LARB’s Best: TV

Every once in a while, some hilarious jokester will stroll into the comments section of an article in the LARB Television section and write something like, “I thought this was supposed to be a review of books!” They apparently haven’t been paying attention. However you choose to narrate what’s happened to American television production over the past 20 years, it’s indisputable that television criticism has risen to a place in the cultural landscape that it certainly did not occupy before. We here at the Los Angeles Review of Books were not pioneers of this movement, but the original LARB tumblr (RIP) dropped at a time when it would have been unthinkable to cover culture and art without centering the small screen. From the epistolary criticism of the “Dear Television” collective, to media scholars bringing their expertise to broader audiences, to critics thinking with and against trends and trendlets in TV and streaming, the LARB Television section has always been oriented around conversation. Serious and silly, reactive and rigorous — for 10 years, original editor Mike Goetzman and I have been proud to publish the reviews that make the title of this website not entirely accurate.

— Phillip Maciak

 

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This digest is part of our year-round celebration of our 10th anniversary. To celebrate with us, please visit our anniversary page!