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This article discusses the properties of ‘quality television’ as constructed within the field of television production. It does so by analyzing the discourse of television creators and critics in two countries, Israel and Flanders, taking a theoretical approach based in part on Bourdieusian theory. Most academic work about ‘quality television’ concentrates on Anglo-American television drama series. In this paper we offer a different perspective by focusing on two small but prosperous television markets outside of the Anglo-American world. Our findings suggest that the quality discourse in both countries contains autonomous-artistic alongside heteronomous-capitalist ideological elements, apparently under the influence of the Anglo-American discourse of quality. Our findings also suggest that both ideological elements contribute to the cultural legitimation of the television drama series in both countries, though the capitalist discourse plays a more evident role among creators than among critics. Finally, we also discuss the differences between the Flemish and the Israeli discourses of ‘quality television.’ [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cultural taste, an enduring topic of concern for cultural sociologists, is predominantly studied through strategies that reinforce 'methodological nationalism'. Moreover, the study of taste remains confined to Western Europe and Anglophone countries, while being blind to transnational dynamics. This special issue expands these debates, focusing on center-periphery dynamics not necessarily centered around Western Europe and North America. This, while situating the study of class and culture within more inter-sectional analyses including race, migration, nationality and ethnicity. Thus, our special issue reveals the power of global inequalities across different cultural fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]