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Dec. 4th, 2007 09:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dewingedFound here.
Question: Here we are, a few months into the new fall schedule, and the carping and bitching among viewers has reached epidemic levels. It's as if TV fans today derive more pleasure from gloating over a show's perceived failures (such as Grey's Anatomy's new direction, the murder plot on Friday Night Lights or Heroes' much-derided "sophomore slump") than appreciating the enjoyment it still brings us. In Heroes' case, I have never seen such piling on. By the fourth episode, Internet posters were lighting their torches and calling for blood. Even after Tim Kring's public apology to fans, in which he acknowledged his mistakes — and even after the last few much-improved episodes —some fans seem almost disappointed that he "got it" and continued to complain. As for Grey's Anatomy: I don't watch that show, but even I can see that the fan sniping this season is out of control. The bottom line is that TV is essentially free or cheap entertainment. When I find something I love (like Friday Night Lights, The Office or Heroes), I can overlook occasional lapses in storytelling because, hey, it's hard to do 22 perfect episodes a year. Do you think the current hypercritical fan climate will ever lighten up, or is it just something we have to accept about our anonymous Internet culture?— Warren
Matt Roush: Griping about TV is hardly new to the Internet culture, but the intensity and immediacy with which people feed their need to complain can be overwhelming and dispiriting to those who'd rather accentuate the positive and simply enjoy — or, as you rightly note, take the adult approach and ride along with the ups and downs that every TV show experiences without ruining the fun for others. I field lots of letters like this, and my usual response is to caution everyone to take these overheated rants with a grain of salt. If it gets in the way of your enjoyment, it's easy enough to ignore, right?
Amen.
Question: Here we are, a few months into the new fall schedule, and the carping and bitching among viewers has reached epidemic levels. It's as if TV fans today derive more pleasure from gloating over a show's perceived failures (such as Grey's Anatomy's new direction, the murder plot on Friday Night Lights or Heroes' much-derided "sophomore slump") than appreciating the enjoyment it still brings us. In Heroes' case, I have never seen such piling on. By the fourth episode, Internet posters were lighting their torches and calling for blood. Even after Tim Kring's public apology to fans, in which he acknowledged his mistakes — and even after the last few much-improved episodes —some fans seem almost disappointed that he "got it" and continued to complain. As for Grey's Anatomy: I don't watch that show, but even I can see that the fan sniping this season is out of control. The bottom line is that TV is essentially free or cheap entertainment. When I find something I love (like Friday Night Lights, The Office or Heroes), I can overlook occasional lapses in storytelling because, hey, it's hard to do 22 perfect episodes a year. Do you think the current hypercritical fan climate will ever lighten up, or is it just something we have to accept about our anonymous Internet culture?— Warren
Matt Roush: Griping about TV is hardly new to the Internet culture, but the intensity and immediacy with which people feed their need to complain can be overwhelming and dispiriting to those who'd rather accentuate the positive and simply enjoy — or, as you rightly note, take the adult approach and ride along with the ups and downs that every TV show experiences without ruining the fun for others. I field lots of letters like this, and my usual response is to caution everyone to take these overheated rants with a grain of salt. If it gets in the way of your enjoyment, it's easy enough to ignore, right?
Amen.
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Date: 2007-12-06 01:18 am (UTC)