This is a great conversation, and I am hyped to learn more about this period in television that mostly passed me by (because I am old -- I remember thinking how cringey these second-screen and social things were, but was never tempted to join in). OTOH, I certainly see these night-of engagement things still drifting past my twitter feed, like actors or showrunners trying to get hype going about livetweeting episodes (and trying to navigate the bi-coastal timezones while doing so). I follow Shaun Cassidy and Alison Tolman, just to name a couple of randos, and they would do this for New Amsterdam and Emergence (IIRC). That makes the livetweet thing seem directed at olds like me, even if I actually have no interest in following along that way, so I wonder who the audience is supposed to be. Maybe it's really the other way around -- trying to get these folks' social media followers watching night-of, rather than giving watchers a way to engage.
As a 55 year old, I suppose I'm just grateful I've been part of any of this at all. I will say that AV Club was hugely important to my tv viewing/commenting/engagement for many of the reasons mentioned in your discussion. Likewise, I am now obsessed with Letterboxd for similar reasons. That said, Twitter still remains an excellent source of amusement and connection for the reality shows I can't help but love.
All to say, that social
TV remains quite important to me and the communities that have flourished because of it. But again, as an old, maybe that's more true of Gen X than I realize?
Great interview. I got into Scandal a few seasons late, and by then the tweet along aspect was already starting to fall away -- either some of the principles stopped participating as much or they just had less to say, and the energy wasn't really there. But maybe it was never for me. I always found the StorySynch type of things embarrassing. I already feel bad if I'm multi-tasking and have my computer open, I don't want it ENCOURAGED.
Anyone who knows younger people know exactly why Cory's students would find tweeting during the Oscars embarrassing? Is it because of the format and we should be doing that on Instagram or TikTok, or talking about the Oscars at all?
Oh wow, I remember following Cory way back in the day - I think I even contributed something to TV Surveillance. Thank you for the interview! I'm really looking forward to checking out this book. [Funnily enough, my hold on Television's Spatial Capital arrived at my library, so I'm generally looking forward to a few weeks of Academic TV Books].
Otherwise, I don't want to rehash my previous comments on this blog about engaging in small dedicated spaces and communities (like this Substack - which, more often than not, I find myself commenting on a week or two late...) but that's really where my 'live' reactions go at this point.
I'm in a paid Slack for the (former) Storm/LOST podcast, where folks thread their reactions (to avoid spoilers) to anything and everything (e.g., movies or shows, in real time or retrospective thoughts) in a #now-watching channel. Of course, these channels are all super linear and disappear after the whole Slack hits 10K messages, so everything feels even more ephemeral. I'm also in a free Discord (also LOST-related) where we watch a show together 'live' weekly, but that isn't tied to new appointment viewing. We're watching Netflix's Dark (a show that ended in 2021) and did Twin Peaks earlier this year.
I do think certain kinds of semi-oldschool engagement is colliding with newer social media spaces (RuPaul's Drag Race still uses hashtags on the show pretty liberally, which I imagine is more for IG than Twitter). And when something drops for binging, my partner will let me know we need to finish New Show X ASAP to avoid an increasing amount of spoilers filtering into her awareness through Reels.
I don't really know where that leaves me. While I have little interest in more GOT content, I am kind of looking forward to HotD if only because I am excited about being there at 9PM on a Sunday when (presumably) it will air for everyone; maybe I'll even Live Tweet about it!
I remember seeing these sticker things pop up on my Twitter feed a decade ago, and IIRC one of the main reasons I never got into them is that I watched so much TV that it's slightly embarrassing and I didn't want to let people know about it.
Also, as someone who lived in Europe, I was also not a big fan of the live tweeting era. If there was any slightly big TV show I watched, I had to avoid Twitter until I saw the episode sometime the following day.
I enjoy the social aspect of TV in terms of reading reviews and comments after the fact, like in AV Club or of course here, but I would never want to be looking at something or Tweeting about something while watching. I personally can't multitask at all, and much of the pleasure of any media consumption for me is tied up in the idea of being fully immersed in it with no distractions. Lights dimmed, no talking, no interruptions.
Well, this brings me back. That was definitely the height of my Twitter/TV presence and yes, I used GetGlue. To me, who lived abroad at the time and had to get shows through, uh, alternative means, it provided a physical connection to something that felt ephemeral and afar.
As a person who dislikes stickers in laptops/notebooks/etc… I still have them at my parents’, exactly as they were delivered.
The other thread picked up from here, and unsure how much of how media discourse has evolved/devolved is that I’m less interested in the social media of it and rather read recaps (like the ones provided by Episodic Medium!) and books (Sepinwall/MSZ/Nussbaum, and soon Barker’s) that are doing great long form work. Tools like Letterboxd and TrakTV are mostly for my own bookkeeping than to interact with my community.
The other side of this, is a lot of the people I met back in ‘09-‘12 I still discuss media with, just directly through text instead of a social media platform.
I was watching TV via time-shifting very early on--it started when my family and I were desperately trying to keep up with Deep Space 9 Dominion war arc via VCR when episodes would be preempted late into the night because of the Red Wings playoff runs and the trend just continued from there--so anything that encouraged "live" interaction never clicked with me because I was already late. Places like AV Club, message boards were godsends in that regards--even though I was late to the conversation I was able to participate somewhat before the threads would die down. (Well, sometimes, some of those AVC comment threads would balloon so quickly it was near impossible to keep up.)
It did always seem like studios were chasing Sharknados success--which if I remember right wasn't planned in anyway just organic engagment--I remember that it dominated my twitter feed that night and subsequent airings got better ratings than the premiere. It came pretty early enough in the social media TV craze people thought it might actually be the norm but just proved impossible to replicate.
