REMOTELY

The renowned film critic examines how our relationship with TV changed during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Thomson, author of more than 30 books, including the respected How To Watch a Movie and The Biographical Dictionary of Film, has plenty of fascinating theories and clever turns of phrase. “We get the television we deserve, as if our civilization is breathing, but asthmatic,” he writes of his disappointment in a series that went downhill after being picked up because it wanted to save its best ideas for the next season. But because these ideas—about everything from I Love Lucy to The Crown, from soccer to the war in Ukraine—arrive quickly, with little rhyme or reason, it’s hard to keep track of the author’s arguments or let anything take root. While that may be by design, since it does give the book the feel of channel surfing, it’s hard to weigh the concepts, aside from I Love Lucy, Ozark, and Garry Shandling, whom he returns to again and again. Sometimes, Thomson comes across as flippant, such as when he wonders, “What had Officer Derek Chauvin expected in Minneapolis in 2020? Didn’t he watch TV? Didn’t he understand a nine-minute shot?” Such glib questions, especially when there’s no mention of George Floyd, the unarmed man Chauvin killed, come across as disrespectful, at the very least, even if he does discuss problems in policing when he considers Law & Order. Furthermore, the fact that Law & Order, Seinfeld, The West Wing, Hill Street Blues, and other expected TV classics are the main focus of a book on TV binging seems like a missed opportunity to promote lesser-known shows, and the stream-of-consciousness presentation becomes tiresome.

Thomson’s fast-moving look at TV binging is hit-and-miss, like the never-ending search for something new to watch on Netflix.