Well hello there. Thanks for stopping by. In case you’re wondering if you should visit again, here’s a brief FAQ* about this site:

So…who are you?
I’m Sarah, and all my life I’ve had a major slight addiction to television. (Example: In the third grade, I dressed up as Lucille Ball for Halloween. What can I say, I’ve always been a trendsetter.)  Sometimes this is good – I can always recommend a show, and friends and family say I haven’t steered them wrong yet. Sometimes this isn’t so good – those same friends and family can only listen to me talk about how I still haven’t gotten over the last two seasons of Gilmore GIrls, and why Spike is superior to Angel, for so long. Years ago, I started a blog called Basically Anything That’s Awesome, as an outlet for these thoughts and obsessions. I loved writing it, but the lack of focus made it hard to sustain. My hope is by retooling the blog with a specific focus, I will kill two birds with one stone: catch up on TV shows I always meant to watch, and improve my writing. If in the process, other people watch and read along, that’s great.

What makes you qualified to talk about TV?
I’m not a professional, but I’ve always wanted to write about TV for a living. I had bi-weekly column and blog at a newspaper for a few years – does that count? If you are here to look for deep analysis of why Mary Richards is a feminist icon, whether or not Tony Soprano lives, or how Andy Kaufman’s off-camera demeanor contrasted with the character he played on Taxi, I’m not your girl. Go visit the AV Club. But if you want to have a fun, low-stakes conversation about classic TV shows and what makes them, er, classic, then welcome and I hope you stick around.

How do you determine what you’re going to watch next?
Good question, and I’m not 100% sure yet. I have a pretty long list of shows – you can read about how it was generated here. My thought for now is to rotate comedy and drama. The first show up is Mary Tyler Moore – simply because I’ve already started watching. After that I’ll switch to a drama, and continue the cycle.

This sounds neat. I know of a great show you should watch!
Great! I am open to suggestions. Leave a note in the comments or send me an email. I’m keeping a list, and envision this to be an ongoing project. Suggest away. However, please note that my intention is to finish one series before going on to the next. So if you suggest something when I’m on season 1 of a 7 season show, it could be awhile.

I really want to watch show X, but see it isn’t on your list. Have you seen it already? Will you revisit shows you’ve already watched?
I’m not opposed to that – revising old shows I grew up watching is one of my very favorite things to do. (I’m looking at you, Cheers, Frasier and Friends.) For now, I’m going to keep it to ones I haven’t seen, but the future remains uncertain. Always. Because it’s the future. Get it?

I would love to follow along – what is your schedule?
Great! I welcome people to watch with me and send me their thoughts. As I said, I’m going one show at a time, one season at a time. My thought right now is to post weekly updates. How many episodes will be determined by the length of the show and how much time I have that week. At the end of every post, I will let you know what’s on deck for the following week. Last, I will only pick shows that are available through Netflix – either streaming or DVD, so if you don’t have it, you should be able to access it.

How can I contact you with comments, suggestions, or analyses?
You can always leave me a comment in the comments section. I can also be reached at retrosarah[at]retrowatching[dot]com, or on Twitter @popquoting

Thanks for your interest, and I look forward to watching with you!

*(Not actually an FAQ, just some questions I thought people may have.)