of plot holes left in the episode, as the TV show could not replicate the depth in the original books.
5) What might be some of the preferred and oppositional readings for His Dark Materials? Why did some fans love it? Why have other people criticised it? 

Industries

1) Which companies produced this His Dark Materials series?

His Dark Materials was commissioned by HBO and BBC and created by the company Bad Wolf.

2) What were the UK viewing figures for A City of Magpies? How did this compare to season 1 of His Dark Materials?

The first episode of the first series of His Dark Materials series was watched by audiences of 7.2 million in the UK and 423,000 on HBO. The first broadcasts of the CSP episode had audiences of 4.4 million on BBC1 and 227,000 on HBO.

3) What was American network HBO's role in making His Dark Materials and why is this important? Look at the notes above for more on this.

The American network HBO co-commissioned His Dark Materials alongside BBC for an international audience. This is heavily important as HBO is associated with producing high-quality TV shows, such as Succession. HBO brings in large amounts of profit (unlike the BBC, who make none at all), with over 40 million subscribers that contribute to the $7 billion subscription revenue

4) What famous stars are in His Dark Materials and why do you think they were selected for the show? Watch the Comic Con panel video in the notes above to see the stars talking about the show.

The show stars many famous people, such as: Dafne Keen (Lyra), Kit Connor (who plays Pan, and is also recently famous for Heartstopper), Amir Wilson (Will), Ruth Wilson (Mrs Coulter), etc. However, arguably the most famous of the cast is Lin-Manuel Miranda, who plays Lee Scoresby. He is famous for writing and starring in the hit musical Hamilton: the fourth highest-grossing Broadway musical theatre production, that debuted only in 2015.

5) Who are Bad Wolf and what do they produce?

Bad Wolf are a TV drama production company based in Wales. They have built up a reputation as one of the foremost independent production companies in the UK, producing over 117 hours of high-end drama for huge broadcasters and networks including HBO, Sky, BBC and AMC. They have produced many shows alongside His Dark Materials, such as A Discovery of Witches (for Sky / AMC) and Doctor Who (for the BBC / Disney).