"Virtual Reality is Real. It's on Fox. And it's a heck of a lot of fun to watch."
As a college student years ago, I transitioned from the busy city-state news desk at one of the nation's largest college newspapers to try my hand at being a television critic. I had written television columns before, but my first review was for a silly and yet strangely captivating, but ultimately short-lived Fox television program called "Vr.5." It was a show that I said was "surprisingly good" that had "moments of brilliance." The show, which was about a woman sucked into an alternate world through her computer's Internet connection, warned of a new advanced level of virtual reality involving telekinetic abilities, the manipulation of the real world, and shifts in time and space. It was science fiction, a few year's ahead of its time, and ultimately, it failed.
My editor didn't like my informal "And it's a heck of a lot of fun to watch" line and replaced it with a dismal "And it's a lot of fun to watch." And for some reason that seemingly-minor edit still nags at me to this day. Because it still sounds a lot better, and certainly a lot more like me, to have it printed in the original way. So I thought it was a natural way to start this blog.
Vr.5 didn't last long (only 10 episodes aired during its original run on Fox), but my love of writing about television blossomed. I continued to write news articles, but a television critic had been born. From that moment on, I enjoyed researching, calling the press representatives and acquiring the press kits, running the photos, screening the pilots, promoting the specials, writing TV columns and features, but mostly--composing new television reviews for programs. By my senior year, I became the editor of The Tube, the nation's only original TV section at a college newspaper. While most college newspapers didn't even have a TV guide, the Daily Illini at the University of Illinois ran a complete TV section each week with TV reporting from about a dozen contributors.
I loved nothing more than to write about all things drama--and found myself teaming up with the writer who was an expert at writing about all things comedy. Yet, when reading her work, she quickly became my favorite writer. When not reviewing shows in our respective areas, we spent enormous amounts of time talking about TV, arguing about TV, analyzing ratings, and predicting what would or wouldn't do well and how we could make each Network. We teamed up to go behind the scenes at the local 10:00 Newscast and to poll our readers about who their favorite shows and actors were for a reader's choice awards. And you can see where this is going: We fell in love with more than just television. She's still my favorite writer, and we're married now--still talking about dramas, comedies, and TV ratings...(among other things, of course!)
This Blog will have my take on television-- TV columns, TV reviews, and Tube Week, an opinion-based what-to-watch (with a misguided sense of humor, if you will). I may be a bit rusty. I've been writing for academic publishers this past summer, and that type of writing tends to suck all the fun out of stringing sentences together. It's been years since I've been privileged to actually write about television a few days a week. But it's about time. And it's going to be a heck of a lot of fun...
