朋友们,我们别再谈电视剧了行吗?

'Social TV' is the term for the real-time conversations happening online, and that's a major force keeping serial shows at the forefront. According to Trendrr, a company that tracks social-media activity around TV, the top 10 most-discussed dramas include young, soapy fare like 'Pretty Little Liars' (ABC Family) and 'The Vampire Diaries' (the CW). Topping the pack so far this year is HBO's epic fantasy series 'Game of Thrones, ' with an average 777, 000 social-media interactions on days an episode first airs. By comparison, the Daytona 500 broadcast on Feb. 24 had 704, 000.
“社交电视”(Social TV)一词指的是发生在网络上的关于电视节目的实时交谈，它是推动连续剧长期占据热门位置的一股主要力量。据跟踪有关电视社交媒体行为的Trendrr公司称，引发讨论最多的十大剧集包括《美少女的谎言》(Pretty Little Liars，ABC Family出品)、《吸血鬼日记》(The Vampire Diaries，CW Family出品)等吸引年轻观众的肥皂剧。其中，今年迄今为止高居首位的是HBO电视台的魔幻史诗剧《权力的游戏》(Game of Thrones)，首播时各集平均引发了777,000条社交媒体互动消息。与之相比，《戴托纳500大赛》(Daytona 500)在2月24日播出时引发了704,000条消息。

Intellectuals have long dismissed TV, except as a lens through which to study the masses. Bridgette Alexander, a Chicago-based expert in 19th-century French art history and philosophical culture, used to hide her TV habit from her scholarly friends like 'a rendezvous with a secret lover, ' she says. 'Now the conversation has shifted.'
知识分子长期以来就鄙夷电视，除非把它当作研究普通大众的渠道。布莉奇特•亚历山大(Bridgette Alexander)是芝加哥一名研究19世纪法国艺术史及哲学文化的专家，过去她都向学术界的朋友隐瞒自己看电视的习惯。她说那就像“与秘密情人幽会”一般，现在他们之间的谈话发生了转变。

Thanks to shows like HBO's 'True Blood, ' which enabled her to pipe up about political identity in the relationship between vampires and humans, TV themes are now routinely dissected on Ms. Alexander's party circuit. Over appetizers her friends have analyzed how Kevin Spacey's character in Netflix's 'House of Cards' adapts the Brechtian strategy of breaking the 'fourth wall' speaking to the audience directly as if from a three-walled stage. The group includes a political scientist, the head of an African-American studies department, an English professor and a former city attorney. 'These are the people who would say 10 years ago, 'I don't watch television, '' Ms. Alexander says.
得益于诸如HBO的《真爱如血》(True Blood)这样的剧集，现在亚历山大的派对圈开始定期分析讨论电视剧主题，她还借助这部电视剧讨论了僵尸与人类之间关系的政治认同感。她的一位朋友边吃着开胃菜边分析了凯文•史派西(Kevin Spacey)在Netflix电视台的《纸牌屋》中饰演的角色如何应用了戏剧家布莱希特的打破“第四面 ”的策略理论，仿佛从围着三面 的舞台直接向观众说话。亚历山大的这群朋友包括一名担任某非裔美国人研究部门主管的政治学家、一名英语教授和一名前市检察官。她说他们都是些在10年前会说“我不看电视”的人。

Her husband, David Alexander, mostly sticks to the 'Masterpiece' series on PBS (though he quit 'Downton Abbey' after one season because it was 'too superficial'). He says he doesn't object to the TV repartee at parties, but there have been times he privately urged his wife to rein it in.
她的丈夫戴维•亚历山大(David Alexander)大多数时候只看PBS的“经典佳作”（尽管他在看了一季《唐顿庄园》(Downton Abbey)后因为它“太肤浅”而放弃）。他说尽管他不反对在派对中谈论电视，但有时候他还是会在私下里要求妻子有所节制。

