Liberals prefer the following in their narrative TV programs: innovative structure & style, ambiguous/nuanced depictions of moral issues, storylines that extend beyond individual episodes, diverse casts, & explicit depictions of sexuality & gore

Split screens: A content analysis of American liberals’ and conservatives’ respective television favorites. Nick Rogers. Psychology of Popular Media Culture, Aug 13 , 2018. http://psycnet.apa.org/buy/2018-38804-001

Abstract: This project uses a quantitative content analysis to the realm of scripted narrative TV, to examine how “motivated social cognition” may drive ideological partisans to sort themselves within cultural realms that have no obvious political content. The analysis reveals that the substance of the TV programs disproportionately preferred by either liberals or conservatives differs significantly. Specifically, liberals prefer the following in their narrative TV programs: (a) innovative structure and style, (b) ambiguous/nuanced depictions of moral issues, (c) storylines that extend beyond individual episodes, (d) diverse casts, and (e) explicit depictions of sexuality and gore. Conservatives, by contrast, favor the following: (a) conventional style and predictable storytelling, (b) clear depictions of “good” and “bad,” (c) storylines that are resolved within an individual episode, (d) homogenous casts, and (e) “wholesome” (or absent) depictions of sexuality and gore.