A surprising number of people I know seem to really like USA’s ‘Suits,’ the legal drama starring Gabriel Macht as an impeccably dressed, insanely egotistical lawyer and Patrick J. Adams as his genius associate. I came across so many Facebook status updates mentioning the show that I decided to see what the fuss was about and watched the first season this weekend, although I already had a pretty good idea of what the show was before I even saw a minute of it. Continue Reading

The new Fall TV season isn’t quite back in full swing (the vast majority of new and returning shows premiere next week), which gives me some time to update anyone reading this on how the blog is going to be operating from now on:

My last review here was in May, around the time every show was going on hiatus. Since then, I’ve managed to catch up on a few recent shows that I let slip past me when they originally aired (Justified, Parks and Recreation, Cougar Town), as well as some older, acclaimed shows that I’d been meaning to get around to (Deadwood) or never thought to check out before (Gilmore Girls). And all those in addition to the various summer shows that have been airing at various times during the recent months. And instead of writing about any of them myself, I spent a lot of time reading about these shows on (among others) Alan Sepinwall’s old blog and on HitFix. He continues to impress me with his thoughtful and well written reviews (though he should proofread his entries more often), and as I’m reading and reading and reading, all I could think was, ‘There’s no way anything I write will be as insightful as what he or Poniewozik or Maureen Ryan write about.’ All of these people are professionals, and with good reason. They’ve got the skills (and the education, I’m assuming) and they know how to read a drama series or sitcom better than anyone. What more could I possibily contribute to the already bloated industry of TV criticism?

Now this isn’t a surrender. I’m not ending the blog. Truth be told, it’s been one of the most productive things I’ve done in years and I have no intention of letting that go. But I’m gonna stop trying to compete with the pros, and I’m definitely gonna stop comparing what I’m trying to do here with what they do. They’re next level, and this is just a hobby for me. I don’t need to take it so seriously. I’m gonna keep writing, and write about whatever I feel like about whatever show (or movie) I want because I want to have fun with this. There were times last season where I agonized over a review because I wanted it to sound smart or provide more insight or come in at a certain length, but I’m done with that. I’m just gonna let my thoughts come freely (without letting the blog descend into various lists of what I liked or didn’t like), and who knows, maybe through this more relaxed approach I’ll have something original to say. But the most important thing to me here is simply to stick with it, and become disciplined enough to keep the blog posts coming at a good clip and not take any extended breaks like I did before.

And with that, I’m going to go watch Ringer, Sarah Michelle Gellar’s return to television, and I’ll have a post on what I thought of it up later today.