I wrote a ratings scale.  Good for me.

Here's how I rate my episodes:

W. Joseph Thomas's Ratings Scale:

4 stars – Shockingly Good

You will probably remember this for a very long time, perhaps the rest of your life.  It's a triumph of storytelling as an art form, and, if the genre historians don't note it carefully as an exemplar of its period and style, they should.  It will show up in internet fan "best of" polls until the end of time.  Think Serenity, "All Good Things...", or "The Measure of a Man."   This rating will, obviously, be given on extremely rare occasions.

3.5 – Outstanding

3 – Good

2.5 – Average-Plus

If all is right with the world, most episodes (one standard deviation, or about 68%) will fall into this "average" range (one-and-a-half to three stars).  In fact, if I do my job right and I'm reviewing the right shows, my reviews as a whole should pretty much reflect the normal distribution.

2 – Average-Minus

1.5 – Mediocre

1 – Bad

.5 – Abysmal

0 – Shockingly Bad

You will probably remember this for a very long time, though you won't want to.  It's a horrific example of how a sufficiently skilled writer can transcend all known levels of badness and create a new layer of storytelling hell in one fell stroke.  Not only must these be bad; they must be searingly bad.  I'm talking about horrors like "Shades of Grey" or "These Are The Voyages" or the entire first season of Torchwood.    Needless to say, this rating will be given on extremely rare occasions.