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Leaving this up an extra day -- part of the celebration!)
November 5 marked the first anniversary of this TV WORTH WATCHING website. I would have mentioned it then, but there was this pesky presidential election thing to write about instead...
Not that I should be surprised that breaking news would trump things here. The very day I launched this website, on Nov. 5, 2007, the Writers' Guild went on strike... making it much more challenging, for the next year of reduced production and offerings, to find TV worth watching. But the presidential campaign already was underway, so that was something.
And so, when the stroke of midnight approached and President-Elect Barack Obama was giving his acceptance speech on live TV, I was hardly surprised that breaking news, and real-life events, would take precedence.
But today, with everyone nationally taking a communal breath, I feel justified in taking the time, and space, to mark this site's 1st anniversary. From this side of the computer screen, it's been a hell of a ride.
I began contemplating the idea of a website devoted to quality TV in July 2007. A month or so after that, I sent my first ridiculously amateurish mock-up to Eric Gould, a great friend who's also a great architect and artist -- and who patiently and brilliantly turned my stick-figure drawings and tacky visual aids into the pages you see today, and have seen for a year.
For old times' sake, and for a good laugh, I'm reproducing here the first page mockup I sent poor Eric then, for what was supposed to be the main page. Have pity on him.
The website -- designing, programming and maintaining it -- was infinitely more difficult than I could have imagined, or I never would have attempted it. Eric provided the first element, and website programmer Chris Spurgeon, another great friend, provided the second, and, at first, the third. Then Rich Baniewicz took over the programming part.
Diane Werts joined as a fellow columnist about halfway through the year, and has done a marvelous job. She's also done something really special: click on the "Holiday Gift Guide" just above the BEST BETS, and you'll be taken to a terrific list of gift recommendations. Other special links and offerings by Diane, including a compendium of holiday specials on DVD and an absurdly complete list of holiday-themed TV specials and where to find them, are imminent. And there's her book, too, which makes a perfect holiday gift -- and can be ordered by clicking on its icon at right.
Diane and Bill Brioux, another contributing TV critic, added their voices to the site's special fall preview package this season, which I hope you found helpful, as well as fun to read. And along the way, during this first year of TV WORTH WATCHING, I've been proud to present such things as coverage of the strike, news of the renewal of Friday Night Lights, and my account of the bold NAB address by Tim Robbins.
All that, and a year's worth of BEST BETS without missing a day, and weekday blogs with almost the same consistency. Fair warning: for the rest of November, I'll be taking occasional days off, as I work to complete my book on the Smothers Brothers, which is due Nov. 30. Wish me luck.
Truth be told, though, I feel pretty lucky already. I'm proud of TV WORTH WATCHING, and hope to open it up to more TV critics in 2009. And I'm really, really happy you're here for the ride. Please keep visiting... and spread the word. The first anniversary gift, after all, is paper -- and I'm not working for one of those any more.