For those of you who have asked us whether Bob has busted into the TV Squad offices and taken over the blog by force, I'm here to say that nothing of the sort has happened. First of all, we have no offices. And second of all, the short posts Bob has done this week are something new that we're trying out (as I've mentioned in the comment sections of many of his posts this week).Why are we doing this? Well, why not? There are plenty of occasions when a video or picture -- or even a show we don't cover -- deserves a post, but doesn't need a lot of commentary attached. So, what I've asked Bob to do (actually, it was his idea, and I just said "sure") is to post these things with a few sentences of comment, and then open it up to the readers. Some of the posts have gotten some nice discussion going, which is what we were going for.
But this does not mean that we're substituting these shorties for our normal posts. These are supposed to fill in the spaces between the normal posts we do. More info after the jump.
Earlier in the week, I was grouping the posts too close together, but that has been rectified; expect to see the shorties throughout the morning and afternoon hours. We're still working out some kinks as far as format and frequency are concerned, but hopefully we'll get that worked out in the next week or so.
Oh, a quick note on another change we made recently: We're putting videos on the front page. Most other blogs do it, and it seems like it's about time we enter the late '00s, as well. If it's really slowing down the site for most of you, though, let me know.
On that topic, I've gotten a lot of feedback asking why we use Hulu videos all the time, when they're not accessible outside the U.S. Well, it's pretty simple: AOL is a partner of Hulu. Yes, folks, it's a business decision. But, as people who can view the videos will tell you, Hulu has a good selection and a very nice video player.
However, I want our fans outside the U.S. to see the videos we post, too. So if you can come up with a good suggestion of where we can get legal internationally-accessible videos so we can provide an alternate link, please do so in the comments.
Also, I welcome some feedback on the short posts: whether you like them or not, what we can do to tweak the format, etc. Please drop those thoughts in the comments, as well.
Mike Henry and Daryl Hall on a Cleveland Show Thanksgiving
The TV Squad Podcast: The Prisoner, '80s TV, soap news and more
Let's talk about spoilers ...
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
4-23-2009 @ 12:11PM
D said...
As long as nobody is doing posts in their shorts I'm ok with it otherwise the geek quotient is a bit too high.
Especially if they are cartoon character or super hero shorts.
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4-23-2009 @ 12:20PM
Mark said...
I like short posts, I never read the long ones anyway.
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4-23-2009 @ 12:32PM
MJL said...
This has been the problem with TV Squad for a long time now - "borrowing" material from elsewhere on the internet and posting about it. And I'll be honest, usually they're Bob's posts. It's not so much that the subject is ripped off from somewhere else, it's that they tend to be the least interesting posts on the site. Does anyone care about a poor-quality YouTube video of the "Band From TV?" I certainly don't. TV Squad (and you, Joel) need to curb this type of blogging, and encourage fresh, original story ideas, such as Nick Zaino's story about the comic debuting on Letterman last week and interview with Eddie Brill. Bob's always posting about late-night/Letterman...where was he on that one? I've suggested this in the comments before: how about instead of devoting whole posts to these little tidbits, doing one large daily post rounding up a bunch of links or videos, like Awful Announcing does? Post on the big stories (Madden retiring, shows being canceled, etc.) with some sort of spin or opinion included, continue the show reviews, and focus on cultivating interesting stories like Nick's and landing big interviews. Please.
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4-23-2009 @ 12:57PM
Joel Keller said...
MJL, you've accused Bob of stealing material many times. What does he do that other blogs like Awful Announcing don't? Why is what they do OK, but what Bob do considered "stealing?" Did he owe you money or something?
4-23-2009 @ 1:14PM
MJL said...
Let me just try to convey the trend I see in Bob's posts. I'm sure this isn't the case, but it seems like he tends to go through a roll of several different blogs each morning, and look for stories or ideas that would work on TV Squad. By no means am I accusing him of stealing or plagiarism - but one thing Awful Announcing does that is much different is that he has his Tivo operating 24/7 so that he can find interesting, relevant videos that HE HIMSELF uploads. TV Squad leans more towards passive blogging, in that original stories (again, like Nick's) are very rare. That is what is so disappointing about this blog, and even more so about these new "short posts."
Look, I get that those types of posts are just part of a blog. TV Squad tends to overuse them, but that's just my opinion and it's my right to express that in the comments. But there has to be a way to make them relevant and concise, like the rundown of links that I suggested. Cyantre is right, "short posts" are more appropriate for a Twitter account, not for the homepage of the blog itself. And if from now on there's going to be ten posts a day from Bob, you'll at least lose this loyal reader, and I imagine many more.
4-23-2009 @ 2:17PM
Joel Keller said...
Believe me, if we had someone who was willing to cull through his/her TiVo and then edit together video clips, we'd do it. But it's something that's very time consuming, and very few people want to take that time.
4-23-2009 @ 12:34PM
Cyantre said...
Posting a few sentences and embedding a video hardly counts as journalism, hell it barely counts as a blog post. There isn't even enough of an article to allow the video to be posted after the break. Honestly I've seen Twitter posts with more content!
Whatever changes are being made, they're not improving the quality of the site at all. Do you get some sort-of commission from Hulu for embedding videos now? That would at least explain the saturation of them lately.
This site should go back to actually providing episode reviews and worthwhile information about television related news.
As for slow-down, yes all of these videos are slowing down the site. If people are interested in the article, they can read more after the jump to the view the video. Now if we don't care about the article, we're forced to wait for the embedded video to load just view the main page. Again, this is a concept Twitter has seemed to master and clearly TV Squad hasn't.
What's next? Flashing animated GIF files? Changing the entire sites font to Comic Sans MS?
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4-23-2009 @ 12:53PM
MJL said...
