Coming up next on This Was Television
Hi, everyone!
As This Was Television moves into its second month of existence, we wanted to take a moment to thank you all for reading. We’ve garnered more than 9,500 views since our launch announcement (a modest number, but we’re very happy with it), and we’re hoping to build on those numbers with more content, both episodic reviews and recurring columns.
To do this, we put out a call for interested contributors to pitch us ideas (or just themselves) for content to bolster our site. We received a wide range of responses. We’re thrilled that so many folks are willing to write about television’s past with us, and with such different ideas about how to do that. The four founders exchanged lots of emails (as we often do) and settled on asking a number of people to join us in the project.
We ended up selecting mostly non-episodic review pitches in this first wave of new contributors, while still picking up some folks for weekly reviews of series. As Cory laid out when we started the site, we didn’t just want to be a site bursting with episodic reviews, and we think the new roster of contributors reflects that desire. That being said, we’re certainly happy with the new series that will start receiving coverage as well.
So below you’ll find the schedule of our forthcoming content, and content that is already running. Again, we’re very excited about the new voices on This Was Television, and we hope you’ll enjoy them as well.
Mondays
Cory will continue his Hill Street Blues season 2 coverage until Aug. 13. After that, he’ll turn his attention to another NBC cop drama, the 1980s New Wave-inspired police procedural Miami Vice. Reviews covering the show’s first season, two episodes at a time, will begin on Aug. 20.
On the second Monday of each month, there will be a new column from Brian Faucette on representations of masculinity through television’s history starting on Aug. 13.
On the third Monday of each month, Cory will explore the world of televised sports. This feature begins on Sept. 17.
Tuesdays
Andy and Noel continue visiting with the Hall of Justice with the Super Friends every other Tuesday until Aug. 21. From there, the two will part ways, and Noel’s coverage of the anime Oniisama e… will become a weekly presence on the site.
Kevin McFarland joins This Was Television with monthly considerations of kid-targeted programming every third Tuesday, starting on Aug. 21. And, of course, Jaime Weinman’s look at 1970s sitcom flops will continue to appear on the last Tuesday of every month.
Wednesdays
Les’s British TV invasion will continue to make inroads,as his coverage of both Prime Suspect marches on and his coverage of Fawlty Towers begins on August 1. But so we’re not accused of being pure Anglophiles on Wednesdays, Eric Thurm will begin a look at the evolution of televised U.S. presidential debates every other Wednesday starting on Aug. 8. (If only Les has decided to do Yes, Minister instead of Fawlty Towers!)
We have three monthly columnists on Wednesdays. First up will be Kerensa Cadenas taking a look at teen series through a feminist lens on every third Wednesday, starting on Aug. 15. On every fourth Wednesday, starting on Aug. 29, J. Walker will take a look at series that have lost their driving creative voices. And starting on Sept. 12, Anthony Strand will take the second Wednesday of each month to look at scheduling practices and programming blocks.
Thursdays
Our TV Roundtable with Cory, Les, Andy, and Noel will continue to convene on Thursdays, and they’ll next discuss the British comedy Blackadder. More episodic reviews arrive on Thursdays as Jessica Ritchey heads to the tunnels of New York City with CBS’s classic Beauty and the Beast starting on Aug. 2. On Aug. 9, Cameron White begins his coverage of our first cable series with the Disney’s Channel’s So Weird. Thursdays will also feature a new TV team-up discussion as Emma Fraser and Julie Hammerle join forces to discuss My So-Called Life every second and fourth Thursday starting on Aug. 16.
But that’s not all! Our Thursdays are pretty super-sized because we offer also offer two monthly columns as well! First is Sabienna Bowman discussing iconic female TV characters and stars every second Thursday of the month starting on Aug. 9. And then on the third Thursday of each month, Whitney McIntosh discusses the intersection of technology and game shows starting on Aug. 16.
Fridays
The TV Book Club will keep chugging along as Cory, Les, Andy, and Noel continue to read books about television so you can just keep watching television. While he’s already started, we couldn’t not announce Greg Boyd’s ongoing episodic coverage of The Dick Van Dyke Show.
Also on Fridays: Cory will turn the spotlight on behind-the-scenes folks—directors, writers, producers, etc.—who have had an influential impact on television throughout time. This feature will recur occasionally, beginning sometime in August.
And just because it’s the end of the week doesn’t mean we don’t have a monthly column for you! Every third Friday of the month will feature Erin Canty discussing black TV in the 1960s and 1970s. That column will start on Aug. 17.
Miscellaneous
Inspired by Cory’s piece from earlier in July, certain members of the TWTV team are hatching their own little Hall of Fame. Specifics are still being hashed out, but expect the HoF feature to debut at the beginning of September and recur once each month.
In all, This Was Television now features 19 writers discussing TV from a variety of perspectives and looking at a variety of programming. You can follow all our new writers on Twitter thanks to the newly formed Contributors list. (We’ve also joined Facebook!)
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[…] Footage of the Apollo 11 moon landing, a splashy colorful logo, and a video by The Buggles announced MTV’s entrance to the cable TV universe. Music Television quickly became a key driver of cable’s growing ubiquity, as well as a one of the biggest influences on the pop culture aesthetic of the 1980s (as Cory Barker will discover when he begins covering Miami Vice for This Was Television later this month). […]