Ask the Critic: Carina Chocano

Question: In making the jump from TV to movie critic, do you find yourself watching one or the other medium differently? It seems that the best TV programming is so movie-like in its production values and scripting, while some of today’s very average movies are aimed at a TV-quality attention span, that there is no longer quite the same chasm between TV and films.

Chocano: I do find myself looking at them differently. Obviously, there’s the size issue: TV has to be good (in theory) in order to capture your attention; movies can more easily overwhelm you with their superior screen power. On the flip side, a TV series can go on (in theory) for years. If you like it, you move in, basically; it becomes a part of your life.

A movie is a much more finite, perfectible thing. As a critic, it can be hard to decide if a TV show is successful until it has been on the air for a while, but a movie only gets one chance to accomplish what it set out to do.

The best TV series starts strong, gets better and then inevitably declines. Most TV series suffer from a corporate-imposed conformity but can sometimes take on a life of their own.

Movies are more like fireworks. They can explode into something really fabulous or just sputter out.

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