This is a great conversation, and I am hyped to learn more about this period in television that mostly passed me by (because I am old -- I remember thinking how cringey these second-screen and social things were, but was never tempted to join in). OTOH, I certainly see these night-of engagement things still drifting past my twitter feed, like actors or showrunners trying to get hype going about livetweeting episodes (and trying to navigate the bi-coastal timezones while doing so). I follow Shaun Cassidy and Alison Tolman, just to name a couple of randos, and they would do this for New Amsterdam and Emergence (IIRC). That makes the livetweet thing seem directed at olds like me, even if I actually have no interest in following along that way, so I wonder who the audience is supposed to be. Maybe it's really the other way around -- trying to get these folks' social media followers watching night-of, rather than giving watchers a way to engage.
As a 55 year old, I suppose I'm just grateful I've been part of any of this at all. I will say that AV Club was hugely important to my tv viewing/commenting/engagement for many of the reasons mentioned in your discussion. Likewise, I am now obsessed with Letterboxd for similar reasons. That said, Twitter still remains an excellent source of amusement and connection for the reality shows I can't help but love.
All to say, that social
TV remains quite important to me and the communities that have flourished because of it. But again, as an old, maybe that's more true of Gen X than I realize?
Great interview. I got into Scandal a few seasons late, and by then the tweet along aspect was already starting to fall away -- either some of the principles stopped participating as much or they just had less to say, and the energy wasn't really there. But maybe it was never for me. I always found the StorySynch type of things embarrassing. I already feel bad if I'm multi-tasking and have my computer open, I don't want it ENCOURAGED.
Anyone who knows younger people know exactly why Cory's students would find tweeting during the Oscars embarrassing? Is it because of the format and we should be doing that on Instagram or TikTok, or talking about the Oscars at all?
Oh wow, I remember following Cory way back in the day - I think I even contributed something to TV Surveillance. Thank you for the interview! I'm really looking forward to checking out this book. [Funnily enough, my hold on Television's Spatial Capital arrived at my library, so I'm generally looking forward to a few weeks of Academic TV Books].
Otherwise, I don't want to rehash my previous comments on this blog about engaging in small dedicated spaces and communities (like this Substack - which, more often than not, I find myself commenting on a week or two late...) but that's really where my 'live' reactions go at this point.
I'm in a paid Slack for the (former) Storm/LOST podcast, where folks thread their reactions (to avoid spoilers) to anything and everything (e.g., movies or shows, in real time or retrospective thoughts) in a #now-watching channel. Of course, these channels are all super linear and disappear after the whole Slack hits 10K messages, so everything feels even more ephemeral. I'm also in a free Discord (also LOST-related) where we watch a show together 'live' weekly, but that isn't tied to new appointment viewing. We're watching Netflix's Dark (a show that ended in 2021) and did Twin Peaks earlier this year.
I do think certain kinds of semi-oldschool engagement is colliding with newer social media spaces (RuPaul's Drag Race still uses hashtags on the show pretty liberally, which I imagine is more for IG than Twitter). And when something drops for binging, my partner will let me know we need to finish New Show X ASAP to avoid an increasing amount of spoilers filtering into her awareness through Reels.
I don't really know where that leaves me. While I have little interest in more GOT content, I am kind of looking forward to HotD if only because I am excited about being there at 9PM on a Sunday when (presumably) it will air for everyone; maybe I'll even Live Tweet about it!
I remember seeing these sticker things pop up on my Twitter feed a decade ago, and IIRC one of the main reasons I never got into them is that I watched so much TV that it's slightly embarrassing and I didn't want to let people know about it.
Also, as someone who lived in Europe, I was also not a big fan of the live tweeting era. If there was any slightly big TV show I watched, I had to avoid Twitter until I saw the episode sometime the following day.
I enjoy the social aspect of TV in terms of reading reviews and comments after the fact, like in AV Club or of course here, but I would never want to be looking at something or Tweeting about something while watching. I personally can't multitask at all, and much of the pleasure of any media consumption for me is tied up in the idea of being fully immersed in it with no distractions. Lights dimmed, no talking, no interruptions.
"The peak of this micro-moment (let’s say 2011-2015ish) happened when they were in middle school, so it is truly history to them."
So these are grad students?
Well, this brings me back. That was definitely the height of my Twitter/TV presence and yes, I used GetGlue. To me, who lived abroad at the time and had to get shows through, uh, alternative means, it provided a physical connection to something that felt ephemeral and afar.
As a person who dislikes stickers in laptops/notebooks/etc… I still have them at my parents’, exactly as they were delivered.
The other thread picked up from here, and unsure how much of how media discourse has evolved/devolved is that I’m less interested in the social media of it and rather read recaps (like the ones provided by Episodic Medium!) and books (Sepinwall/MSZ/Nussbaum, and soon Barker’s) that are doing great long form work. Tools like Letterboxd and TrakTV are mostly for my own bookkeeping than to interact with my community.
The other side of this, is a lot of the people I met back in ‘09-‘12 I still discuss media with, just directly through text instead of a social media platform.
I was watching TV via time-shifting very early on--it started when my family and I were desperately trying to keep up with Deep Space 9 Dominion war arc via VCR when episodes would be preempted late into the night because of the Red Wings playoff runs and the trend just continued from there--so anything that encouraged "live" interaction never clicked with me because I was already late. Places like AV Club, message boards were godsends in that regards--even though I was late to the conversation I was able to participate somewhat before the threads would die down. (Well, sometimes, some of those AVC comment threads would balloon so quickly it was near impossible to keep up.)
It did always seem like studios were chasing Sharknados success--which if I remember right wasn't planned in anyway just organic engagment--I remember that it dominated my twitter feed that night and subsequent airings got better ratings than the premiere. It came pretty early enough in the social media TV craze people thought it might actually be the norm but just proved impossible to replicate.