Modernity tends to produce ever new experiences of loneliness, which, however, remain abstract, invisible and thus non-negotiable in everyday experience. Television series, on the other hand, find concrete articulations of modern loneliness through their specific aesthetics, narratives, character constellations, dramaturgies, and sounds. Based on an interdisciplinary iconography of modern loneliness, Denis Newiak examines the televisual expressions of social isolation using the popular television series 13 Reasons Why, The Big Bang Theory and Bates Motel.

Denis Newiak is a media, film and television scholar, teaches media and communication theory at various universities and conducts research on expressions of loneliness in modern societies.