Movies are pretty easy to review if you think about it. You watch the whole thing, and then you write your thoughts, good and bad.
Television is very different. TV shows are long. You might think, "What's he talking about? A TV show is half an hour or an hour long." Sorry, my fine friends. Not the case. An EPISODE of television is half an hour or an hour long, but a show itself is not simply a single episode. It is every episode put together into one cohesive, hopefully, story. So, if you think about it that way, "Friends" is not a half hour sitcom. It's a comedic story culminating at well over NINETY hours. Ninety hours of story spanning ten years. "The West Wing" was not an hour drama. It was a ONE HUNDRED PLUS hour drama.
So, how do you review a TV show?
Whenever I read a review of a television show, I think it is painfully clear that the reviewer has only watched one episode. They usually watch one episode, usually the first, and then they review the ENTIRE show! They comment on the writing, the characters, the performances, the quality, everything that is and ever will be on a show based on seeing one episode.
Put simply, this is like reviewing a novel, or a series of novels, based on reading one chapter. Does that make any sense whatsoever? Of course not.
So, here's the deal. Most people want to read reviews of things that are coming up to decide whether or not they want to take the time and money to go see it. Television is similar in that people want to read a review early in the run to decide whether or not they want to join in. If you review a show towards the end of its run or after it's already gone off they air (which would be necessary for a complete review), then the need for a review is pretty much gone…they would also probably be very long.
In most cases I will try to watch the first episode, maybe more depending on the show, and then review JUST THOSE EPISODES. I will attempt to predict what the rest of the show will be like according to other facts (i.e. its timeslot, who is involved, what network it's on, etc.), but as far as reviewing the entire show, I will ONLY do that if I have seen the whole show. There are several cases in which I can do that and would be happy to, but, as I've said, they've already gone off the air. If a DVD set is coming out of a show I've already seen, I'll try to post a review. But in most cases I will only review cancelled or completed shows by request.
So, that's my caveat for television reviews. Hopefully, I made sense, and these will at least be of some use in your viewing choices.
Benjamin Blue
ben@culturehouse.com
