I love television. I love dramatic, funny, well thought out, well acted television. Everybody else who writes about TV will tell you the exact same thing. They love watching it, they love reading about it, they love writing about it. But I figured that if I'm going to be cultivating an audience, I should probably explain where I'm coming from, what television I love and why. Maybe it's just another excuse to talk more about what I love and why.
I grew up watching soap operas, cartoons, and horrible sitcoms. Well, and Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers Neighborhood, but that was before I really had a discerning palate or any control over what I watched. But when I old enough to be cognizant, discerning viewer, I went to stuff like Saved By The Bell, California Dreams, Full House, Just The Ten Of Us, and Perfect Strangers. My mother watched all of the ABC soaps, and as I got older, it was only a matter of time before I was watching All My Children, One Life To Live, and General Hospital. I got OBSESSED, and I'm still not sure why, to this day. I suppose I've always had an obsessive personality, when I get into something I get *really* into it. But before long I had my mother subscribing to Soap Opera Digest and I was trolling this new thing called the World Wide Web to get all the information I possibly could.
Then came Buffy The Vampire Slayer. I still remember the first episode I saw, the first time it aired: episode 3 of season 1, called "The Witch". I know I loved it, but I was 14 and in full hormonal swing, with ADD to boot, so I think I forgot it was on for a while, though I'm sure I watched a few more episodes. Then I started seeing promos for this big event the show was doing. Something big was going to go down, it was a giant two night event. The two episodes they were going to show? "Surprise" and "Innocence". If you're a Buffy fan, you understand. Life-changing. They did WHAT?! Angel lost his SOUL?! He's one of the good guys! You can't do that! I don't think I ever missed another episode. Not willingly, at any rate. There was that awful period after Buffy moved to UPN, and my local small town Colorado cable company didn't carry UPN so I had to ask my then-fiance's mother to videotape it for me. But the fact remains, I was hooked. I didn't get into Angel right away, that came later, once Buffy ended and I found out that James Marsters, who played Spike, was moving over there. I had never liked the character of Angel, so I never got into the show. I regret that now, because for so many reasons I like it better than Buffy. I also watched Firefly, thanks to the urging of a good friend, and of course that was amazing, and over far, far too soon.
Anyway, that incredibly long winded paragraph is there to explain my entrance into dramatic television. Joss Whedon and his stable of incredible talent opened up a world for me I never even knew existed. Once Angel ended, I needed something to fill that void.
That's where LOST came in.
I never watched The X-Files, or Twin Peaks, or any of the other myriad television shows LOST was compared to (positively and negatively) during its' run. The only thing I had to compare it to was itself. And it was glorious. The character work, the mysteries, all of it. I fell in love hard, and only briefly fell out of love during the meandering of the middle of the third season. I joined fan communities, went to a posting board party, and I discovered online criticism. People were writing about the shows they watched! Professionals even! I've been obsessed ever since, with the very idea. Alan Sepinwall, Todd VanDerWerff, Maureen Ryan, Alyssa Rosenberg, Matt Zoller Seitz, and Myles McNutt are only a few of the people who gave me the inspiration to do this. They're all great writers, and if you have some time, you should check them all out.
So once LOST was reaching its inevitable, glorious end (yes, I loved the ending, and YES, I will fight you about it, come at me bro) I realized I'd have to start watching some new shows. I watched Heroes when it was on the air, but the less said about that, the better, unfortunately, unless you really want to see me get into mean critic mode. So the shows that I've watched since then (and there are a few in this list that I gave up on and am no longer watching) are:
And I feel like that list is incomplete. I'm sure there are other shows I've watched. But there are big gaps in my televisual education, shows that I have every intention of watching, and will watch, thanks to Netflix. That's part of what I want to use this blog for, to enable my cultural catch-up, do rewatches like the Dollhouse one currently ongoing, and also to comment on the shows that are currently airing that I will be watching.
But this is where my commenters (and I hope I will have commenters, it's no fun talking to yourself on the internet) come in: what shows do you *most* want to see me cover? What shows do you *not* see on this list that you think I need to watch? I can't wait to see what you have to say, and I can't wait to see what shape the blog takes going forward.
Like Christian Shepherd said on LOST, in those poignant closing minutes: no-one does it alone. I'm extremely passionate about television, and about watching television, but I want audience participation. So hit the comments, and lets do this thing.
So once LOST was reaching its inevitable, glorious end (yes, I loved the ending, and YES, I will fight you about it, come at me bro) I realized I'd have to start watching some new shows. I watched Heroes when it was on the air, but the less said about that, the better, unfortunately, unless you really want to see me get into mean critic mode. So the shows that I've watched since then (and there are a few in this list that I gave up on and am no longer watching) are:
- Dexter
- House
- Dollhouse
- Breaking Bad
- The Wire
- True Blood
- Glee
- Modern Family
- Weeds
- White Collar
- Chuck
- Game of Thrones
- Sons of Anarchy
- Terriers (oh, I still weep, bitter bitter bitter tears. Heartbreaking loss)
- Once Upon A Time
- Homeland
- Revenge
- Parks And Recreation
And I feel like that list is incomplete. I'm sure there are other shows I've watched. But there are big gaps in my televisual education, shows that I have every intention of watching, and will watch, thanks to Netflix. That's part of what I want to use this blog for, to enable my cultural catch-up, do rewatches like the Dollhouse one currently ongoing, and also to comment on the shows that are currently airing that I will be watching.
But this is where my commenters (and I hope I will have commenters, it's no fun talking to yourself on the internet) come in: what shows do you *most* want to see me cover? What shows do you *not* see on this list that you think I need to watch? I can't wait to see what you have to say, and I can't wait to see what shape the blog takes going forward.
Like Christian Shepherd said on LOST, in those poignant closing minutes: no-one does it alone. I'm extremely passionate about television, and about watching television, but I want audience participation. So hit the comments, and lets do this thing.
No comments:
Post a Comment