Darby Semeniuk

Name: Darby Semeniuk

Contribution: Columnist of “The Big Picture”, covering the trends on TV affection society.

Twitter: @HiDarby

Favourites TV Genres: Drama, Comedy, Reality Shows.

Favourites TV Shows: Breaking Bad, True Blood, Dexter, Nurse Jackie, Mad Men, Desperate Housewives, Brothers & Sisters, United States of Tara, Gossip Girl, Entourage, The Simpsons, Family Guy, Saturday Night Live, Big Brother, Dancing with the Stars (although I’m thinking of abandoning this), So You Think You Can Dance, The Hills, anything on HGTV and TLC, America’s Next Top Model, America’s Best Dance Crew, Project Runway, American Idol.

About Me:

Hey Everyone,

You already know my Twitter persona and love for all things HBO, but I’ll back it up and introduce myself beyond the 140-character updates.

Television captured me as a very young only child – I can’t remember a time before there was a TV in my bedroom, and instead of memories of siblings and play dates, I remember what Dorothy, Rose and Blanche were up to on Saturday nights. Television was my companion, my comfort and my mentor.

A couple decades later, TV is still my number one interest. Armed with a Bachelor of Arts and the beginnings of a career in communications, I can now sensibly filter the world of television to select shows that have the most meaning, personally and for the world around me. Although I mostly seek out interesting, life-changing drama, I have plenty of guilty pleasures too. I’m interested in writing about any of it, and I’d also like to explore overarching TV trends that say something about our society (i.e. the rise and fall of the soap opera, the evolving reality TV world, those sorts of things).

Our difficulties connecting by instant messenger are funny and timely, because it’s a running joke that I’m always a couple steps behind the rest of the world technologically, and this holds true in my television habits too. I don’t TIVO, I don’t watch TV on the internet, I don’t have HD or a flat screen, and I only recently got digital cable. It might also be interesting to write about my evolution into these new ways of enjoying television.

I mentioned a career in communications, so I’ll expand on that a bit. I completed an interdisciplinary arts degree at the University of Calgary, and decided that public relations and communications were my strengths. I worked at a full-service firm in Calgary for a few years, where I managed annual reports, document design, web projects and investor relations materials for clients. I moved to Saskatoon two years ago, and since have been a corporate and public affairs adviser to Saskatoon Health Region, which manages ten hospitals, hundreds of community services and more than 12,000 employees. I write a lot of non-fiction, health-related newsletter-style pieces at work, while venting my television voice through Twitter.

I also try to travel to LA and Vegas each year to indulge my love of all things entertainment. Most recently, I visited Warner Brothers in Burbank, including the sets of Two and Half Men, Gilmore Girls, ER and Friends, attended tapings of Jimmy Kimmel and Jay Leno, and screened a new reality show at CBS Television City.

That’s it from me for now, but keep an eye open for my trendy column.

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