Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Blog Assignment: Write in the style of your chosen TV critic


As we talked about yesterday, this assignment is in many ways more about the research than the writing. Try to figure out who this writer is and what their style is, based on some of the ideas discussed yesterday: perspective, vocabulary, rhythm, etc.

Some Guidelines:

1. Choose a TV show you watch now or have watched. Must be narrative (i.e. not news, sports or documentary; reality TV is okay)
2. Look around for some well-written criticism. It can be formal or informal, professional quality or more amateur. Snarky is fine!
3. Consider the publication and audience. Does the critic's style change from one venue (website or magazine) to another? In what ways?
4. You don't have to agree with what the critic says to f ind his or her style or viewpoint interesting.
5. It will be helpful to make a list of some words that describe the critic's style.


First step of the assignment:

Post to the blog in the next few days, 2 or 3 links to the critic's work and a few thoughts on why you like it or find it interesting.


Your assignment, a 300-500 word blog post in the style of the critic you choose, is due by Friday October 18th.

Please ask any questions here! I will continue to post links of TV critics here, and we will also continue to discuss the assignment on Friday in class.


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5 comments:

  1. UnknownOctober 10, 2013 at 8:35 AM

    http://www.betcheslovethis.com/tags/tag/tv

    I'm using this site and already cleared it with Aloi, but there's lots of other sites like these that review shows in a comedic manner. This site is raunchy, but so hilarious..

    ReplyDelete
  2. Peg AOctober 11, 2013 at 6:00 AM

    You can call me Peg.

    ReplyDelete
  3. UnknownOctober 13, 2013 at 3:05 PM

    http://www.tv.com/shows/supernatural/community/post/supernatural-i-think-im-gonna-like-it-here-review-season-9-episode-1-138120001300/

    There is nothing interesting about this review, but I liked it because I found the critique somewhat obnoxious. She's writes so much emotions about how she feels about how hot Sam is for example. And I find this funny to read.
    She writes a lot of other reviews about other TV shows and apparently she's not as emotional as she is when she talks about supernatural.
    Aside from her emotional breakdown over the boys in supernatural. She's pretty straightforward with her writing.
    If you look more into the website, you'll find other critiques and other news about upcoming TV show.

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousOctober 17, 2013 at 9:15 AM

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/06/supernatural-season-7_n_1140853.html

    ReplyDelete
  5. UnknownOctober 17, 2013 at 10:40 AM

    The television show I am writing a critique for is one of the most popular sitcoms to date, "Friends." I decided to mimic the style of Chris Suellentrop especially in this article that he wrote. http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/assessment/2004/05/friends.html . Because I completely disagree with almost everything he wrote in this critique of Friends, I think it would be a good experience to write in the same style as him but write exactly the opposite: about how Friends is one of the best sitcoms. I tend to mimic specific things he says about why Friends is not a good sitcom but then turn it around as to how this makes Friends a great sitcom in my opinion. Chris Suellentrop is the deputy editor for blogs at Yahoo News and a contributing writer for the New York Times Magazine. He has reviewed video games for Slate, Rolling Stone, and NewYorker.com.

    ReplyDelete

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