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Think Rick and Morty Sold Out? Done with The Walking Dead? Who Cares?

Let's start off by getting to know each other a little better. I'm the person whose name you see at the top of this article, aka Television Editor, aka the person who oversees the section of Bleeding Cool that some of you feel "doesn't understand what Bleeding Cool is all about." As for you… it would safe to say that you are fans of television (streaming cable, etc.)- but that you fall into two camps. That headline about The Walking Dead and Rick and Morty? We'll get to that in a minute.

The first camp sees television coverage at Bleeding Cool being all about The CW's "Arrowverse," Game of Thrones, and other uppercase "G" geek shows. Then we have the lowercase "g" geeks out there, the ones who are just as passionate about their shows even if they don't wear spandex, swing a sword, cast a spell, or blow up a Death Star. We're talking about the viewers who can trace the entire timeline of NBC's "Chicago" shows or chart out a This Is Us family tree. The Masked Singer fanatics who "red string" their guesses like it's a Charlie/It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia conspiracy board.

rick and morty
Your opinion on why you no longer watch Rick and Morty or The Walking Dead isn't nearly as deathly important as you think it is. (Images: Rick and Morty-Adult Swim/AMC Network)

Now, Bleeding Cool used to be almost entirely about that first camp- in many ways more a subcategory to "Comics" than being a "TV" category in its own right. But with television proving to be the fastest-growing media running today (comics and movies were crushed by COVID-19), it became pretty clear that we needed to broaden our horizons to offer more of our "TV freaks" a place they can call home for their television coverage. So what I'm saying is this: Bleeding Cool will always be the home for shows like Supernatural, Westworld, Supergirl, The Umbrella Academy, and those other "Geek" shows. But it's also going to be a home for professional wrestling fans, for reality show fans, for fans of dramas and sitcoms, for fans of anime and audio dramas.

That means you'll see coverage of Holey Moley!, Power, RuPaul's Drag Race, Worst Cooks in America, and more: because Bleeding Cool wants to be a home for those fans, too. Oh, and a quick reality check for those who think "no one reads that s**t," a post on Tyra Banks/Dancing with the Stars was one of our biggest posts eyeball-wise recently, and anything with Alton Brown's name on it scores big. So if the "big umbrella" approach to BCTV sounds like something that will work for you, welcome aboard! Hope you've been enjoying what we've done so far and what we have planned moving forward. For those of you who think that having a pro-wrestling-related article before and a Nailed It! trailer after an article about The Flash is just a bridge too far… sorry to see you go? Not much else I can say since we're not apologizing for wanting to broaden our reach, any more than there's a reason to apologize for our increased focus on issues of diversity and representation.

Now for those of you coming along for the ride, a couple of traps that are easy to fall into but are also easy to avoid:

"The Velvet Rope Viewer": Every pop culture category has them. They're the "cool kids" who think that show they love on a Ukrainian public access channel about two people sitting at a table talking to a potato is the pinnacle of televised artistic expression- in their eyes, proven by the fact that only they and 12 other people "truly" get it. They're the ones who – in a land of 987-and-counting streaming services -will tell you "there's nothing really good on." They're the ones who give you that judgmental pause and blank stare if you "dare" ask them if they've seen something mainstream (they cower from the mention of Impractical Jokers like a vampire would sunlight). They also have to be reminded every now and then that $hitty television exists outside of the U.S., too. I'm not "pro-USA" – I just see the potential for everyone to be shitty equally, across the board. Please don't be one of those people. Television, cable, and streaming offer up new and unique experiences every day- don't close your minds off to them.

"The Lapsed Viewer": Now we get to where the headline fits into all of this. So you stopped watching The Walking Dead after season 4 because it "got boring," or you quit Rick and Morty after the second season because you feel like they "sold out"? Cool. Go with it if that shit works for you. You do you. But that's where it ends. I don't have a rat's ass or single $hit (let alone two) to give about you "not understanding" why the show's still on the air or why people like me are still watching it. We don't have to explain ourselves, and you don't get to have a position on a series once you stop watching it other than the reason you had at the time to stop watching. I know Supernatural fans have had to deal with that nonsense almost the entire 15 season run. But the most annoying part of it all? These folks are usually of the "likes to throw a punch, can't take a punch" kind, and this is where they can tend to take on the traits of "The 'Velvet Rope' TV Fans" (see above).

"The Hyperbo-lator": Tying into "The Velvet Rope Viewer" and "The Lapsed Viewer," the most outstanding characteristic of "The Hyperbo-lator" is not having an appreciation for television history and lore, and just assuming that the shows they love were the "first" to do something, if not everything. No one's asking for everyone's brains to be wired as television search engines, but then make sure to leave a little wiggle room for the possibility that someone or something came before that might've had an influence. I have a friend who loves Fleabag– and she can also list off all the ways the show strikes similar to Carrie Bradshaw's life Sex in the City (Mr. Big = Sexy Priest?). Everyone arched an eyebrow or two over the "unique release set-up" for Sherlock, but how many of them know about Columbo and how its seasons ran? Praise with a smidge of humility is never a bad place to work from.


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Ray FlookAbout Ray Flook

Serving as Television Editor since 2018, Ray began five years earlier as a contributing writer/photographer before being brought onto the core BC team in 2017.
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