jacobclifton.com · FAQ
Frequently Asked
Television Without Pity
The recaps, the site, and what happened to it.
Why were your recaps thirty pages long for a forty-two-minute show?
Because what happened on screen was usually the least interesting part, compared to the work that went into it. A recap shouldn’t just be a transcript — it’s a conversation about what the show thought it was doing versus what it actually achieved. If I needed ten pages to discuss the semiotics of a Cylon’s sweater or the existential dread of a Gossip Girl Thanksgiving, then thirty pages was actually a bargain.
Why does it take me longer to read the recap than to watch the show?
Honey: read faster.
Did you ever actually talk about the plot?
Occasionally, if it got in the way of the philosophy. I’ve always been more interested in the “why” and the “what it cost” than the “who did what.”
Is it true you were killed off in Battlestar Galactica?
Technically, a character named Jacob was shot during a coup in the Quorum of Twelve. Given my extensive feelings about that show, people took it as a very specific form of tribute. Or a very polite way of telling me to stop writing thirty-page manifestos about them. I genuinely have no idea.
Why did you suddenly quit recapping Ugly Betty and Doctor Who?
There’s a point where the snark stops being affectionate and starts feeling like a chore. With Ugly Betty, the magic curdled in Season 3. With Doctor Who, I’m a Russell T. Davies loyalist — once the mythic and emotional arcs got traded for misogynistic puzzle boxes, I realized I’d rather be a fan in the stands than a critic in the booth. In both cases, the response from readers made it clear I’d made the right call.
What’s the deal with Tubeelzebub?
He’s the mascot of our collective obsession — a patron saint of the idiot box. He represents that specific feeling of being completely possessed by a narrative, even when it’s actively trying to insult your intelligence. We’ve all been there.
Was the “snark” at TWoP as mean as people say?
The best snark is always born from a place of deep, obsessive love. You can’t dismantle something that effectively unless you’ve memorized every single one of its moving parts. We weren’t mean — we were just paying very, very close attention.
Are the TWoP archives gone forever?
Unfortunately, yes. The internet is a sieve. But the impact isn’t — the way we talk about television now, the deep-dive analysis, the “prestige” treatment of pop culture, that’s the direct descendant of what we were doing there. I find some comfort in that, even when I wish I could link to it.
A Rough Trade Writing School & other projects
The school, the novels, the rest of it.
Is ART School just for TV writers?
Not at all. It’s for anyone who wants to stop performing being a writer and start doing the actual work. I apply the same rigor I used for fifteen years of criticism to the craft of creating fiction, essays, songs, scripts — whatever you have. The subject matter is pop culture. The skill is paying attention.
Why “A Rough Trade”?
Writing is a trade, not a hobby. It’s supposed to be messy, direct, and cost you something.
How did you transition from TV criticism to writing novels?
I didn’t, really. I just stopped writing about other people’s characters and started writing about my own. The tools are the same: you’re still looking for the “why,” the moment the mask slips, the thing the story is about underneath the thing it thinks it’s about.
Do you still watch television?
Always. But now I get to watch without a notepad and a deadline, which is its own kind of luxury.
What’s the best way to support the work?
Join the Patreon, enroll in a workshop, or buy the books. Any of those things keeps the lights on and tells me someone’s paying attention, which is all any writer actually wants.
The community we built at TWoP didn’t disappear. It just moved into new rooms. A few of those rooms are in my house, and I’m glad you found your way here.