How television works: Discourses, determinants and dynamics arising from the re-enactment of Jazz 625

Abstract

Re-enactment can enable participatory researchers to ‘experience’ through qualitative ethnography the dynamics of how teams of practitioners employ tacit skills to make decisions and collaborate. This article explores the practice-as-research re-enactment of a historic 1960s television show, Jazz 625 (1964–66). With the emphasis on the process rather than the product through the production of a modern-day interpretation of the original – entitled Jazz 1080 – the researchers draw conclusions around the complex workings of a television production team through the creation of a new artefact. The empirical research captures how professional attitudes and institutionalized forms of collaborative creative labour shape programme-making. Comparisons are made between the original and re-enacted productions, with the conclusion being made that, despite advances in technology, the practices and processes of television production are remarkably similar between the 1960s and the early twenty-first century.