The Rise Of The TV Recap

The New York Observer’s Dan Durray reasons why online recapping of television serials may be the best bet for new or struggling writers to enter the online publishing world. Thanks to the Internet and the need for instant gratification, several publication and entertainment sites including Entertainment Weekly, New York and NBC’s Television Without Pity offer some kind of review of popular serials (mostly the same serials and at the same time) and employ many freelance or new writers to cover them, giving them an opportunity to enter the publication industry and get paid for writing.

From the Observer:

The rise of the Internet television recap has been an inevitable side effect of a medium that allows for instant reactions, favors a freelance model and realizes that the winner of a reality show will dominate Google searches on the day following a season finale. Many sites, Entertainment Weekly’s for one, offer straightforward play-by-play summaries of a show for people who haven’t watched, but nearly every major publication and journalistic blog now offers some form of instant analysis of popular shows. Slate and Vanity Fair, where James Wolcott offers a Mad Men post-game, are two of the less likelier spots that have joined the recap game. New York currently employs some 30 writers to cover as many shows.

New York Observer: “Rise of the Recappers: For a New Class of Struggling Writers, It’s Time To Watch TV”