My Critic of Choice

For the assignment I'll be focusing on imitating the writing style of Linda Stasi, an author and critic for the New York Post. She has written a number of reviews on various television shows, one of which being the show I have chosen to review: Teen Wolf.

Here are a few links to two of her reviews of shows I have watched:
Teen Wolf pilot review
Heroes of Cosplay review

One of the things I've noticed about her writing style is that it is very informal. She does not use language that is confusing or hard to follow. The format of her writing often includes a clever title with an attention-grabbing one-liner beginning the review, then going into the full review and stating her opinion as well as making references to television/novels/films/etc. that are of similarity to what she is reviewing. She also offers some factual statements (such as information about the actors, descriptions of pieces of the episode(s), etc.) as well as her personal opinions about the show/episode itself.

I like her writing style because it is easy to read, flows smoothly, and does not attempt to sound pretentious like many other critical writings. Stasi focuses on grabbing the reader's attention and holding it which is something I think she does successfully.

Ugly Betty Through Someone Else's Eyes Watching Someone Else's Show

I'm considering Heather Havrilesky.
She's quippily illustrative. Though she has a tendency toward tangential verbosity, that works for me -- might just keep my own writing in check:
on 50 Shades of Grey
on Glee
on Friday Night Lights vs. Glee

And then there's Matt Zoller Seitz at salon.com

"How Fox TV brainwashed my Dad!"

An interesting personal account on salon.com...

Some sample television reviews to perhaps inspire you...

I have collected a few links from various critics who write about TV. Maybe these will inspire you or lead you to find some other useful sources...

First, Stephanie Zacharek. Former film critic for Salon.com, she also wrote about television a faire amount, especially Buffy the Vampire Slayer (maybe no other Salon critics wanted to write about it? or did she win the coin toss?). Here is her review of Me Without You, with the description of the torn dress...

Joyce Millman was Salon's first TV critic, and has also written for The Boston Phoenix. Her "Blue Glow awards" are always a good read.

The blogs at Television without Pity have a few good reviewers; amateurs, mainly, but this need not preclude good, insightful writing.

Many big city, mainstream newspapers like The L. A. Times have top-notch reviewers. Likewise the Chicago Tribune; here is their review of American Horror Story: COVEN.

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.

Politics and TV

We've watched a fair bit of footage of important political milestones and styles of coverage of political news. Here is the place to share your thoughts, comments, and additional links of material you may fine relevant or pertinent to the discussion.

Tuesday's Class

Just a quick post about the last class on Tuesday. I had a quite a negative reaction to the Kennedy Zapruder slow motion film we watched in class. I understand the importance to view it and I understand it's relation to our class and why we viewed it, but I would have rather been known it was going to be that graphic since we watched it in slow motion. Maybe I was simply naive and now being a big baby, but it bothered me seeing someone's head get blown off and their brains hanging out. I didn't know that he was shot in such a gruesome manner, well, that it was that graphic at least. Even at 21, I am sensitive to stuff like that especially because it is real and not CG. I had to watch the film Night and Fog in two classes in my college career and both times the professor warned us that it might be graphic and upsetting to some. Maybe note a disclaimer that the video will be graphic and upsetting would have helped. Even hours, days, after the class, it is still in my head. I'm curious if anyone else had a reaction like I did or if I'm just being a bit of a baby?
It reminded of the video I watched of Budd Dwyer shooting himself in the mouth in front of 5 television cameras. That video is available online to watch (not that I recommend it) but it was another video that stuck in my mind for a long time. So does anyone feel the same as I do?