RIP: Television Without Pity

Over the years I have browsed the TV commentary on many sites, including Television Without Pity.  Sadly, as the New York Times recently reported, the website has posted its last comment.  Fortunately, the archives will continue to be available for interested readers who may be late to a show but still want some good commentary.

My blog linked to this from almost the very beginning, and I will keep it that way to encourage everyone to check it out.  And just before we move on, I would like to take a piece on one of my favorite shows, Southland, from the site's blog "Brilliant But Cancelled" to demonstrate the site's writing as well as to plug Southland again (much as they did in this piece):

Southland dealt both with the high intensity of bringing down the bad guys -- or of being the bad guys -- and with mundanities, like setting up roadblocks or doling out parking tickets. Obviously, the show had lots of drama, but it didn't pretend that all its characters were superheroes. Most importantly, it looked real. Southland used actual ex-gang members as extras, and shot on location in LA. Additionally, the show was faithful to the actual day-to-day grind of being a police officer; not every case got solved, and even when suspects were caught, it didn't mean that everyone's lives were magically better. All this made the show seem like a slice right out of real life... but for some viewers, real life isn't as good to watch as comfortable TV tropes.

And if you are interested in learning more about someone who worked at Television Without Pity, you can visit Stephanie V.W. Lucianovic's blogpost,"Recapping for Television Without Pity Turned Me Into a Writer."  All I can say in the end is, brilliant but cancelled.