Totally agree...it's the beginning of the end.
4-23-2009 @ 1:31PM
Edward said...
I agree. The only thing I would keep is the open threads of shows you don't review. Maybe these open threads will make you reconsider not reviewing/following them.
4-23-2009 @ 1:47PM
puffin said...
Agreed, posting embedded video does not constitute news, and makes TVsquad appear lazy. I only come here for commentary and news about the television industry. I can get open user discussions and embedded videos else where.
4-23-2009 @ 2:18PM
Joel Keller said...
Comparing a blog to Twitter is like comparing voice mail to text messages. It's an apples-and-oranges comparison to me.
4-23-2009 @ 3:31PM
Cyantre said...
You don't see how these recent "mini-post" or whatever you call them resemble a Twitter post? Are you surfing the same internet everyone else is.
The actual article part of these post in most cases has been under 140 characters (much like Twitter). Some Twitter post link to an outside source, whether it be a more in-depth article, picture, or video.
All you are doing with these mini-post is creating, essentially a Twitter post, only you embed the video directly on your blog instead of linking to it, which again only those interested in the headline would actually click on.
As far as the whole "we at TV Squad" it only seems to be you and Bob. What about all the other bloggers that actually contribute to the site posting meaningful articles and episode reviews. Frankly, I think you're just making everyone else look bad, which is unfortunate.
One more thing "other blogs do it" is such a weak excuse. Other blogs aren't affiliated with Joystiq and Engadget, blogs that are certainly becoming more respectable, while TV Squad is getting weaker and weaker with each passing month.
This site use to give actual episode reviews and provide actual content. All you're doing now with these "mini-post" are watering down the real content that the site has been posting less and less of. What it boils down to is being lazy and unprofessional.
4-24-2009 @ 2:57PM
Mrpons said...
I'm from outside U.S. and it's very anoying wathcing Tvsquad with windows saying Oh sorry your are not allowed to see none of this. Very boring. This website is global not just for U.S. people. My vote My vote is to put the Fracking window "after the jump".
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4-23-2009 @ 1:05PM
Bryan McGuckin said...
I think the main problem for me, someone who rarely visits the main site and uses the RSS feed, is that there's no way to tell which posts are actual news and which are these filler posts.
Another concern is that you seem to be OK with the idea of filler posts. You can have short posts with a video clip but it should be amusing or have something to say. Posting a screencap and asking "what's the deal with this?", is kind of lazy. The post about Sylar and Micah from Heroes would have been the same if the headline was "Did anyone see Heroes last night?" and then the post was just "HUH?" in big block letters. There's a difference between readers contributing through the comments and the readers actually creating the content for your site.
Finally, don't take a blog from a comedy group , Rifftrax, boil it down and post it here. You boil away the funny part. Compare these to links to see the difference in your own writing style.
http://www.tvsquad.com/2009/04/21/the-wax-figure-of-bob-saget-looks-just-like-brad-pitt/
http://www.tvsquad.com/2009/02/05/and-so-begins-the-mike-nelson-bacon-deathwatch-2009/
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4-23-2009 @ 1:19PM
MJL said...
Thank you Bryan, for illustrating my point perfectly.
4-23-2009 @ 4:20PM
Niraj said...
Agreed, and that's the issue I'm having. The short posts aren't adding value, or maybe they could be justified. They shouldn't exist just to "fill a space" between actual reviews and news if they don't add value.
I'd rather not have something to read for a couple of hours than to have one or more posts in that time saying "check this out" or like yesterday's "Colbert's message to people that steal his show" - a 36-word paragraph followed by an embedded 17-second video that wasn't funny on its own.
The value of this blog comes from the reviews, opinions, and research, and the short posts lack all of those.
4-23-2009 @ 1:25PM
Jason R said...
I'm going to echo what Brian said a little bit. I posted for the first time in a looooong time on the Bob "everybody hates the new microsoft ad" post.
Now, from a business angle maybe this is good because you got me to post. However, the reason I posted was because I was upset enough over the post to consider stop visiting the website.
Being able to identify what is "filler" or "discussion" pieces would have prevented a lot of it. It would have kept me from being upset or confused when I clicked for more in the 'article' and found no substance to back up the header.
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4-23-2009 @ 2:26PM
Bob Sassone said...
Folks, as Joel said above, we aren't changing TVS to all short posts. These shorts posts are in *addition* to the longer posts we have. We aren't getting rid of or diminishing the episode reviews, news posts, or op-ed features in any way. Those will remain. We're just adding *more* content during the day. It's *more* content. Why is that a bad thing? I could understand frustration if we were getting rid of long posts and replacing them with short posts, but that's not what we're doing.
As for the short posts, you'll find them on hundreds if not thousands of blogs. It's funny you mention Rifftrax, because they do it all the time.
Third, I'd just like to add that we here at TVS love all of our readers. Every single one of you.
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4-23-2009 @ 3:20PM
Cyantre said...
Posting a video accompanied by a sentence is hardly content. Your argument in favor of it is weak as well. Just because there is more doesn't make it better.
If I go to a restaurant and order a steak, and get a steak topped with Cheetos and Pop Tart crumbs does it make it better? No, it's just more junk on top you have to sift through to get to the real content.
4-23-2009 @ 3:35PM
MJL said...
Yeah, quality over quantity. I'd rather have five well-written, thought out, developed posts that are relevant to SOMETHING, than 20 "What are the best TV shows of all-time?" posts. How many times has that been done on this site already? You're taking what was once an informative, insightful blog and turning it into a hack message board, and even worse you're defending it by saying you're now providing more content. But it seems like this is just the way it's going to be from now on, so I guess I'll take my readership elsewhere.