Résumé (EN)

Today, there is a heightened competition between TV channels (broadcast television, cable channels) and streaming platforms. To ensure TV channels attract a large part of the audience, they developed special formats such as the remake or reboot of old TV series, the adaptation of works from another medium, and the franchise format.In this research project, we analyzed how viewers and fans reacted to those formats by picking three important TV shows: “The Walking Dead” as an adaptation from a comic book, “Chicago PD” as part of the Chicago franchise, and “Hawaii 5-0” as a remake. To do so, we studied the discussions surrounding those TV shows on social platforms and in the media, and we explored the behind-the-scenes aspects to determine the producers’ ambitions for those shows. We observed that those formats target a specific category of the population. But most importantly, they were designed to target fans. Fans are faithful viewers and help in promoting the shows through “fan labor” and producers often rely on this aspect. Thus, fans have some sort of power, but it can quickly escalate and turn into something toxic known as “toxic fandom”Whether it is the franchise format, the remake, or the adaptation, they were all created to answer a specific question: In this actual televisual landscape where competition is at its highest, and where the audience is more scattered than ever, how to reach a peak audience?