Itās remarkable, the variety of great TV shows weāve gotten to watch over the last ten years. From The Wire to Friday Night Lights to Deadwood to The Sopranos, Iāve found that Iāve grown far more invested and interested in television stories than I am in movies.
Itās not much of a stretch to say that the last decade or so has been a bona fide television revolution. And one guy has been in the thick of it the entire time: Television critic Alan Sepinwall.
Iāve been reading Sepinwallās blog, āWhatās Alan Watching?ā for years, from back when he was still at New Jerseyās Star-Ledger and writing in his free time at a regular olā Blogger blog. Nowadays heās full-time at HitFix, and is a recommended first-stop the morning after each of the shows heās covering airs.
Heās been covering TVs mega-shows for years now; his takes on Lost, Friday Night Lights, and The Sopranos were constant companions while those shows were on the air, and his analyses of The Wire are peerless. Heās a consistent, thoughtful critic who regularly surprises me with his insights, and even when I donāt agree with him, I find value in his writing.
So it makes sense that his new book, The Revolution Was Televised: The Cops, Crooks, Slingers and Slayers Who Changed TV Drama Forever would be good. And it is. Iāve been reading it over the past week, and itās like reading a polished, comprehensive version of his blog. (I mean that in the best possible way.)
Sepinwall puts forth the argument that, more or less starting in the late 90s, television has grown dramatically more sophisticated. Each chapter of the book focuses on a different show that bears that theory out, from Oz to Buffy the Vampire Slayer. In addition to recapping the full run of each series, he speaks with the writers and showrunners that made it all happen. The book is overflowing with behind-the-scenes wisdom, unlikely origin stories and fun bits of trivia. It also accomplished the unlikely feat of making me want to finally watch Oz, the only show in the book that I havenāt seen.
As a side note, I personally enjoy an anecdote Sepinwall shares in the bookās foreward, where he talks about how people react to his job differently now than they would when he first started out. āIām a television critic,ā heād say, back when the best thing on was ER or NYPD Blue. People would respond with mild bemusement, or mention how easy his job must be. Now, years later, they react differently: They take him aside and ask him about Friday Night Lights, or want to talk to him about The Wire
I feel similarly at parties when I tell people I write about video games for a living. Even a few years ago, Iād get a smile and a crack about how easy my job must be. But nowadays, itās just as likely that people perk up and start asking questions about games theyāve played, or think are interesting. We can only hope that video games are starting to hit the same sort of cultural turning-point TV did in the early 2000s, and that in ten yearsā time weāll be talking about where we were when our own revolution started. Given some of the stuff weāve seen in the last couple years, it wouldnāt surprise me.
Anyhow, itās a good book. Fun to read, and a good last-minute Christmas gift, if youāre in the market.
Hope everyoneās set to have a fun holiday. Feel free to discuss anything you like, here or over in the Talk Amongst Yourselves forum. Have good chatting, and a good weekend.
