I just had a discussion with my girlfriend Marilyn about reading user reviews on the Internet. She advised me that she started writing reviews on Trip Advisor because she thought it was very important to share information. She also reads the reviews of others to get a realistic opinion of what to expect on future vacations.

I didn’t tell her at the time that I found her comment very timely because we got involved in another conversation, but I made a mental note of what she said. Marilyn’s remark represents a new trend in the 50-plus crowd. We are all reading and relying on reviews more then ever now that the Internet allows us to express ourselves more. I have friends who will not go to a restaurant, a show, a movie, or on a trip without reading all the reviews from people who went there first.

I used to hear people referring to Consumer Reports all the time because of their expertise. Now Internet users don’t want that. They want to hear from others like themselves. They don’t want anything colored. They want the pedestrian viewpoint.

The good news is that the review opportunity is being extended to television shows. While some sites may offer a taste of television reviews, the master of movie reviews, Rotten Tomatoes, just announced that its social movie site, Flixster, is launching TV Zone. The first reviews will be for prime time scripted TV series.

The official announcement says:

“The parameters for a good score will be similar to the site’s movie rules: to be “Certified Fresh” a series must have 60% positive reviews, and the same cutoffs apply. But film and TV are different and there will be growing pains on how to apply the site’s processes to the TV side.”

At launch, the site will provide both professional and Flixster-user coverage. I hope everyone takes advantage of this new opportunity. We can now all be TV reviewers at our age. Who ever thought?