This article presents two analyses. The first and more theoretical explores analogies and differences between categories of cinephilia and TV-philia, by trying to understand whether the latter’s critical dimension may be considered a fully fledged and distinctive cultural practice. The second uses case studies to test some forms of cross-media critical analysis on TV series, using overlapping elements of TV criticism, such as publishing genre and fan culture, as examples.

From the nineties on, ‘low fidelity’methods of filming and styles inspired by family films and home movies began to make their way also into mainstream cinema. In their turn digital technologies soon replaced traditional ones in recording family and intimate memories. The old glamour of cinéma-vérité and the chance to create an aesthetic in sharp contrast with Hollywood’s prompted some art-movie makers to adopt these techniques. In Italy the issue is still open. In Italian movies, the inscription of features of home movies in filming has two aspects: 1. inscription of the technology in representation 2. stylistic mimesis. Films like Io ballo da sola by Bernardo Bertolucci, Ovosodo by Paolo Virzì and Il più bel giorno della mia vita by Cristina Comencini exemplify the first type; Scarlet Diva by Asia Argento or L’amore probabilmente by Giuseppe Bertolucci the second. In any case they still entail introducing the subjects and techniques of home movies into fictional films, conceived for cinema audiences and usable almost exclusively in art films