No, you’re not seeing things. Well, actually, you are. This is still TV WORTH WATCHING – but we’ve finally delivered on our promise for another relaunch. We’ve retained our old features, and added some cool new ones…
Some of it should be obvious. BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS are still front and center. We have a carousel at the top of the page now, delivering five stories in the space of one. And another five dispatches from TVWW contributors on the right column, right below our live Twitter feed.
Familiar features, from NEW THIS WEEK to TV WORTH BUYING, are back, joined by such new ones as THIS DAY IN TV HISTORY and TVWW SEAL OF APPROVAL.
In the coming weeks, we’ll introduce them all, and some new correspondents as well, all with the goal of serving you, and covering television, better.
Oh, and faithful readers should be especially happy about three new interactive developments. One, we’ve changed to a new, friendlier system for posting comments to blogs. Two, we’ve added, as promised, a place to comment on each day’s BEST BETS. And three, we’ve already begun soliciting and publishing reader reviews of specific shows – ones where they have specific expertise – in a new feature called EVERYBODY’S A CRITIC (at right).
All that, and a big commitment to social media – we’re even on Pinterest, if you’re Pinterested – and, as we like to say around here, but wait, there’s more.
For now, though, poke around and give the relaunched site a quick test drive. We’re glad you’re here. But it’s more than that: If you weren’t here, we wouldn’t be, either.
When TV WORTH WATCHING was launched in November 2007, my introductory BIANCULLI’S BLOG included the following paragraph:
“Theodore Sturgeon once posited what he called Sturgeon’s Law, which says that ‘90 percent of everything is crap.’ (In some citations, the wording is even stronger.) Certainly, that's true of television – but that remaining 10 percent still leaves a lot of room for enjoyment, education and inspiration. That’s the focus of this website: Instead of TV’s 90 percent problem, we’ll be devoting our attentions and energies to the 10 percent solution.”
That mission statement still holds true. It’s just that I have a lot more friends and colleagues in my foxhole, fighting the good fight. Each iteration of the website has swelled our ranks, which has been just swell. And I want to thank every writer, engineer, designer and editor, past and present, who has journeyed with me on this long and winding road.
When TVWW 1.0 launched, the same day as the 2007 TV writers’ strike, it was largely because of efforts by Eric Gould, who has designed every version of this website, and Chris Spurgeon, the web engineer who turned our ideas into actual web pages. Then writers began to come aboard for the ride, first as guest columnists – then, starting with Diane Werts, as fellow columnists.
When TVWW 2.0 launched in July 2010, our behind-the-scenes web engineer was Rich Baniewicz, and we’d expanded to a small stable of writers, with Diane as managing editor and overseeing DVD recommendations and other special features. More thanks, all around.
And for TVWW 3.0, effective today, behind-the-scenes special thanks go to Eric not only for the design, but for taking an active role to shape and amass what we feel is a major step in our ongoing evolution. And for Christy Slewinski, my former colleague and boss at the New York Daily News, who is taking on twin tasks: assignment editor to oversee the flow and content of all our content, and, continuing a job she’s done superbly for months, overseeing our social media presence.
Throughout, we have our writers – and on a site where content is king and perspective matters, I’ll put this crowd up against any roster, anywhere, of websites covering television, and be confident of our chances. And for 3.0, we’ve had an extraordinary draft, so there are new writers on the way.
As always during these launches and relaunches, though, the final round of thanks is saved for you. At TV WORTH WATCHING, I’m as proud of our readers as I am of our writers. Please take a moment to post a comment (it’s easier, I promise), and tell us what you think. Because what you think matters, and you’re why we’re growing the way we are.
Welcome to 3.0. Kick the tires. Drive it around the block.
And let’s all hope it doesn’t crash…