TV (The Book)
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''TV (The Book): Two Experts Pick the Greatest American Shows of All Time'' is a collection of essays written by
television critics Television criticism is the act of writing or speaking about television programming to evaluate its worth, meaning, and other aspects. Such criticism can be found in daily newspapers, on culture discussion shows (on TV and radio), and in speciali ...
Alan Sepinwall and Matt Zoller Seitz. It was published in 2016. The main purpose of the book was to provide a canonical list of the top 100 greatest television programs in American history.


Background

Seitz and Sepinwall began as colleagues at The Star-Ledger, where they spent ten years together working on a column in the newspaper titled "All TV." Since then, both had gone their separate ways. At the time of the book's publishing, Sepinwall was a television critic for HitFix, while Seitz was a television critic for ''
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...
'' and the editor-in-chief for
RogerEbert.com ''RogerEbert.com'' is an American film review website that archives reviews written by film critic Roger Ebert for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' and also shares other critics' reviews and essays. The website, underwritten by the ''Chicago Sun-Times' ...
. Sepinwall has since gone on to become the chief television critic for '' Rolling Stone''.


Criteria

According to the book, Seitz and Sepinwall considered a television series for their ranking if it matched the following criteria: * US TV shows only: A TV show was only considered if it was either made in the United States, or if it was originally produced for an American television network. The two authors admitted that this was a "blurry" category to decide, and that some of the calls they made "are sure to be considered debatable." * Completion: Seitz and Sepinwall wanted to only include shows which had been completed prior to the creation of their list. However, a few exceptions were made to include current shows that had aired for decades (such as '' The Simpsons'' and ''
South Park ''South Park'' is an American animated sitcom created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone and developed by Brian Graden for Comedy Central. The series revolves around four boys Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman, and Kenny McCormickand th ...
''), current shows that were never officially cancelled yet may never return from hiatus (such as ''
Curb Your Enthusiasm ''Curb Your Enthusiasm'' is an American television sitcom produced and broadcast by HBO since October 15, 2000, and created by Larry David, who stars as a semi-fictionalized version of himself. It follows David's life as a semi-retired televisio ...
'' and ''
Louie Louie may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Louie'' (American TV series), by comedian Louis C.K. * ''Louie'' (French TV series), animated series about a young rabbit who draws pictures which come to life * "Louie" (song), by Blood Raw * ''L ...
''), and shows that were once cancelled but eventually revived for additional seasons (these include '' Twin Peaks'' and '' The X-Files''). * Narrative fiction only: Reality programs, documentaries,
sketch comedy Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. The form developed and became popular in vaudeville, and is ...
, talk shows, news programs, and sports programs were not given consideration. Instead, the book's rankings mostly consisted of dramas, comedies, children's programming and certain anthology series. Once a television series passed this criteria, they were ranked on a ten-point scale by either one of or both of the critics in six categories: "Innovation" (whether or not it did stuff that had been seen in the medium before), "Influence" (how a show served as inspiration for those that came after it), "Consistency" (whether or not the show's quality fluctuated season-by-season), "Performance" (how good the actors/performers were on the show), "Storytelling" (the quality of the writing on the show), and "Peak" (how great the show was at its best compared to the rest of American television's history). Shows which aired for only one season were slightly penalized, receiving a maximum of nine points for most categories except for "Consistency", where they were only given a seven as a maximum. The series which were among the 100 highest placed in the points tally were counted in the rankings.


Top 100


Additional book material

In addition to providing their Top 100 ranking, Seitz and Sepinwall provided a section titled "Works in Progress," highlighting some of their favorite current shows, as well as a section honoring shows that were not good enough to make it into the rankings titled "A Certain Regard." There were also several essays noting of TV's best miniseries, movies, and televised plays.


Reviews

The book has received positive reviews from other television critics. Jacqueline Cutler of The Star-Ledger described the book as "a great reference tool," with the main top-100 list possessing "enough reflection, knowledge and tidbits that even if you don't care about a show, you will wind up reading." For Cutler, the one negative aspect of the book was the inclusion of the "Outlier Classics" and "Works-in-Progress" sections, which felt like "kiddie sports teams where everyone gets a trophy." Bill Carter, writing for CNN, was also fond of the book, appreciating its effort to stimulate argument and pointing out that even if you were to disagree "it only means you care more about television now more than ever before, which is really the reason to write and read a book like this."


References


External links

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Book description from Hachette
{{DISPLAYTITLE:''TV (The Book)'' Books about television Television in the United States 2016 non-fiction books Top television lists Grand Central Publishing books