A whole category of etiquette has sprung up around the way people discuss TV (both in person and online) when they're all working through the same group of shows at different speeds. The stars of the IFC comedy 'Portlandia' satirized the social booby-traps in a sketch featuring two couples who ruin everything from 'Dexter' to 'Star Wars' for each other by blabbing crucial plot points. The clip itself, widely disseminated online, is preceded by a spoiler warning.
当人们都在看同一批电视剧但又进度各异时，围绕着他们（当面及在网上）谈论电视的方式涌现出了一整套规矩。IFC喜剧《波特兰迪亚》(Portlandia)的众明星在一个片段中讽刺了社交中的可恶行为，其描绘的两对夫妻通过泄露关键剧情来毁掉对方看电视的乐趣，从《嗜血法医》(Dexter)到《星球大战》(Star Wars)。这段视频本身在网上广为流传，视频开始之前有剧透警告。

Serialized programs that unfold over multiple seasons give viewers more time to develop relationships with their characters. That's making these shows seem more 'culturally crucial' than stand-alone entertainment like movies or books, says Daniel Menaker, a former top editor at Random House and HarperCollins, and author of a guide to conversation, 'A Good Talk.' Except for fluke blockbusters like '50 Shades of Grey, ' he says, 'I don't hear a commonality in the books people talk about.'
分为几季播出的连续剧给了观众更多时间来培养与角色的感情。曾在兰登书屋(Random House)和哈珀科林斯(HarperCollins)担任主编、撰写谈话指导类书籍《如何与人得体交谈》(A Good Talk)的作者丹尼尔•梅纳克(Daniel Menaker)指出，与看电影或看书这样的独立娱乐活动相比，电视剧似乎具有更高的“文化重要性”。他说：“除了像《五十度灰》(50 Shades of Grey)这样幸运地一举成名的作品之外，我没有听说书中有什么共同点会引发大家的讨论。”

When Brendan Francis Newnam goes to dinner with friends in New York, he grows wary when the talk locks on television, a subject that can become 'a kudzu vine that strangles out other conversations.'
布兰登•弗朗西斯•纽纳姆(Brendan Francis Newnam)发觉，与朋友在纽约一同吃晚饭时，当谈话锁定在电视剧时，这一话题可能会成为“一条扼杀其他谈话的葛藤”。

He's no snob -- he devours shows like 'Mad Men' and 'Enlightened, ' and with Rico Gagliano hosts a public-radio show called 'The Dinner Party Download, ' an omnivorous guide to arts and culture that broadcasts nationally. But Mr. Newnam recalls several gatherings that bogged down when fans of a show he doesn't watch, 'Breaking Bad, ' waxed on about Walter White, Jesse Pinkman and other complex characters. 'It's like they were talking about friends from high school, but I went to a different high school, ' he says.
他并不是愤世嫉俗之人，他也喜欢看《广告狂人》和《顿悟人生》(Enlightened)等电视剧，并与里柯•加格里亚诺(Rico Gagliano)一同主持一档名为《The Dinner Party Download》的公共电台节目，这是一档在全美范围内播出的，对艺术与文化话题无所不包的入门级节目。不过，他记得有几次聚会陷入了僵局，当时他没看的《绝命毒师》的一群粉丝专注讨论着沃尔特•怀特(Walter White)、杰西•平克曼(Jesse Pinkman)和其他一些复杂的角色。他说：“那就像他们在讨论高中时期的朋友，而我上的是另外一所不同的高中。”

Still, Mr. Newnam says he prefers talk of TV minutiae to that of viral videos, which often cause guests to whip out phones and laptops so they can compare YouTube clips. 'When that happens, ' he says, 'we might as well be eating frozen TV dinners by ourselves.'
尽管如此，纽纳姆说与如病毒般传播的视频相比，他还是更喜欢对电视剧细节的讨论，前者往往会让参加聚会的人纷纷掏出手机和笔记本电脑以便比较YouTube上的视频。他说：“如果这样的话，我们还不如自己吃着冷冻快餐呢。”