Description:
<jats:p> This article pays particular attention to the temporal and spatial dimensions of TV discourse. It combines a case study of specific daytime programmes with more general reflections on the nature of mediated interaction in modern society - drawing on Anthony Giddens's discussion of `time-space distanciation'. One of the distinctive features of broadcasting is its sense of liveness and immediacy - made possible by the simultaneity of transmission and reception - and the author shows how this has given rise to certain communicative styles which simulate co-presence between television performers and their absent audiences. The consequences of these serialized para-social encounters for everyday experience are considered, and it is proposed that they contribute to new patterns of familiarity and estrangement in modern life. </jats:p>