朋友們,我們別再談電視劇了行嗎?

When 21-year-old Stuart Goldberg went into a job interview last fall with a partner at the consulting firm McKinsey & Co., the University of Pennsylvania senior expected to discuss his 3.8 grade-point average, his internships in private equity or the data-crunching he'd done for the Philadelphia Eagles. Instead, the interviewer went straight for a different bullet point on Mr. Goldberg's resume: his interest in the cable-television series 'Breaking Bad.'
去年秋季，在接受諮詢公司麥肯錫(McKinsey &Co.)的一位合夥人的面試時，21歲的賓夕法尼亞大學(University of Pennsylvania)大四學生斯圖亞特•戈德伯格(Stuart Goldberg)本以爲他們會討論他3.8的平均學分績、他在私募股權基金的實習經歷或是他曾爲費城老鷹隊(Philadelphia Eagles)做過的數據分析等，反之，面試官直接跳到了他簡歷上的另外一項：他對電視連續劇《絕命毒師》(Breaking Bad)的興趣。

They spent 10 of the interview's 45 minutes discussing the dark drama about a high-school teacher who becomes a methamphetamine kingpin, Mr. Goldberg recalls. 'I was shocked that he wanted to allocate so much time to that.'
戈德伯格回憶說，在那次爲時45分鐘的面試中，他們花了10分鐘時間討論這部講述一名中學老師成爲一個冰毒毒梟的犯罪類劇集。他說：“他想在那個話題上花這麼多時間，這讓我很是驚訝。”

The candidate was also pleased that his strategic decision to represent himself with a 'popular yet relatively highbrow' TV show had worked. He starts as a business analyst at McKinsey this summer, the consulting firm confirms.
讓求職的戈德伯格感到欣喜的是，他策略性地決定以一部“熱播但格調相對較高”的電視劇來展現自己，並起到了正面作用。麥肯錫證實，戈德伯格將於今年夏季在該公司開始商業分析師工作。

Everywhere you go it seems as if all anyone wants to talk about is TV. Watching the boob tube used to be the couch potato's hobby, hardly a subject to trot out over cocktails. Now, that stigma has vanished, and a few knowing remarks about 'House of Cards' can confer gravitas. Ever since fictional mob boss Tony Soprano had an existential crisis over the ducks in his swimming pool in 1999, viewers have been feasting on a growing bounty of high-quality dramas.
無論你走到何處，似乎大家想討論的都只是電視節目。看電視以往就是整天躺在沙發上的電視迷的愛好，絕非可以在雞尾酒會上大談特談的話題，而如今，這一污名已經消失，就《紙牌屋》(House of Cards)發表幾句有見解的評論能讓人顯得莊重。自從虛構的黑幫老大託尼•索普拉諾(Tony Soprano)因爲自己泳池中的鴨子而產生存在感危機後，觀衆們飽覽了越來越多的高質量劇集。

The result is that TV has infiltrated almost every setting, from dinner parties to the torrent of tweets on Sunday nights. That's when a glut of good shows air, causing twice the amount of TV-related activity on social media than on Mondays, the next busiest night. Major publications (including this one, which has a law professor and Supreme Court advocate leading a 'Mad Men' discussion online) recap every plot development, even of ratings-challenged shows.
其結果是，電視劇滲透進了幾乎每一個場合中，從晚宴到週日晚間大量涌現的推文均如此。週日晚間正是大量優質劇集播出之時，這使得當晚社交媒體上與電視劇相關的消息數量比繁忙度次之的週一高出一倍。一些主要刊物（包括請了一名法學教授兼最高法院律師在網上引導對《廣告狂人》(Mad Men)的討論的這本刊物）重述每一個情節，甚至也討論收視率不佳的劇集。

Some people are ready to change the subject. Art adviser Elizabeth Jacoby is a dedicated follower of 'Suits' (USA), 'Mr. Selfridge' (PBS) and 'Shameless' (Showtime). But the vice president of New York consulting firm BSJ Fine Art has lost patience with certain shows that hog more than their fair share of discussion time among friends and colleagues.
有些人則願意換換話題。紐約諮詢公司BSJ Fine Art的副總裁、藝術顧問伊麗莎白•雅各比(Elizabeth Jacoby)是《金裝律師》(Suits，USA電視臺出品)、《塞爾福裏奇先生》(Mr. Selfridge，PBS電視臺出品)和《無恥之徒》(Shameless，Showtime電視臺出品)的忠實粉絲。儘管如此，她也忍受不了某些劇集在朋友及同事的談話間佔據了過多的時間。

