Many reviewers rightfully excoriated the new ABC sit-com Work It. For example, there’s Alan Sepinwall, James Poniewozik, Maureen Ryan, Todd VanDerWerff, and Alyssa Rosenberg, to name a few. Most of the focus was on how the show views women (insultingly), and I didn’t see much about the racism of the pilot (lead character Angel Ortiz [...]
On TV Show Mythologies
A recent discussion on Twitter about television shows with “mythologies” raised the question of the origin and meaning of this term. I thought I’d take a shot. The term “mythology” seems to have sprung up in the mid Nineties and is only used in reference to television shows. We generally don’t speak of movies or [...]
“Don’t it always seem to go…”
From a young age, I have been a consumer of old pop culture. As a kid, I loved reading Walter R. Brooks’ Freddy the Pig series (This blog post covers other old works of fiction I enjoyed). Thanks to Dr. Demento’s radio show, I knew about Spike Jones and Noel Coward. As a voracious fan [...]
More on pacing in storytelling…
I wanted to cite two blog posts here, since they connect to my continuing obsession with “sequential narrative,” the telling of long stories. From Kathryn VanArendonk, here are some thoughts on realism in TV narratives. She argues that the Uncanny Valley effect – a phenomenon in which computer rendering of humans hits a gap the [...]
“Are end dates actually good for TV shows?”
EW‘s Darren Franich asks the big question, “Are end dates actually good for TV shows?” Since I have been obsessed with sequential narrative, like that seen in TV series, I have a keen interest in this question. I think Franich is wrong, at least for the reasons he states. His argument against setting a scheduled [...]
“Nothing but blue skies, do I see…”
The USA Network has slowly built up a reliable stable of original programming and in the process has developed an identifiable formula. This year’s summer lineup is probably the biggest it’s ever been, with new scripted dramas on four nights of the week. As the headline for this David Hiltbrand story notes: “With seven popular [...]
The Juggling of Characters and Storylines
I’ve been writing about sequential narrative for some time, since I’m fascinated by the difficulties of telling stories that slowly unspool over time. The Onion A.V. Club has a new interview with the great character actor Stephen Tobolowsky, in which he talks about some of his experiences of working in television. He perfectly describes the [...]
The changing nature of fandom
Here’s another piece of my discussion with AOL TV’s Maureen Ryan (See the previous video here). In this video, we talk about how fandom has changed, particularly in today’s social media environment. Fans can be more visible and louder than they’ve ever been before. As Ryan points out, there’s now an attitude of “Because my [...]
Stories that move with purpose
Since 2008, I have been a little obsessed with the topic of sequential narrative, the notion of telling big stories over a long period of time (e.g., see here, here and here). Any TV show that continues for some time needs to tell stories (and it’s nice when those stories add up to something). But [...]
The Impact of Twitter: Too soon to tell
While in Chicago, I got to talk with Maureen Ryan, of AOL TV. We discussed a few things, but in the clip here, we talked about a subject that interested me: How has social media, especially Twitter, influenced those who write about television on a regular basis? A lot of the key reporters and critics [...]