Category: Opinion

Art In The Ordinary

Dunno about you, but this particular TVWriter™ minion is a sucker for the memories, anecdotes, and advice put out by just about any experienced writer of any medium. My interest increases considerably, however, when it’s from one of the all-time great TV writers.

One of those all time greats is Earl Pomerantz, “a regular person [who] thinks about things and then writes about them.” I was especially smitten by what he wrote last December:

by Earl Pomerantz

I just watched a terrific episode of Death Valley Days. read article

Diana Vacc sees ‘Emerald City’ (POV #1)

EDITOR’S NOTE: We didn’t mean to play “Dueling Emerald City”s, but as fate would have it, we find ourselves with two very different reviews of the same show to share. Which is cool because, seriously, what kind of world would it be if everybody always agreed?

Here’s #1:

by Diana Vaccarelli

On January 6, 2017 NBC introduced a new show called Emerald City. This series is a modern re-imagining of The Wizard of Oz. This time around Dorothy is a nurse in a nursing home and is in the wrong place at the wrong time. Dorothy is then swept into Oz in a police car during a tornado. read article

Peggy Bechko’s Approach to Making Your Fiction Writing Real

by Peggy Bechko

Suck ‘em in. Don’t let go of their eyeballs – whether they be script reader, editor or reader, that’s your goal as a writer. And I know you’ve all experienced it yourselves. That film that’s fantastic, the book that draws you in until you forget where you are. Some writers have a native ability to paint those characters and backgrounds in such a way that they feel real.

So how do they do that? How can the rest of us writers do the same?

One way is to add realism. read article

munchman: Better Days are Coming?

munchman’s TV Musings #11
by munchman

I was shocked – shocked, I say! – to look over TVWriter™’s Google Analytics this past weekend and discover that munchman’s TV Musings is far and away the least popular of all regular features on this site. Not just for this new year, oh no, but for all time. Even if you include my old Love & Money column, which held the title up till now.

So thank you, friends and neighbors, mates and exes, for you continued lack of support. I promise to continue bugging the shit out of you for many days, weeks, months, possibly even years to come! read article

Troy DeVolld: 2017 NEW YEAR’S SUGGESTIONS FOR REALITY TV

by  Troy DeVolld

Well, here we are, not so deep into 2017.  I’m wrapping up on season three of Vh1’s K Michelle:My Life and looking forward to some new shows and non-TV opportunities the year is already hinting at… including another book.

If you know me, you know what a fan of lists I am.  I keep a list of goals to be accomplished in one year, five, and ten, and I’m also a big fan of making resolutions.

While I’ll be keeping mine to myself, as I usually do, here are a few that reality television viewers and producers might want to consider if they haven’t already filled up on “stop eating donuts” and “spend more time with Mom.” read article