'I begrudgingly read Plutarch for college, and I begrudgingly watched 'Girls' to know what all the fuss was about. But I don't want to talk about Plutarch, and I don't want to talk about 'Girls, '' she says, referring to the HBO series created by and starring Lena Dunham. The comedy, featuring lots of cringe-worthy sex, stifling jobs and frequent nude appearances by Ms. Dunham, made a big splash with critics and pundits that was disproportionate to its relatively puny viewership.
雅各比說：“我在大學時不情願地讀了普魯塔克(Plutarch)，後來又勉強自己看了《都市女郎》(Girls)以瞭解這些亂七八糟的東西都在講些什麼。但是我不想討論普魯塔克，也不想討論《都市女郎》。”她口中所說的這部HBO電視臺的劇集由莉娜•杜漢姆(Lena Dunham)編劇和主演。這部喜劇有大量讓人尷尬的性場景、沉悶壓抑的工作描述以及杜漢姆本人頻頻裸體出鏡的畫面，這在評論家和知識界種引起了軒然大波。而相對於該劇規模較小的觀衆羣體來說，這些人所佔的比例有些超常。

Recent months have seen additions to the ranks of obsessively watched shows, including FX's 'The Americans, ' about married Soviet spies embedded in an American suburb at the peak of the Cold War, and, on the frothier side, ABC's 'Scandal, ' a series about a Washington fixer that goes to outlandish lengths to live up to its title.
最近幾個月，吸引觀衆沉迷其中的劇集又有了新成員，其中包括FX電視臺的《美國諜夢》(The Americans)以及由ABC電視臺出品、更淺薄一些的《醜聞》(Scandal)。前者講述了前蘇聯一對間諜夫婦在“冷戰”高峯期潛伏在美國某郊區的故事，後者則講述了華盛頓某專門幫人解決醜聞危機的公關公司的故事，其中無所不用的手段無愧於它的片名。

Throughout the year, networks (and now upstarts like streaming-media services) are rolling out series that seem meaty enough to merit at least a first round of sampling and debate. This week, the Sundance Channel introduced 'Rectify, ' a simmering drama about a man released into his small hometown after 20 years in prison for a heinous crime. On May 26, Netflix will unveil 15 new episodes of a densely woven comedy that disappeared from network TV seven years ago, 'Arrested Development.'
在這一整年裏，各大電視臺（現在流媒體等新興平臺也加入其中）推出了似乎內容足夠有料、至少值得頭一輪品鑑和辯論的劇集。其中，Sundance電視臺前不久推出了《昭雪》(Rectify)一劇，這部逐漸升溫的劇集講述了一名男子因一項彌天大罪蹲了20年監獄，出獄後回到自己的家鄉──一個小城鎮──後發生的故事。此外，Netflix將於5月26日開始播出一部七年前從電視上消失的喜劇──《發展受阻》(Arrested Development)的15集新劇集。

A new halo of prestige now floats over serialized dramas. Recently the Paris Review, the 60-year-old literary journal whose 'Writers at Work' feature has included Capote, Hemingway and Nabokov, commissioned the first-ever interview in that series with a television writer: Matthew Weiner, creator of 'Mad Men.'
現在連續劇的上空又懸浮着一個新的權威光環。前不久，《巴黎評論》(Paris Review)，這本擁有60年曆史的文學期刊的《作家訪談錄》(Writers at Work)欄目有史以來第一次對一名電視編劇、《廣告狂人》的編劇馬修•威納(Matthew Weiner)進行了採訪。該專欄曾報道過的名人包括卡波特(Capote)、海明威(Hemingway)和納博科夫(Nabokov)等。

'The stuff is art, ' says editor Lorin Stein. He still doesn't own a TV set. ('The day is short. I love to read.') But the 40-year-old has polished off a select group of series on his computer or with friends. To discuss, say, the themes of masculinity in the moody FX comedy 'Louie' is an instinctive part of the experience, he says.
該期刊總編洛林•斯坦恩(Lorin Stein)稱，採訪的內容是關於藝術的。今年40歲的斯坦恩現在依然沒有電視。（“日子很短，我喜歡讀書。”）不過，他在電腦上或與幾位朋友一起粗略看完了一批精選出的電視劇。他說，比如討論FX電視臺情感類喜劇《路易的故事》(Louie)中的男性氣概主題便是看電視過程中的一種本能行爲。'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.
“社交電視”(Social TV)一詞指的是發生在網絡上的關於電視節目的實時交談，它是推動連續劇長期佔據熱門位置的一股主要力量。據跟蹤有關電視社交媒體行爲的Trendrr公司稱，引發討論最多的十大劇集包括《美少女的謊言》(Pretty Little Liars，ABC Family出品)、《吸血鬼日記》(The Vampire Diaries，CW Family出品)等吸引年輕觀衆的肥皂劇。其中，今年迄今爲止高居首位的是HBO電視臺的魔幻史詩劇《權力的遊戲》(Game of Thrones)，首播時各集平均引發了777,000條社交媒體互動消息。與之相比，《戴託納500大賽》(Daytona 500)在2月24日播出時引發了704,000條消息。

