Television Without Pity Saved My Life. #RIP
Back in '06, Television Without Pity saved my life. I was "stuck" in Madrid for 4-5 months studying abroad without cable or the ability to stream my favorite shows. Thankfully, I discovered TVWoP before I left and devised a schedule for printing out 8-15 pages of episode recaps for, if I remember correctly, my two favorite shows at the time: Grey's Anatomy and One Tree Hill. I am truly saddened to learn that on April 4, 2014, the site will cease to exist. But I'm even more disappointed that they went the way of MySpace and failed to evolve with the times. TVWoP used to be a resource for people who...
didn't have cable.
weren't in the country and couldn't access American TV.
wanted to relive a scene/line.
wanted to talk to other people who love the same shows and couples that they do.
But two innovations since the site's launch has rendered it obsolete: Pirating and Social Media. True, pirating has been around ever since Napster made file-sharing possible back in '99. But it's never been so easy to do than it is now. You literally just have to google "watch [insert series / season # / episode #]" and tada, a minimum of three download/streaming links become available to you, sometimes mere hours after the episode has aired. So unfortunately, TVWoP's services are no longer valued:
didn't have cable. You don't need cable. You can download or stream any series, season, or episode. For free.
weren't in the country and couldn't access American TV. See above.
wanted to relive a scene/line. Tumblr is about 60% gifs, and roughly half of those are the best scenes from TV shows. Plus, Youtube users have done a stellar job of posting the juiciest clips and even compilations of specific characters or couples so you can watch an entire season minus the "filler," also known as the plot. Also, see above.
wanted to talk to other people who love the same shows and couples that they do. Tumblr's aggregation of a loyal fandom trumps any community board any other site can provide. Not to mention, its users' passion for couples they ship or characters they're crushing on is enormously entertaining. And while Tumblr hosts never-ending appreciation of a series, Twitter provides a platform for commentary during same-night, if not live, viewings.
What TVWoP should've done was abandon their original formula and adapt. If it can manage a rebirth, I would recommend a few things:
Share stream sources: Find a discrete, undetectable-by-the-government way of sharing sites where fans can find episodes to stream.
Diversify: TVWoP may be run by Americans, but that doesn't mean its viewers are only interested in American content. In the last few years, there has been an increase in:
Television production companies co-opting British TV shows and repackaging them for American audiences (i.e. The Office, Being Human, Skins, Shameless, etc.).
American audiences becoming uncomfortably obsessed with British TV shows (i.e. Sherlock, Downton Abbey, Luther, My Mad Fat Diary, etc.).
Web-only shows with solid fan-bases (i.e. Misfits, The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl, Fresh Meat, The Wrong Mans, etc,)
So don't just feature TV shows ranked by Nielsen ratings. Figure out what everyone's gif-ing about.
Revamp the recap format: Tumblr user heathicorn is a perfect example of the type of recapper this TV generation is accustomed to. She provides humorous, gif-heavy commentary about MTV's Teen Wolf that doesn't retell exactly what happened, but echoes the "feels" that the fandom had while watching.
Praise and Reward: Fanfic is actually pretty big on Tumblr. Readers use it for comfort when a plot line doesn't go the way they want (i.e. death, breakups, etc.) and/or to fill the void until the next episode or season airs. Viewers could use a resource that acknowledged the best fanfic writers of every series. Plus, contests crowning the best every season would keep readers coming back.
Aggregate Reactions: Honestly, one of my favorite things to do after watching a series is finding out what my fellow obsessed viewers are thinking about what I just saw. Aside from Tumblr, I love reading TVeets. It compiles a list of tweets per night from an array of commenters, from published writers to comedians to viewers. And they're all hilarious.
Build a community for the selfie-generation: You can't just ask someone to sign up for your site and fill out in-depth questions about their entertainment interests. First off, what's your favorite TV show/movie/song/musical/etc.? is a really hard question to answer, even if you don't consume a ton of entertainment. That answer says A LOT about you, so it can't be thought of in 5 seconds, which should be how long any Q during a site registration should take. Secondly, as a generation that craves "instant gratification," it also prefers mass consumption, which is easier to achieve through images. Facebook is aware of this. You may type out your favorite anything, but what your friends will see are images. A viewer/reader's profile should be easy to skim. In under 30 seconds, this potential new friend can learn your favorite TV shows, favorite episodes, favorite lines/scenes, and most importantly, favorite couples. There is nothing that bonds fans closer than the fictional characters they ship. Girl-scout-type badges created for every fandom would be the equivalent of rocking Team Edward or Team Jacob T-shirts.
Add interactive features: One of the things that keeps Buzzfeed readers coming back, besides its endless archive of lists, is its quizzes. Which hottie from [insert series title] is your soulmate? Which badass female/male character are you? Would you survive the [apocalypse/zombie invasion/witch inquisition/vampire seduction]? They could easily generate a million of these per series. Not to mention, hold pools where viewers can bet on how storylines will end and which couples will end up together, bestowing bragging rights to the victors.
Just a few thoughts.
sigh. #RIP
