sarCCastro's Debut: Who am I? Why am I here?

A few years ago (actually, probably closer to a decade ago) "bloggers" came under fire for ruining film criticism. Filmmakers and "professional" critics alike whined about how anyone with any internet connection could put their two cents in about movies and there was nothing they could do about it. Cut to present day, where just about every news organization has a website with "bloggers" (now just known as "writers") reporting news, press releases, or just whatever they think about any given topic, all filtered through their own individual lens.

Now, why the hell am I bringing this up? Shouldn't I be introducing myself and talking about what TV shows I like, which ones I hate, and which onesOMFGG, YOU DON'T WATCH TVD!? Well, I would do all that, but by doing so, I might hurt a showrunner's feelings. (Hashtag, sad-face.)

About a week ago, David Simon, creator of the best show ever created (also, Treme) expressed his dismay in an interview about how his show is being misinterpreted by the people that watch and discuss the show. He also mentioned how he didn't care about the opinions of people who didn't watch the show when it first aired, and that people who rank one season above another or talk about how Omar is cool just don't get what the show was about.

Now, Simon did kinda/sorta take back some of those remarks in a follow-up interview with noted TV critic Alan Sepinwall. He clarified that he was mainly irked by a website running bracketed showdowns between characters from The Wire, which, in his opinion, gave a short-shrift to the important themes and issues he tried to get across in the show. He also said that, while he doesn't like the idea of individual episode reviews in general, he does concede that "it's better to have people talking about what you're doing than not." (Don't forget to watch Treme, y'all! You know...whenever HBO decides to air it again.)

Then, on Wednesday night and Thursday morning, Kurt Sutter (creator of Sons Of Anarchy) called Hitfix and The A.V. Club "hack [The Big C-word] blogsites...sycophants" that post stuff about him because "they know it'll get them more hits. more hits, more pennies they're[sic] ads pay." (I wonder if KURT SUTTER's show SONS OF ANARCHY is still on NETFLIX, which sponsors the Blogulator Radio podcast?)

Sutter made all these remarks on Twitter, which is basically a giant AOL chat-room with faster load-times and also insanity. Now, the whole celebrity and artist presence on Twitter is a whole other can of worms to be opened another time (be sure to check the pull date!). Wherever he said it, Sutter was basically responding to an article defending him and other showrunners, like The Killing's Veena Sud. Chances are pretty high, though, that Sutter only read the headline of the article (Sympathy for Kurt Sutter... ) since he doesn't really care much for the "VDclub" website.

Since I don't want to write more words about Kurt Sutter than I did about David Simon, I'll just see if I can arrive at a point of some kind.

I don't know what I'm doing here. (You know, just in case that line about maybe arriving at a point wasn't a tip-off.)

I love TV. I love watching TV shows, discussing them, thinking about them, anticipating them, laughing and crying with them. I also hate TV shows. I hate watching bad ones, I hate watching good ones turn bad, I hate not being able to stop watching the bad ones even though I know they're really bad and now I can't even stop writing this sentence about bad TV shows because now I'm picturing Mrs. Coach Taylor eating brains please send help!

My point (I found one!) is that I love sharing my opinions about TV shows and finding out what other people think about the same shows. I even love hearing people say that I'm totally wrong about a TV show because I may discover another layer to a show I already like. Or I'll just get to laugh because I may never change my opinions of certain shows (because, honestly, I'm never going to watch True Blood or The Killing ever again*). To me, that's what television is for.

While David Simon is right for wanting people to discuss the issues of our broken educational and political systems, that doesn't mean it's invalid for those same people to express fondness or hatred for one The Wire's richly-drawn characters. And Sutter may not want to hear someone say that the pacing for a given episode of Sons of Anarchy feels off compared to another, or that a character is acting unrealistically, but it's going to be said anyway. And if it's not said by someone on his staff, then maybe it should be brought to his attention by a TV critic or even someone that follows him on Twitter. All opinions should be heard and considered. It may be ludicrous to suggest that Modern Family reveal that all of the characters on the show are aliens, but that doesn't mean it shouldn't be considered for even a moment. (They could at least try it out for one episode and maybe even get John Lithgow to guest-star.)

So, to have the opportunity to discuss, critique, obsess over and throw out ridiculous ideas about TV shows here at The Blogulator is a true honor and I look forward to contributing to the rise (and/or downfall) of this website. Because, honestly, what every writer wants (even Kurt Sutter) is for people to devour their words, to validate their existence. And here, finally, my TV opinions are valid!

And, since I thought it actually would be a good idea to show you where I'm coming from, here are the shows I'm currently loving (besides what you see over on the side there), hating, or just not watching anymore. (Oh, and to avoid confusion, I don't mind if I'm referred to here as "Sarc." I'd probably prefer it, actually.)

Love:
Game of Thrones
The Good Wife
Justified
Parenthood
Louie
Misfits
Doctor Who
Treme
Archer
It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia
Eastbound & Down
Suburgatory
Happy Endings
Community
Parks & Recreation
Supernatural
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
The Colbert Report
The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson


Hate:
Most reality/reality-competition shows (besides The Amazing Race and Rupaul's Drag Race)
Any show with an acronym in the title (except for NTSF:SD:SUV)
Any medical drama (ER had enough of that to last me several lifetimes)
American Horror Story
Most CBS comedies
The Closer

Gave Up:
Glee
Boardwalk Empire
Dexter (I will not watch it when it returns*. Ohhhh, that damn show!)
2 Broke Girls
How I Met Your Mother
30 Rock
The Office
Smash


(* - I will totally watch anything if I'm paid to do so. Except, maybe The Human Centipede. Or NCIS.)

This entry was posted by Sarc, on Friday, April 13, 2012. You can leave your response.