TV Reviews? Eventually.
Rick Retro’s Realm, Behind the Scenes #12: Tuning in on TV has been requested and is in the plans!
Yesterday I described two types of projects I will undertake, designed to delight you by bringing you a bounty of Rick Retro’s Reviews. Overviews will highlight noted works in a particular category. Surveys will try to check in on every work related in some specific way.
A third type of review project is the TV series. Having received a request to start reviewing TV series and fully intending to from the start, let me share my plans along those lines.
I’ve already amassed a large collection of episode grades from 25+ years of grading episodes in television series. I’ve been behind in aggregating the data, but I can probably catch up with a little work.
None of these episodes have arrows after the letter grade I gave them. I didn’t rate their entertainment quality, tally the Dark Whimsy score, make note of objectionable content or opine on their world view, although all of that most likely influenced the grades I gave.
In other words, the data I kept falls far short of my current review standards. It’s not worthless though. It can still help you become aware of good stuff and rule out the bad stuff.
Once I'm ready, I will come up with a format for Rick Retro’s Recaps. They will look a lot like normal reviews, minus the ratings I didn’t keep, and without the commentary. Well, OK, I’ll make a few comments, because that’s more fun! (Genre emojis will be included! Note to self: add 🛋️ for sitcom.) I will have a separate Retro Recap for each season of a TV series that will include a list of episodes and their grades. Then a Retro Recap of the entire series and/or mega-series (definition tomorrow) will follow, which lists the seasons for comparison sake.
I will be able to produce a lot of Retro Recaps in a short time, once I’ve started with them, so I will keep a stock on hand for when I don’t have a fresh daily review to post.
Over time, I do plan to go back and give my full review treatment to many of these series, especially my favorites or those requested by readers. That is a slow process. I can watch and review one movie, sometimes two, in a day. If I’m watching a TV series for the first time, I only watch one episode a day, so a review of a whole season might take two to three weeks. If I’ve seen it and graded it before, like those I will recap, I might binge watch and get that down to a few days.
When I do the full reviews of a series, I will first post the review of season one. Then I will post reviews of season one episodes graded A+, D-, or F. Maybe one or two other episodes if there’s good reason to single them out. Season two will follow, with its episodes, and finally the entire series will earn a full review.
Thanks for your support.
Keep the comments coming!
Originally posted to text group 2025-01-05
Last updated 2025-02-03