A long time ago, we used to be friends

AA batch has been said astir TV successful 2004. That it was the best twelvemonth of television of each time, the highest of the Golden Age of television. Or possibly that it was the twelvemonth world television became excessively much, abruptly showing up connected each transmission arsenic we flipped the switch. But arsenic famed Hollywood shaper and UFO enthusiast Bryce Zabel wrote for the Los Angeles Times successful 2004, it was the end of tv arsenic we knew it. He chalked it up to the prevalence of TiVo and DVR successful American households and predicted an upheaval truthful terrible the full advertizing concern would crumble — and helium didn’t adjacent cognize astir streaming yet. 

The displacement was 1 that a batch of radical felt successful existent time. For many, it was done the amusement Lost, which debuted successful 2004 and created a fervor among obsessives trying to recognize the show’s cardinal mysteries. For me, it was a smaller but arsenic influential show: Veronica Mars.

In existent aboriginal aughts fashion, for me, it was an AIM distant connection that started it all: “BRB Watching Veronica Mars.” It was the days earlier 1 could substance oregon doomscroll portion watching TV, and mounting a coagulated distant connection portion you stepped distant from the household machine to ticker a amusement was key. Earlier that day, successful school, my friends and I had been discussing the erstwhile occurrence successful anticipation similar we did each week, dissecting the storylines and proposing our ain theories of who-done-it (no spoilers present — if you haven’t seen it, ticker it!). I came backmost to the machine during 1 of the commercialized breaks, and determination was a connection from my person with a nexus to Television Without Pity’s latest Veronica Mars recap, with the caption “DID YOU SEE THIS?” In that peculiar recap, the writer Couch Baron had made the aforesaid gag I made to her earlier that time astir connection by word. I clicked.

The recap was long, thorough, and meant to drawback TiVo-less fans up connected what they missed the erstwhile week. Reading done it, though, I felt similar the writer was 1 of my friends who I discussed the amusement with, lone helium was funnier than america and could spell connected for pages and pages offering context, theories, and Easter eggs we would ne'er deliberation of. I was hooked. Not lone did I person to ticker Veronica each Wednesday nighttime astatine 9PM — my parents did not splurge connected TiVo — but I had to work Couch Baron’s recap arsenic soon arsenic it went live. The TWoP recaps opened a model to a assemblage I didn’t cognize existed. A satellite of remark sections and forums, instrumentality theories, ships (before they were called ships), euphony credits (I spot you, Tegan and Sara), and accumulation gossip. Like Veronica Mars herself, radical connected the net were sleuths, collectively investigating and chipping into answers to the show’s biggest questions and mysteries.

And TWoP besides recaps for fundamentally each different shows connected TV. The biggest was Lost, an instant web deed that had its ain dedicated harvest of TWoP recaps and forum threads discussing the Smoke Monster, the meaning of “see you successful different life, brother,” and different oddly circumstantial breadcrumbs that the show’s creators had near for its rabid instrumentality base. It was acknowledgment to the net that I learned that “Make Your Own Kind of Music” was a ’60s deed opus by Cass Elliot truthful I could illegally download it connected Kazaa. TWoP and The AV Club had been astir for years earlier 2004, but these 2 shows heralded the user-curated TV roar that would soon follow. Just a twelvemonth aft Lost premiered, Lostpedia launched. For the 2006 season, TV wikis would go ubiquitous. By the clip the finale aired successful 2010, unrecorded tweeting was a thing, and we each collectively held our enactment arsenic we watched unneurotic connected societal media.

Unlike Lost, Veronica Mars ended up getting canceled aft lone 3 seasons. It aired connected the CW and succumbed to mediocre ratings, but not due to the fact that of fans’ deficiency of trying. We called ourselves Marshmallows (a notation to the show’s pilot) and tirelessly pleaded with audiences and executives to support it alive. While our efforts did not prevail successful keeping the amusement from getting canned, it was the fandom built successful 2004 that backed an eventual movie sequel connected Kickstarter years later.

Watching TV for maine was ever astir community, and successful 2004, I recovered 1 that was truthful overmuch bigger than the radical I saw each day. It was past — earlier streaming adjacent existed and earlier Facebook statuses and tweets were astir to let america to stock our each thought — that watching tv connected the net unneurotic was born. And present we’re here; assignment TV has been replaced by streaming subscriptions, and viral memes and personage property tours person taken implicit our algorithms. Wikis and forums are inactive around, but it’s not the same. It’s each bigger someway — the net is bigger — and being an big is much time-consuming. The cozy insulated TV communities of 20 years agone mightiness beryllium a relic of the aboriginal 2000s, erstwhile the net offered truthful overmuch anticipation but was tiny capable to marque magic.