Free to be....wanky
First wank!

So Monday was the new network, the CW's, day to present at the TCA summer tour. Several (well, at least two) shows had press conferences featuring a star or two from the show and the show runner. Over on his blog, Tim Goodman , a TV critic for the San Francisco Chronicle, gives a recap of the days events. In it he contends that the only reason Gilmore Girls exists is to bring viewers in for Veronica Mars. While describing the difference between the Gilmore Girls press conference and the Veronica Mars press conference, he says, in regards to Alexis Bledel, star of Gilmore Girls, "Bledel's disinterested approach to the proceedings reaffirmed long-held critical beliefs that her best personality trait is one someone else writes for her."

It starts off mostly along the lines of, "OMG!!!11! He insulted my favorite show/actress!!!1!!11 He is such a hack!!!!1!! Just to punish him, I'm not going to watch Veronica Mars because he praised it." Most comments are so similar, they could all be written by the same person. (One comment summed it up quite well:

RotoJeff: These form comments are awesome:

1. Assert that Tim made a personal attack.
2. State that he "crossed the line."

[optional]

3. Demonstrate lack of awareness of irony by making a personal attack on him (bonus points for using the word "hack" and the phrase "desparate for attention").
4. Insult Veronica Mars merely because Tim praised it.)

Then the conspiracy theories start:

fatham: Tim Goodman’s personal attack on Alexis Bledel was wrong and totally uncalled for. For that, i will boycott Veronica Mars. Why you say? Because it was the people behind that show who put Tim up to it to promote their show.

michmike: As for Tim Goodman’s comments about Alexis Bledel, I do think that he went a bit too far with his personal attack that did cross the line. There was no reason for it and I think it might have blown up in his face considering the fact that he only did it to promote Veronica Mars. I think some of the Gilmore Fans will take out their anger on the show for what Tim did and it will in fact be canceled. When that happens, I will post a copy of Tim’s article to every Veronica Mars fan web site to show them how the seeds were planted by this article that had their beloved show canceled.

One of the defenders decides to compare the situation to one faced on the show, which sparks an argument about who is the better fan:

gigi24: Didn't Rory go off on some ballet dancer in one episode, called her a drunken hippo (among other brutal observations), then faced comical threats of violence from said ballerina? Wasn't it later decided that a real journalist tells the truth no matter who it hurts? So Rory then proceeds with destroying some crappy concert? Wasn't that the moral of the story -- Rory has to stick to her brutal, vicious guns even if it makes her unpopular?

Don't you people even watch the show?

bobyq: No offence gigi24 but if you saw that episode, you would have notice that Rory only criticize the ballerina ability to dance, not the person herself. What Tim Goodman did was to attack Alexis personally and that’s in my opinion going way too far.

gigi24: bobyq, Rory compared the girl to a hippo. The ballerina with a fat roll (according to earlier in the episode) being called a hippo is not an attack on the person herself? Sorry, you lost me on that.

lauramf: Excuse me gigi24 but when Rory compared the girl to a hippo, she was talking about the way she was dancing on stage, not the person herself. If you are going to try to lie about the episode, try to get your facts strait before you open your mouth.

No matter how you try to spin it, what Tim Goodman did was wrong and i agree with the majority here in contemning him.

gigi24: Jeez, I can't believe I wasted my time doing this, but Rory also included a line in the review about the "fat roll around the bra strap." So, she's hippo-like and has fat rolls. That's only about her dancing, though, not the girl herself? Suuure.

Ice_X gets quite huffy about the fact that this is obviously "ENGINEERED" by an Alexis Bledel fan group. (Though, actually, I was trying to figure out who was linking to this post, and none of the Bledel fansites I could find had it, but I stumbled across a link to it when I wasn't looking for it on the WB/Tribune Gilmore Girl's website. About halfway down the page it says "Brutal Blogging" though the comments on that aren't wanky in the same way.) Ice_X goes on for several comments, but his/her efforts are for naught, as the form comments continue.

It's at 72 comments right now, on a blog that normally gets around 10, and I expect the wank will continue for at least one more day.