I don't know how else to begin, so I'll start off with a statement: I'm going to stop blogging regularly.
When I first blogging, I envisioned writing long recaps from the shows I watched, TWoP-style, with quips to go along with summaries. You can easily tell how sloppy the writing was and how I was trying to spit out words as fast as possible with some dumb jabs littered through the reviews.
But I had a mandate which, I think, has served me well: I'd only review shows I'd watched every episode of and I'd review every show I watched. While the second part of the mandate changed and I don't review everything I watch these days, the first has held true. The underlying principle is that I wanted to fully know about the show I was reviewing. So, yes, I've watched around 200 episodes of NCIS and hundreds, if not thousands, of episodes of the other procedurals I review. (Next time you find a typo, remember to blame the procedurals which rotted out my brain.)
Back to the story, after a few months of review, I realized I didn't have enough time for recaps and instead did more reviewing and less recapping. Good reviews should be about as long as good recaps, covering each part of the episode with some critical thought. Since my constraint was length, I was fine doing short reviews because the alternative would be short recaps. I got a much better understanding of television as I blogged, able to put a bunch of random thoughts into tangible words.
Flashforward to today. I don't have time to write reviews anymore. I'm having a hard time watching all the shows I've been watching let along write reviews. I haven't read the comments on this blog for a very long time (in part because I can imagine all the mean comments and spam) and I don't really check my email anymore either. As one can tell, the reviews for a number of months have been pretty poor, either too short or just plot summary. The time, effort, and concentration isn't there.
The television landscape is growing, with more basic cable and premium cable networks vying for a piece of the scripted show audience. If I could watch only 10 shows, review them, and be fine, that would be great. However, I don't want to half ass things. One can't critically say Breaking Bad is the best show on television when watching a couple shows regularly and random episodes here and there. There is a lot of comparison going on--albeit much of it subjective--and there must be established points of reference. I think it's a disservice when people review shows and make sweeping comments about them without knowing much of other shows. (I'd generally say this applies to Dexter fans, no offense.)
At the end of the day, I'd say I feel good about what I've done, if only for the sheer volume of reviews. According to the tags, I've written over 2000 reviews, which is pretty crazy. Yes, there are tons of misspellings, typos, omitted words, grammar errors, but I also think there are some good reviews somewhere in those 2000, however few there may be. I watch between 50 and 60 shows (which are still not canceled, though not necessarily airing right now), so I feel like I watched enough to give informed opinions.
If anyone is saddened for my departure, I'll probably be tweeting on Twitter more often, giving one or two line assessments for the shows I watch. (Recent sample: "See, Glee, this is why you don't have a string of bad episodes. This week's episode was very solid, but I said I'd stop reviewing Glee.") Those who still haven't hopped on the Twitter train should really consider it. It's less personal than Facebook and more oriented towards information, which, as they say, is power.
Have fun, everyone, and remember to watch as much television as you can!
