TV Worth Watching turns 10 years old this weekend – a proper time for a fond look back, and, if you’d like, a chance for you to share your opinions and memories as well…
The year was 2007. At that point, I had already clocked 32 years as a TV critic for various daily newspapers, from Florida’s The Gainesville Sun in 1975 to my then-current employer, the New York Daily News, where I’d worked for 14 years. But that arrangement was to end that November, so it was on to Plan B. And C. And D.
I still had, and have, my treasured gig as TV critic and guest host for NPR’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross, but my Plan B was to shift to becoming a full-time professor. That would take a year before I could be hired, so I got a contract and wrote my long-dormant book on the Smothers Brothers (Plan C).
And planning a website that would launch just as the Daily News and I were parting ways – that was Plan D. And on Nov. 5, 2007, TV Worth Watching was born. Chris Spurgeon, a long-time friend from the early days of Fresh Air, was the behind-the-scenes web guy who put that initial iteration together. And that 2007 version was based on designs and guidance from Eric Gould, an even longer-time friend, going all the way back to Nova High School in Davie, FL, who ran an architectural firm in Boston, but loved to play at photography and design.
I spoke to Eric as I was planning the website, and sent him a mockup I’d put together, limited by my own pathetic design skills. Published for the first time anywhere, here is that really sad first draft of TVWW history: 
Eric took one look at it, and said, don’t hand that to a designer. Before you go shopping for a web designer, why not let me clean it up a bit? So I did, and he did, and he sent me something that looked like this, one of the first home pages we published:
And when I saw that, I just said, who needs another designer? Eric’s been with the site from the start, and ever since, which he probably regrets daily. But this is a long, genuine expression of gratitude – because TVWW, very quickly, became a safe haven, and friendly island, for other TV critics interested in quality TV to come write and play. And, most important, a place for like-minded readers to come and visit, and interact with us, and each other, about the best TV ever made.
Along the way, TVWW has had some invaluable co-conspirators. Diane Werts, as both a columnist and an editor. Christy Slewinsky, who succeeded Diane and helmed this site beautifully until her untimely death in 2013. And Linda Donovan, who, with Eric, has been editing the site for years now, as more and more writers keep contributing more and more wonderful articles.
Over the past decade, we’ve had 15 columnists for TVWW, including Diane and Christy, who have come and gone, and whose work is preserved in our archives. But we also have an equal number still on our active roster, including Ed Bark, who has been there almost from the beginning, and Tom Brinkmoeller, who writes on occasion, but each occasion is welcome.
Currently, our biggest workhorses are TV critics Bark, David Hinckley and Alex Strachan. If you’re a regular reader of TVWW, doubtless, by now, you’re a fan of all three. And our other folks all deserve mention, and thanks, as well: TV critics Bill Brioux, Ed Martin, and Roger Catlin. Former TV critics Brinkmoeller, Gerald Jordan, Noel Holston, and Jonathan Storm. And media academics – full-time professors, like me (or, professor, is it I?) – including Gary Edgerton, Candace Kelley, Kim Akass and Janet McCabe. And our own online media guru, Karle Dunbar, who inherited the job performed so well, for so long, by Gabriela Tamariz. And Monique Nazareth, who doesn’t quite fall into any of those categories, but contributes valuable perspectives and interviews regardless.
Just listing those names, to thank them, makes me realize how many people have helped make TVWW a success, or at least kept it running, for a decade now. And the other names I’d like to add are those of you, the readers – many of whom we at TVWW all know by name, because you chime in so frequently and so passionately. But a general, all-encompassing thank you will have to do, because here at TVWW, I don’t get paid by the word.
But the hope, moving forward, is that very soon, TVWW will join hands with a like-minded partner, to help the site grow and thrive. If so, we’ll have you to thank, for keeping us alive, and inspired, since 2007. And if not, we’ll have you to thank anyway.
For now, though, happy 10th anniversary, TVWW. If you’ve read all the way through this, and would like to reply by posting your own thoughts or memories about the site, or maybe a specific show we alerted you to along the way, all of us here at TVWW would appreciate it.
Just like we appreciate quality TV. And you.