Online Publication
For this assignment, I am your editor and you write for an online publication and have been tasked with reviewing the entire first season of Special (Netflix). Some things to discuss: developments throughout, the growth of characters, the continuing plotlines, the tone overall, the design elements (costumes, set, music), the writing, the acting performances. As always, it is also important to talk about specific things, like scenes you liked, jokes you thought were funny, actors that did a great job–or vice versa, moments you think didnt work well or actors who you didnt like. What did you like/dislike about the show? What did it make you feel? What did it remind you of? If you found any connections between this show and other shows (like Shrill perhaps), movies, songs, etc. feel free to write about those comparisons, but make sure to focus on Special. You can briefly summarize the show, but try to limit this to only a sentence or two, reviews should not be recaps/summaries and it is a genre convention that reviews do not spoil the plot. So instead of summarizing, focus on giving your opinions, on reviewing Special, and writing about what you liked/disliked, what was successful/unsuccessful, what was done well/poorly, etc. For examples of this type of writing, check out reviews on Vulture, Variety, or The Guardian. Make sure to look at these examples so you can mirror the conventions of writing an online journalism review for a TV show. Some conventions to look for: whenever characters are introduced, the name of the actor gets introduced, generally write in short paragraphs, make sure to end the review with a strong sentence stating your overall opinion.
