My media summer

I posted my first "TV Club Classic" Newsradio blog this morning, and the response is extremely gratifying. Writing for the TV Club is somewhat nervewracking. There's more exposure than for book reviews (which are the lowest-rated items on the site, probably). People have fierce opinions about television -- it's a true mass medium, and everybody's a critic. I feel a lot of pressure to say something interesting and something funny to kick off the conversation.

On the other hand, in some ways it doesn't matter what I write. A lot of commenters pay little or no attention to the actual post -- it just provides a space for them to write about what they want to write about. And that trend became clear in the TV Club very quickly, such that many of the more popular blogs (like Noel's massive Lost blog) became the centers of communities with their own energy, obsessions, and interrelationships. One can only be grateful that these people have chosen to gather with you, week after week, to do whatever it is they want to do.

On the Newsradio blog, people are gleefully posting their favorite lines and bits from the show and arguing about the merits of various episodes and characters ... all of which might be construed as getting ahead of ourselves, or stealing the thunder from future blog posts. But as much as I'd like to be the one to remind the group about that hilarious moment or hideous costume, I have to remember that I still have a privileged position, and when the time comes, it's what I choose to highlight that will carry the initial weight, at least.

For now it's just exciting that the first installment has gotten 200 comments in seven hours. Those are good numbers for a pilot, so to speak. Now my job is to carry the momentum forward -- and no matter who reads or who doesn't read or why they come, I still feel the responsibility of creating a place where they will continue to come.