Saturday, July 08, 2006

TV, Writers, And Fans

You may recall my rant about an otherwise solid NYT article about music, bands and TV shows that was marred by it's inaccuracies about TV.

It's only fair to point out a great article in this Saturday's New York Times: TV Is Now Interactive, Minus Images, On The Web by Maria Aspan. Aspan writes about how the Internet has created an environment where TV producers and writers can get direct feedback by reading various websites (such as Televisionwithoutpity) and blogs, how sometimes the TV people use that forum to answer the fans, and how that can influence the TV show.

Why I love this article, compared to the music one: Aspan is accurate in what she reports. Case in point: Aspan does not act is if this fan/writer interaction began with the recent Rescue Me incident. In just a few words, she acknowledges that interaction has happened before, without losing the significance of the current debate: "Mr. Tolan is not the first writer to defend his choices online ... [b]ut his attempt to reach out to his show's viewers reflects a growing awareness among television writers of their shows' online communities."

1 comment:

Martha Brockenbrough said...

I just read your rant. The Bosom Buddies theme song (from the 1980 sitcom) was a Billy Joel tune that is now stuck in my head.