The TV Barn FAQ

Hi. I'm Aaron Barnhart, and I'm in my second decade as television critic at the Kansas City Star. I also do a fair amount of media criticism, and pitch in with other cultural coverage at the newspaper, notably books, religion and classical music. (Yes, I still love watching television for a living!)

Here I am in a recent picture with Diane Eickhoff, aka Mrs. TV Barn, whose biography, Revolutionary Heart, is now in its second printing. It was awarded the Book of the Year in biography by the industry journal ForeWord Magazine and named a Kansas Notable Book by the State Library in 2007. Read more and buy the book (it's only $14.95) at the Quindaro Press website.

Beginning in February 2008, I became the editor of the Faith Walk column, which features reader perspectives on the nexus of belief and everyday life from a variety of worldviews.

As a past winner, I've been asked to serve on the advisory board for the Kansas Notable Books in 2008 and 2009.

Answers to commonly asked questions

Q: How did you get this job? Many television critics came from other sections of the newspaper. I came from the Net. Not "the Web," not "blogging" — those realms were all in the future when I started writing about TV. In 1993 I was toiling away at a Chicago real estate firm, paying down my student loans, when I began work on a David Letterman FAQ file for Usenet. At the time Usenet newsgroups (which can be viewed, as if peering through museum glass, at Google) were considered the best way to distribute messages to the Internet. Rewriting the Letterman FAQ had quickly diminishing returns, so I decided to start a newsletter. That became a weekly Internet guide to late-night television called Late Show News, which I wrote from 1994 to 1999. As I did, I went from writing for free to writing for money, first at the Village Voice (where columnist Richard Gehr discovered me) to the New York Observer (where Jim Windolf once returned my phone calls) to the New York Times (where Felicity Barringer once read my copy). Then the Star came calling. After two years at the newspaper, I closed down Late Show News and opened up TV Barn. More of my background was teased out in two very flattering profiles, one in 2001 by David Handelman in Mediaweek.com and the other in 1998 by Randall Rothenberg in Advertising Age. Also, I gave a lengthy interview to Yahoo! in 2007 that covered a lot of ground.Q: How much television do you watch?Less than you might think. After all, I have to write as well as watch (critically) TV shows during the day, and I find if I watch too much TV at night, it dulls my senses. (Some would argue that's happened already.)

So I try to use my viewing time wisely. In general, I keep up on the talked-about shows on television. That means I pay little attention to the "Criminal Intents" and "According to Jims" on the schedule while checking in often on shows like "Grey's Anatomy" and "Battlestar Galactica." Even so, I realize most of my readers already have their minds made up about shows that are on the air and are looking to me to identify interesting new programs, whether series, movies or specials (and occasionally, whole channels). So that takes priority over "24" plot points.

Q: I see you go out to the TV critics' press junket. Who's the biggest star you've met in person there?

For starters, it's not a junket. My newspaper pays to fly me out there and lodge me at luxury hotels for upwards of four weeks every year so I can attend press tour. But it gets its money's worth every time. Thanks to the Television Critics Association, I'm able to get some access to stars, producers and other people intimately involved in the making of television, twice a year. As I've written elsewhere, I've tried reporting from Hollywood without press tour's help, and it's just not very cost-effective. Press tour not only generates stories for TV Barn and the Star while I'm there, but the interviews and press conferences and site visits sponsored by the TCA provide material for  the next six months until press tour rolls around again.

As for the biggest star I've met -- well, I never did get to meet Johnny, so whatever name I throw out will seem puny by comparison.

Q: I have a great concept for a show I will be pitching to cable networks next week. I respect your opinion about TV so much, would you mind looking at a rough cut we made?

Sorry. I won't do gratis consulting work, and I can't do paid consulting work. Get your show on the network, then have a publicist send me press materials and a screener.

Q: Why do you moderate comments?

I've been doing TV Barn since 1999 and a consistent piece of feedback I get from both new and longtime readers is they like the tone of the blog. That extends to the comments. I don't mind dissenting points of view, but they must be free of personal attacks. I don't mind lengthy comments or even bad grammar or typos ... so long as the comment is on-topic. Comments that fail these tests may not be approved. Nothing personal. But I've been online probably longer than you have, and I know how vitriol can take over an online forum if it isn't checked.

Q: I would like to do a link exchange with your site.

Sorry, I don't swap links. However, if you have an RSS feed and regularly post interesting news items about television or media, I'd like to add it to my list of feeds I check routinely for TV Barn Ticker items.

Q: What happened to the tvbarn2 discussion group?

I decided to hand that list over to Tom Heald, who renamed it TVOrNotTV. Here's the link.

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I've moved information about subscribing to TV Barn using RSS and email to its own page.

Updated November 16, 2008