TV Page

Introduction

Okay. So the first thing you're probably asking yourself is this; what's the point of this TV page when there a million people out there already writing about TV? And really, you'd be right to ask... but then you could ask what's the point of any other TV column out there? The one thing they all have in common is this; none of them are written by me. And really, everyone that strives to write things really has to have an ego the size of a planet, otherwise they'd sit there thinking "who'd want to read this toss I've written?" Imagine how many great novels you'll never get to read because their authors were so over critical of their own work that they never showed them to anyone... the greatest novel ever written could be sat in a drawer somewhere read only by its author.

But, I digress...

I'm writing this page because I want to. If you want to read it and you enjoy it, that's great. If you don't like it... well, I'm not pointing a gun to your head insisting that you MUST read it or I'll shoot your puppy or something. Go read something else.

One of the things I do notice about most TV critics, however, is that few of them seem to actually enjoy TV, which is kinf od odd given their job. You get the impression that they'd much rather be out writing theatre reviews, or cinema reviews and that they're almost slumming it by daring to write about the idiots' lantern in the corner of the room. They are, of course, fools. Right now, from the off, I'm going to state the central premise of this entire run of TV pages;

The best TV shows are as good as, and in many cases, better than the best cinema films.

Read that. Read it again. and re-read it a few more times; it's that important you have this thought in your head as you read. All too often, TV is seen as the bastard child of the cinema; the little skinny runt of the litter that'll never amount to anything. And as for comparing it to the theatre... whoa! Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong!

Of course, when I say something like this some wag will pipe up and say "Oh, so Crossroads is as good as Citizen Kane, is it, eh, eh, eh?" Of course, I would reply "No", and refer back to the overlooked detail in the statement above that it refers to "the best TV shows, and that Crossroads can hardly fall in to that category. I would then retort by saying that, oh, for example Our Friends In The North is quite clearly even better than said film.

As well as talking about current shows, this page will also delve in to shows from the past also. Those shows that you may have missed out on that you really should catch watch. The best episodes of various shows, as well as the worst (can there ever be a worse piece of TV than the truly abominable Cyberwoman episode of Torchwood?).

I do need a decent title for this page, though, but all the best seem to have gone. Screen Burn is a great title for a column, but that cunt Charlie Brooker has already nicked it (I should note here, that Mr Brooker is one of the exeptions to the rule mentioned about about TV reviewers; he clearly loves TV, and his Guardian columns and TV show are essential reading/viewing), and White Dot is great, too, but that's the name of a bunch of anti-TV buffons. The Idiots' Lantern would be decent if used ironically, but every time I typed the title, I'd have a flashback to what has so far been the worst episode of Dr Who since it came back. So... for the moment, TV Page will have to do... If you can think of an idea for a title, please email!

I love TV. And I hope this will come over in the weeks and months to come.