that have been called "art television," such as The Simpsons, use a "...flurry of cultural references, intentionally inconsistent characterization, and considerable self-reflexivity about television conventions and the status of the programme as a television show." Kristin Thompson compares David Lynch's film Blue Velvet and the television series Twin Peaks and "...asks whether there can be an "art television" comparable to the more familiar "art cinema." An art film is typically a serious, noncommercial, independently made film that is aimed at a niche audience, rather than a mass audience. Film critics and film studies scholars typically define an "art film" using a "...canon of films and those formal qualities that mark them as different from mainstream Hollywood films." Jason Mittell, an associate professor of American studies and film and media culture at Middlebury College, notes that many of the innovative television programs of the past twenty years have come from creators who launched their careers in film, a medium with more traditional cultural cachet," such as David Lynch, Barry Levinson, Aaron Sorkin, Joss Whedon, Alan Ball, and J. J. Abrams. Viewers for Quality Television In the US, an organization called Viewers For Quality Television was formed in the 1980s to encourage the production and broadcasting of shows that the group argued were "quality television". The group polls their membership and builds consensus through a monthly newsletter. The group's founder, Dorothy Swanson, argued that "A 'quality show' is something we anticipate before and savor after. It focuses more on relationships than situations; it explores character, it enlightens, challenges, involves and confronts the viewer; it provokes thought and is remembered tomorrow. A quality show colors life in shades of grey." For the group-supported comedy shows such as Frank's Place, Designing Women, or Brooklyn Bridge, and dramas such as ER, Murder One or NYPD Blue, the group's annual rankings were monitored by broadcast industry executives, as the rankings showed the preferences of the so-called "high demographic" programming that appeals to university-educated, higher-income television viewers, a niche audience that is sought out by advertisers. As television shows become increasingly as popular as DVD rentals and purchases, media industries have been attempting to increase the "rewatchability" of programs. If a television program has a simple plot that can be understood in a single viewing, viewers will be less likely to want to purchase a DVD recording of this television show. However, if a show provides a