If you follow me on Twitter, then you likely saw my news on Friday afternoon: my new role is that of TV Columnist for The Daily Beast.Longtime visitors to this site know that I've been writing features for The Daily Beast for well over a year now, but my relationship with Tina Brown's site has been on a freelance basis. Roughly a month ago, I entered into a new relationship with the news and entertainment site that solidifies my position there and shifts things into a far less transient arrangement. And while the paperwork has taken quite some time to finish, I can now officially announce my new gig.
So what does that mean for Televisionary? In terms of the big picture, absolutely nothing at the moment. I've been juggling this and my freelance pieces for well over a year now. In terms of the small picture, it might mean some changes in terms of content and what I choose to write about here.
Why am I telling you this? Because I don't want you think that I won't be writing in-depth advance reviews or select episodic reviews anymore. (I will be, I promise.) And I'll also be writing short-form breaking news here as well, when time permits. But I'm also curious to know what you want this site to be and what sort of content you think it should contain in order to balance the longer reported pieces, interviews, and critical essays that I'm doing for The Daily Beast.
I do want to know whether you like (and miss) recurring features like Channel Surfing, in which I recapped the morning's television-related news each day. (I read the trades so you didn't have to.) Or whether you use--or even realize that it's there--the TV listings on the right-hand side of the page.
What are your favorite elements of the site? And your least favorite? What do you want to see more of? Or less of? Head to the comments section or drop me an email and let me know your answers to the above. With additional commitments come some more deft juggling of available time, I want to be able to prioritize and see whether we agree about what's most valuable.
Thanks for reading the past four and a half years and here's to the next adventure, both here at Televisionary and at The Daily Beast.
Comments
I see the right hand column - that's a plus. So many sites don't adjust for small physical screens at low resolutions. Those ads on Twitter? I hardly ever see them.
I read the trades so you don't have to sounds good to me. Which reminds me that I never checked to see if Conan was promoting his new show on other TV shows... oops.
I have to add this. Sepinwall - I lived at his site. Now, between Weiner's moratorium on screeners, a difference of opinion on which Thursday night comedies to watch *first*, general behindness on HIMYM and such, and *many different problem with the interface at hitfix* - I don't read him nearly as much. I feel disloyal, but RSS links are fewer, subscription to comments does not exist (pulling you back in) and labels don't either (so you can search for old reviews by series) and the box into which you type comments only shows 3 lines at a time... well, it's just way harder to maintain the connection when the interface is working against you.
Hopefully you will not have these problem at TDB. I miss hanging out at WAW...
As a fellow writer, I'm always excited to see someone get a regular gig. I hope nothing but good things comes your way...and I look forward to reading your stuff at the Daily Beast and anywhere else.
Even though you're thankfully assiduous about avoiding spoilers, I don't often read the advance episode reviews. I do read episode reviews after I've viewed the ep though.
I also really like the reviews of new shows. They often help me decide what to (or not to) watch.
Congratulations! I enjoy reading all of your writing. I may not comment much but I do read all of it.
I plan on continuing.
Best of Luck!!!
I started reading because of your great recaps of Mad Men and True Blood. It was always nice to see what metaphors I missed or to clarify something I didn't quite understand. I like your recaps and I love the Channel Surfing news clips. Thanks so much!
I absolutely love the Channel Surfing posts, please keep them if time allows. They help me keep up to date on what's going on in TV land without having to wait until Thursday for EW to arrive.
The listing on the side is something that I don't read. I already know what you like and when "What's on/What I'm Watching" was daily post I use to skip over it.
I found you several years ago after searching for reporting on the upfronts. I thought your coverage was superior to the major news outlets so I kept reading. You do a great job and I'm glad the hard work here has brought you other employment.
I do love channel surfing.
And I really love post-show reviews. And reviews of new shows. I don't read advance reviews of episodes, cause I don't like to know too much.
You rock!
I very much enjoy reading your reviews of particular shows, so I hope you still find time to do that. I actually use your "what's on tonight" list all the time, and I pay attention to what you are going to be watching, even though I don't always watch it.
I also appreciate the "I read the trades so you don't have to" stuff. I don't read the trades, so having a synopsis is very nice.
Best of luck in your new work situation, and thanks for all the hard work you've done on this blog for so long.
Celia
I like
-the channel surfing articles.
-your reviews of new shows - they really help me to decide what to spend my time watching.
- your post-show reviews (when they are about a show that I am watching).
I don't ever read the what's on tonight or what Jace is watching.
I really have appreciated that you don't have tons of negative posters on this site. I hate reading comments full of hate and bile. Your readers have thoughtful comments which are interesting to read.
I always read the episode recaps of my favorite shows (Mad Men, Dr. Who, FNL, True Blood, Being Human). I often read Channel Surfing to see what's coming up in terms of new shows, especially for favorite actors and writers. I don't care so much about the inside industry stuff, but that's just me.
Looking forward to following the evolution!
One thing, though: not sure exactly what the Daily Beast's audience is, but I'm a big fan of your reviews of British television. So if there isn't space for that there, I'd love to see it over here.
Congrats!