Comments > Articles

It was great to see the Onion AV Club fully come to terms with what their articles do best: provide a place for comments that are more entertaining to read than the article, such as quote Robocop and other Peter Weller films.

I've read a lot of their TV reviews lately and while the columnists are very good writers, many of the comments are just as well done, albeit more brief. I learned a great deal from the comments to reviews of The Prisoner and Lost was also good, tho both shows are tough for a simple article-sized review given their many influences.

Lately the reviews of Star Trek: The Next Generation spawn comment threads by people who, like me, watched the show as teens and have reflections on the show, the Trek franchise, and life in the late 80s. Outside of the TV reviews, it's nice to see an article about a bad movie's DVD commentary turn into a discussion of DVD commentaries that are better than their movies.

The sports site Deadspin has been aware of the power of good comments for some time and can sometimes be the funniest site on the web just based on the high level of hilarious commentary its readers provide. It reminds me a little of Jim Rome's radio show in that both are really comedy based, but it requires a great deal of specific background knowledge (being a sports fan) to get all of the jokes. If you like comedy, I'd suggest getting into sports more; it's just another set of data.