... work right here. (Yes, I'm biased.) I certainly can't pay them -- not yet, anyway -- but I can thank them. And I thought right now would be a good time, since we hit a record number of posts this month. One hundred posts in June. !!! That's a whole lot of good writing. It's not easy to just keep posting reviews week after week, let me tell ya.
So I'd like to thank all twelve of them for doing such a great job. Jess Lynde, Paul Kelly, Ben P. Duck, Sandy aka Dr. Nana Mom, Harry Earle, Mark Greig, Adam aka maxpower03, Samantha M. Quinn, Panda, Nadim and ChrisB. And especially Josie Kafka, who is my site partner, and does a whole lot around here. I don't know what I did without her.
I started writing reviews in 1997 and posted them on a number of different sites. After TV Tome went down, I started the billiedoux.com site in March 2004, and added the blog in June 2005. (Unfortunately, it took way too long for me to start posting episode reviews on the blog; for years, they were just on the site, and there was no way to post comments. Ah, regrets, that's a big one.)
And I am inspired to post some statistics.
There are 3,444 posts on the blog, as of this moment.
There are 15,922 comments. Nearly sixteen thousand! We got an average of 400 comments a month in 2011, but I suspect it will be closer to 700 a month in 2012. That's the right direction. Especially since, the first year on the blog, I got an average of 11 per month.
When I started the site, I had five shows. I had reviewed Buffy and Angel, and was reviewing Alias, Lost, and The Dead Zone. As of tonight, we have covered, or are covering, 61 shows, along with movie and book reviews.
The most popular shows on the site and blog year after year have been Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Lost, although other shows have edged them out now and then.
For some reason I'll never fathom, the most popular post on the blog is a movie review I did just last summer: Interview with the Vampire, with 9,552 page views. We're a television site. Go figure.
And even though I'm not certain, I think the Lost finale holds the record for number of comments (88).
We'll have to have some sort of blow-out anniversary celebration in 2014. Here's hoping that if we're lucky enough to get bigger and possibly well known (I can dream), that we'll still have the best writers in the universe. And the same terrific community of readers that we have now.
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--- Billie Doux loves good television and spends way too much time writing about it.
Let me be the first to congratulate you on all these achievements. I've only been active here for a few months but i can fully attest to the appeal of this blog. You've surrounded yourself with passionate witty writers who always bring a lot more to the plate than the usual mainstream reviewers out there.
ReplyDeleteThanks for all the reviews and here's to much more to come!
100 posts! Woo-hoo!
ReplyDeleteI'm so happy I found your site, then started writing reviews (in December 2008!), and then got to help with the behind-the-scenes stuff.
This is such a wonderful community of intelligent writers and readers. I'm so proud of us, so grateful for what a good thing we have here, and so honored, Billie, that you let me be a part of it.
Not bad for a group of writers who are really just kittens with wi-fi and too much time on their paws.
MIAOW! *chases ball of twine*
ReplyDeleteWere we not separated by land and sea and I'd hug you all right now. Sod it, I'm hugging my monitor and pretend it's each any every one of you (yes, even you, Paul).
ReplyDeleteHere a hug right back at ya, Mark.
ReplyDeleteSomeone should disentangle Paul before he hurts himself.
Too late, my shoulder's gone again.
ReplyDeleteWe can't take you anywhere. I'll get the scissors and cut him loose.
ReplyDeleteHold still, Paul. This won't hurt a bit.
ReplyDeleteCongrats everyone! This is a fantastic site, hopefully it'll only get bigger and better!
ReplyDeleteWowwww
ReplyDeleteBillie, I've emailed you twice to tell you how much I love your-this-our blog. Let's make it official with this comments LOL
You guys (and galls) rock. Big time.
Josie, quoting you :
ReplyDelete"a wonderful community of intelligent writers and readers"
Indeed. Way too many discordant voices on the Internet these days.
Adding a 3rd comment, just to increase exponentially the stats :
ReplyDeleteMeeeeeoooowwww
It's truly an honour to be part of this site, both as a reader and a writer. I may be biased as well, but it is my favourite site on the web; certainly, one of the very few I tend to visit every day.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on all the achievements, Billie. You deserve it all and more.
Congrats.
ReplyDeleteAnd MEOW too!
Congratulations, I should post more. 1st of July resolution. :)
ReplyDeleteI didn't realise this until this post but I've been reading your stuff since this site began. Weird.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations and thank you, this site is really fantastic and you've turned me on to a lot of great TV.
Dear Billie, I have been following you since 1997 (on tvtome). Watching a show I love then reading your review has been a ritual for me since. I have been through high school, university, got a job... and now you feel like an old friend to me. When I feel like watching a new show, I always check this site to see what Billie and others think. Thank you for sharing your passion with us.
ReplyDeleteThank you all for taking time out of your busy days and "regular" jobs to write such wonderful, entertaining, and insightful reviews. I always look forward to coming here and reading the latest.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Billie! And thanks, as always, for inviting me to be part of your site and for trusting me enough to start reviewing shows alongside you.
ReplyDeleteBut thanks, most of all, for bringing together a diverse collection of writers and for working to keep this a place for civil and engaging discourse (and the occasional less intellectual drooling over sexy favorites). I'm so very happy to have found a writing home in a place where we can disagree without getting nasty.
This is a lovely post, and I think everybody here echoes your own sentiments by thanking you for pulling this whole thing together. And special mention to Josie, naturally.
ReplyDeleteHappy Fourth, everybody!
Allo, Billie.
ReplyDeleteSince I discovered your site, I never had an urge to find any other to get reviews and other new regarding shows that I love to watch on TV. Reviews that you and the other writers make are quite original and downright honest that one is encouraged to make their own opinion (with proper writing ethics, of course) without fear of receiving any backlash because you and the other writers value and respect others opinion, too. I have rarely left any comments in any sites but in billiedoux.com, I find myself encouraged to say something if not just to give my own opinion. My thanks and congratulations to you and the other writers, especially Josie for doing such a wonderful job in maintaining this site. Followers like me always have something to look forward to whenever we go online. The Truth Is Always Here. May The Force Be With You Always. :)
Billie,
ReplyDeleteYou are too kind.
I really appreciate the opportunity to continue to ramble in print at a site where their is a reasonable chance that the reading audience is wider than that of when I stick a post-it on my fridge. The reason that audience is there is because of you and Josie and the whole crew. Thanks
First off, I so glad I've found a online community of fellow cat lovers. There aren't enough of us, really.
ReplyDeleteSecond, that was a lovely post, and I'm so glad to be a part of this site. Everyone's wonderful and all of the writing is stellar. Here's hoping for an even bigger season for 2012-13.
Two paws or four up for your excellent writers. Love the reviews and the non-combative mood here.
ReplyDeleteAnna
Congratulations on the terrific stats, guys! This is the TV review site, and it's gotten me started on half of my favorite shows.
ReplyDeleteBillie
ReplyDeleteThis is the only review site I visit every day, since the much missed Scoopme disappeared. Not only do you review just about every TV show I'm interested in, but do it in such a wonderfully witty way that there is no need to go elsewhere. Long may you continue!