Caffeine and Nicotine

Welcome to Caffeine and Nicotine!

1.) Who are you?
I am A Guy Named Goo (aguynamedgoo), normal, mild-mannered writer from Maine by day, excitable primetime TV recapper by...whenever the hell I feel like it. Visit my regular LJ to learn more about me and my dynamic personality.

2.) Who else are you?
Should Goo be unable to perform his recapping duties on a show for a week, or should her interest and/or excitement be piqued to such an extent that she can't resist, trollopfop will be filling in for Goo (except for ER, which was a late addition and Ana doesn't watch it). We may be asking for guest recappers in the future.

3.) What a second...isn't there a site that already does this?
Yup, that would be Television Without Pity. I mostly started this because I was angry at the lack of effort put into the recaps of my two favorite shows on there, especially House, M.D., where the recapper has started actually making me angry (to be fair, the writers of the show already gave me a low set-point, so I guess I can't blame it all on the recappers). I decided if I wanted recaps that read between the lines and show less bias against characters that the recappers liked until popular opinion changed their opinion, I'd have to do it myself. Also, unlike TWoP, I am not going to censor the community that may form here. I may debate from time to time, but I hereby swear I will never delete a comment just because I happen to disagree with the sentiment. If you think Peter from Heroes has all the intelligence and charisma of a cantaloupe, feel free to express that sentiment, even though he's my favorite character. If you think House/Cameron on House, M.D. is the thinking man's OTP and all others are inferiour in comparison, feel free to say so, even though I personally have more of a House/Wilson bias. You want to use the f-word liberally? Go ahead. I'll probably use it freely myself.

Also, lesser known but actually worth a read (I just picked up the show because they're a little bit behind and I recently started watching regularly again and figured what the hell?), ER, which is no longer recapped by TWoP, is now recapped by Cranky Recaps. I have nothing against Cranky and urge you to read her recaps of seasons 12-early 13.

4.) If there's already sites recapping these shows, how do we know you're not just copying them?
Aside from the fact that one, that would be really easy to catch and two, it would sort of negate my reason for creating this page, my recaps are set up on a schedule so that they are released a day earlier than TWoP's, which means you can expect fresh recaps (unless something happens or I get lazy) two days before a new episode airs (with the exception of ER, since I'm busy on Tuesdays), making the new recap schedule as follows:

Heroes: Saturday
House, M.D.: Sunday
ER: Wednesday

5.) Can I help out/submit recaps?
If I would like some help in the future (which is very likely), I will make a post to that effect. You will need to submit a sample of writing, particularly essay writing (although you can write a sample recap to submit if you would like. It can be a short recap of a ten minute cartoon segment or something) to get approved. You can ask to recap a show that I do not currently recap here, but odds are I won't approve it unless I specifically say that I am open to people recapping new shows that I don't watch. (Hint: this is more likely to happen during new season time or during the summer.)

6.) Will you recap Show X in the future?
It's possible, but I highly doubt it. I might ask for more people to come on board and recap a show that is really popular or getting a lot of requests for recaps, but I rarely watch TV myself, and the three shows I currently recap are basically my only reasons for owning a TV set.

7.) Anything else we should know about the recaps?
I don't have a DVR or a VCR, so I have to DL the episodes to recap, which means that I won't have access to closed captioning. This means that my recaps of lines may be inaccurate from time to time (in which case, feel free to correct me). With medical terminology (since I am recapping two medical shows), I am mostly using my own medical knowledge here, obtained 50% from watching medical shows for nigh on 14 years (Chicago Hope, you will be missed), 20% from research for fanfiction, and 30% from studying to go to med school myself. I will make sure I consult Google liberally to check spelling and make sure my understanding of the term is correct.

8.) Can I join this comm?
Of course. By all means, feel free. You don't have to be a member to comment, though, and you will only have posting access if you're a contributor, but the comm itself is open membership.

9.) How can I contact you?
Either by e-mailing goo(at)puddleofgoo(dot)com (make sure the subject is "Recaps" or something to do with recapping, as I have a spam problem) or IM me on AIM at NoItsNotLupus.

10.) Okay, so what's with the name?
I am usually under the influence of both caffeine and nicotine at any given moment (Pepsi and Marlboros, to be precise). You're not required to partake in either substance as vigorously as I do if you want to contribute, but it helps.

11.) Explain your grading system. It's weird.
I didn't want to do a copy of the letter grading system TWoP uses, because that's a cop-out and because I don't want to be TWoP. So my grading system is as follows: I grade on a scale of number of Pepsis. Five cans of Pepsi is the highest you can get, an empty can of Pepsi is the lowest. The eps can get fractions of cans of Pepsi, too.

Thanks for tuning in!