'Lost' signifies the end of an era

Today, the publication that I edit WEEKEND ran a Lost-centric issue, most of which I penned. You can check out everything here, but I wanted to re-post the piece I thought was most important to a discussion about television formats and genres moving forward. Here it is.

With Lost at the beginning of the end, emotions are high for us fans who have spent too many hours watching, debating online and staring at paused DVR images in hopes of finding hidden clues. But even for non-fanatics, this should be a sad time because there is no way that we will ever see a television phenomenon quite like Lost ever again. And here’s why.

Will the iPad change TV?

Image courtesy of Apple

Wednesday, every media outlet, web site, newspaper or blogger had something to say about Apple's latest "world changing" creation, the iPad.

And while the discussion of whether or not the iPad is actually that revolutionary is for another day, I thought I'd shape the story to fit into the realm of television.

So, in response to the question I posed in the headline: No, put simply.

More spin-offs coming to a TV set near you

This semester, I am hoping to research how television content will change in the 21st century and so most of my posts on this blog will discusses issues relating to genre, narrative, etc.

Two recent announcements give us an indication of one way programming content will move, at least on the major broadcast networks: spin-offs.

Quick plugs

I'll be using this blog for my C411 entries, but for anyone who reads this and wants to get more television analysis from me, check out my other blog, WEEKEND Watchers, where myself and my staff recap all of television's best.

And if that's not enough, I also edit and produce the WEEKEND Watchers Official Podcast, which just crossed the 40 episode mark. You can subscribe to that on iTunes.