A collection of articles and essays by TV critic Emily Nussbaum. There's one (about The Sopranos) that was was originally published in 2007, but otherwise they all seem to be from the 2010s, including a couple that are original to this 2019 collection.

They're fairly varied. Some are short commentaries on individual shows, others use specific shows to make larger points, and some are rather broader, like an essay on the subject of product placement in TV. There are also some profiles of particular showrunners.

Nussbaum writes with a distinctly feminist sensibility, although it is a variety particularly her own, as someone who enjoys edgy, raunchy humor and sees a valid place for stories about sexual assault and violence against women on TV, but who also has very strong feelings about the way television, and especially the shows that get labeled as "prestige television," so overwhelmingly center the straight white male perspective both in front of and behind the cameras, and about the ways in which stories more squarely aimed at women tend to be treated dismissively.

She's a good, interesting writer making some good, interesting points, and, somewhat to my surprise, I found that even when she was talking about shows I'd never seen -- which was probably at least half of them -- she almost always still easily kept my attention. And, really, I'd say this entire collection might be worth it just for the long, thoughtful essay she wrote in the wake of #metoo, grappling in a deeply honest way with the impossible question of how much it's possible to separate art from artist and what we can or ought to do with good art by terrible people. ( )

I was surprised at how much I liked the three profiles in this collection--interesting and revealing. I didn't like the long essay on Me Too. There were some interesting insights and questions raised, but it went on a long time without coming to conclusions/ suggestions I could apply. ( )

I like to watch, and I apparently like to read about watching. Television, of course. I wrote a list of every tv show in the book and now I never need to leave my apartment again, or turn off my tv again, which is every girl's dream! Television is now my spouse and I'm throwing a bridal shower where every item on my registry is a subscription to a different streaming service. ( )

I really enjoyed most of these essays. A few gave me new ways to think about series I've seen, and others encouraged me to watch some shows that I haven't gotten around to yet. Of course, the opposite is also true! ( )

I spotted this in one of those free libraries you see on the street that's usually filled with dusty paperbacks. I recognized the cover from twitter and grabbed it immediately. Like TV, I Like to Watch is self referential jumping forwards and backwards from a Sopranos piece from 2007 to a sprawling profile of Ryan Murphy from 2018. Connections bubble to the surface. A conflicted love letter to Joan Rivers sets up a pan of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel . Nussbaum drops in before each essay to muse on them like a director on a DVD commentary track. Sometimes to reflect on the writing process or sometimes just to say, "One of the SUR ensemble tweeted a winky-face emoji to me after this piece came out." A healthy mix of pans, raves, think pieces and profiles, I Like to Watch is the perfect guide to the last 40 years of television. ( )