The Comic-Con dilemma

UPDATED: NBC "Kings" panel video is below.

Earlier today I chatted with Chip Franklin of San Diego's news-talk powerhouse, KOGO, about this year's Comic-Con. Which is kind of funny, because I'm in Kansas City. After a brief stopover in the Bay Area to see my sister and take in a Giants game, I've returned home to unpack two weeks' worth of clothes and notes from the TV critics' summer press tour.

Still, there is so much freakin' journalism coming out of Comic-Con compared to just two years ago — when I last went — that it's easy to keep up on at least the TV-related developments. Well, maybe not "developments" so much as appearances: panels for "Fringe" and "Dexter" and "True Blood" and "Kings" on Thursday — all of these shows also presented at TCA. Friday's TV highlights include a screening of the spectacular high-definition animated episode, "Star Wars: Clone Wars," by Cartoon Network. It was screened for TV critics two weeks ago.

But other panels, like one for the DVD release of Robert Smigel's "TV Funhouse," bypassed TCA completely. "Doctor Who" (see photo) has a large presence at Comic-Con, but not at critics' tour.

And that got me to wondering: At what point does TV critics' tour become unnecessary to the people promoting TV shows?

As James Hibberd observed on Thursday, even less-than-cult figures like Alan Ball are showered with love from ginormous rooms full of people at Comic-Con. At TCA they get 200 people staring at them. Ian McShane didn't call anyone "ignorant" at the "Kings" panel like he did at TCA.

Furthermore, because of the linear format of TCA, there's room for only so much material. At Comic-Con, multiple TV shows can have panels presenting simultaneously. Which is probably why some TV shows skipped TCA to do Comic-Con. Meanwhile, down on the main floor, shows can have a continual presence throughout Comic-Con in their huge exhibit spaces.

Just because it's a fanfest doesn't mean the media are unwelcome. Far from it: I've gotten access to producers and executives aplenty in my prior visits. Celebrities are a trickier proposition just because of the crush of onlookers.

I guess what I'm saying is I can't wait for Comic-Con to move to Los Angeles so I won't have this yearly dilemma of whether to cover it or not.

Also on TV Barn: Comic-Con Podcast: Why do we need superheroes?