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.'
知識分子長期以來就鄙夷電視，除非把它當作研究普通大衆的渠道。布莉奇特•亞歷山大(Bridgette Alexander)是芝加哥一名研究19世紀法國藝術史及哲學文化的專家，過去她都向學術界的朋友隱瞞自己看電視的習慣。她說那就像“與祕密情人幽會”一般，現在他們之間的談話發生了轉變。

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.
得益於諸如HBO的《真愛如血》(True Blood)這樣的劇集，現在亞歷山大的派對圈開始定期分析討論電視劇主題，她還藉助這部電視劇討論了殭屍與人類之間關係的政治認同感。她的一位朋友邊吃着開胃菜邊分析了凱文•史派西(Kevin Spacey)在Netflix電視臺的《紙牌屋》中飾演的角色如何應用了戲劇家布萊希特的打破“第四面 ”的策略理論，彷佛從圍着三面 的舞臺直接向觀衆說話。亞歷山大的這羣朋友包括一名擔任某非裔美國人研究部門主管的政治學家、一名英語教授和一名前市檢察官。她說他們都是些在10年前會說“我不看電視”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.
她的丈夫戴維•亞歷山大(David Alexander)大多數時候只看PBS的“經典佳作”（儘管他在看了一季《唐頓莊園》(Downton Abbey)後因爲它“太膚淺”而放棄）。他說盡管他不反對在派對中談論電視，但有時候他還是會在私下裏要求妻子有所節制。

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.
當人們都在看同一批電視劇但又進度各異時，圍繞着他們（當面及在網上）談論電視的方式涌現出了一整套規矩。IFC喜劇《波特蘭迪亞》(Portlandia)的衆明星在一個片段中諷刺了社交中的可惡行爲，其描繪的兩對夫妻通過泄露關鍵劇情來毀掉對方看電視的樂趣，從《嗜血法醫》(Dexter)到《星球大戰》(Star Wars)。這段視頻本身在網上廣爲流傳，視頻開始之前有劇透警告。

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.'
分爲幾季播出的連續劇給了觀衆更多時間來培養與角色的感情。曾在蘭登書屋(Random House)和哈珀科林斯(HarperCollins)擔任主編、撰寫談話指導類書籍《如何與人得體交談》(A Good Talk)的作者丹尼爾•梅納克(Daniel Menaker)指出，與看電影或看書這樣的獨立娛樂活動相比，電視劇似乎具有更高的“文化重要性”。他說：“除了像《五十度灰》(50 Shades of Grey)這樣幸運地一舉成名的作品之外，我沒有聽說書中有什麼共同點會引發大家的討論。”

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.'
布蘭登•弗朗西斯•紐納姆(Brendan Francis Newnam)發覺，與朋友在紐約一同吃晚飯時，當談話鎖定在電視劇時，這一話題可能會成爲“一條扼殺其他談話的葛藤”。

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.
他並不是憤世嫉俗之人，他也喜歡看《廣告狂人》和《頓悟人生》(Enlightened)等電視劇，並與裏柯•加格里亞諾(Rico Gagliano)一同主持一檔名爲《The Dinner Party Download》的公共電臺節目，這是一檔在全美範圍內播出的，對藝術與文化話題無所不包的入門級節目。不過，他記得有幾次聚會陷入了僵局，當時他沒看的《絕命毒師》的一羣粉絲專注討論着沃爾特•懷特(Walter White)、傑西•平克曼(Jesse Pinkman)和其他一些複雜的角色。他說：“那就像他們在討論高中時期的朋友，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.'
儘管如此，紐納姆說與如病毒般傳播的視頻相比，他還是更喜歡對電視劇細節的討論，前者往往會讓參加聚會的人紛紛掏出手機和筆記本電腦以便比較YouTube上的視頻。他說：“如果這樣的話，我們還不如自己吃着冷凍快餐呢。”