MagneticMediaFed

It’s kind of hard to sell a product when you buy a subsidiary that will more or less give it away for free. Such is the case with the long-forgotten Google Video Store, one of the first legal on-line video retailers after Apple added television content to its iTunes music store. It’s premium service, which allowed users to buy and rent video content, is closing its figurative doors. The catch: any video purchased from the store will no longer be playable… anywhere.

Instead Google will give the users credit that can be used through their Google Checkout service. This is a problem. How do you convince people to emrace a digital format if at any moment a company can say, “Not so fast, kiddo” and essentially make all ones content a waste of zeros and ones. Granted, Google Video was embraced by few and used by fewer, but still one has to have a certain level of security in their purchases (read: DRM-FREE). It’ll be interesting to see if other companies follow suit. It also makes me wary of all of the content I have uploaded to remote servers.

[Engadget via BBC]

For those of you without the luxury of premium cable, now is your chance to check out the funniest show on television. HBO.com has posted the entire fourth episode of Flight of the Conchords for limited time… so hurry and check it out. It is currently the only thing worth regularly discussing (and by extension quoting) on the once proud cable network, and it’s worth 30 of your minutes.

Need some prodding?

Okay. Fine…

Remember when…

It’s been a long time. Too long. Honestly, I can’t even remember how things ended when we last saw our super-powered friends. Was Peter about to die, or was it Mohinder? Either way the momentum was completely killed. Now it’s three months later and we’re suppose to still be excited. Not so.

Look, at 9:59:59 PM EDT tonight, I’ll probably have been won over to the point of girly squealing, but right now at 4:48:05 PM EDT I just couldn’t care less. I’m far more interested in seeing if Drive can continue to win me over or what’s in store on Everybody Hates Chris (which is also returning after a long haitus). This is a problem. I would also suspect that this is a problem facing many Heroes fans.

I have friend(s) at work who have been spending the past few weeks enjoying the Heroes web-comic which NBC has been posting on-line since the show went off the air (actually all season), and whose story has continued despite the show being off-air. I hear they are very good and fill in a lot of details the show wouldn’t have had time to explore. I’m for this, but also against it. I’m glad there’s a place we can go to get stories involving the characters we like, but I find all of this tangential material tedious. What do they really want from us? That being said, my web-comic-reading friends are still very enthusiastic about the show and are anxiously awaiting its return… in five hours.

How about you? What lengths are you willing to go to for entertainment. Personally, last summer’s very lame Office Accountants shorts kind of turned me off to the whole idea. I feel like suplemental material could be effective if it wasn’t produced as something of an afterthought.

While I count down the minutes until The Shield returns (as of this writing, the total is somewhere around 1,980), I might as well point you toward something worth watching in the meantime. That something is The Michael Showalter Showalter which has been posted infrequently since mid-January on College Humor, a web-site that always seems like it should have something worth checking out, but rarely does.

Aside from having the best title of 2007, The Michael Showalter Showalter is your basic talk-show parody. Taking the form of a Charlie Rose for the alternative comic set, each of the episodes involves Mr. Showalter interviewing one of his friends for five minutes with cut-aways to before-and-after-the-interview hushed conversations. It’s not hilarious, but its frequently funny, which as far as web content is concerned is wholly satisfying.

So far guests have included Zach Galifianakis, Michael Ian Black (natch), David Cross and a recently updated preview of an argument with Paul Rudd. Check it out if the spirit moves you.

Go here for your other Michael Showalter related needs

I’ve never seen an episode of LonelyGirl15. I know, I know, it’s hard to believe, but it’s true. Because of this, dedicating an entire post to the adoption of product placement into the popular web series seems kind of… um… irrelevant.

Not so, dear reader!

While the adventures Bree, Daniel and Jonas have little impact on me or anyone I know (perhaps that is because I’m friends with so few 14 year olds), product placement affects everyone I know. It’s something that has been bubbling under the surface for decades. A can of soda here, a delivered pizza there (I remember in third grade reading in my Scholastic Weekly about how the new Ninja Turtles movie was going to have Dominos pizza placed throughout the movie).

I suppose the irony of all of this is that when television was first invented the advertising was so integrated into the programming you couldn’t clearly mark where the ads ended and the show began. No one seemed to have complained.

What this recent development with Lonelygirl15 suggests is that the small, ultra-independent, television-rebelling webisodes, which have started to crop up since YouTube made video a web-necessity instead of a luxury, have realized what mainstream television shows have known for years: you have to find a way to pay the bills.

The question I have to ask is how much advertising are we willing to put up with before going somewhere else for content?

On television the answer used to be a firmly established 8 minutes for every half-hour. That seemed to be enough time to make the network money and to keep us watching. DVR kind of ruined everything. If you don’t have to watch the commercials, why would you? Now product placement is the only way a company can guarantee we’ll see what they’re selling. NBC’s The Office seems to have more product placement than any other show on television right now. It’s hard to complain because without those integrated ads, the show probably would have been canceled 18 months ago.

For me, I guess the line involves believability. If every car in 24 is a Ford, that’s OK. If Michael Scott likes to go to Chili’s, that’s OK. If Vic Mackey is lugging around a MacBook or a sack full of Gap Khakis, that’s not OK. On the web, I’m more inclined to want traditional 30-second commercials before or after the clip. Integrated advertising on web video can make a program that is all ready the size and shape of a commercial lose whatever distinguishing characteristics it once had.

What’s your line?

Read about the LonelyGirl15 deal with Hershey via Business Week

The Onion has had a great run. A great run. It was a significant influence on my comedic sensibilities during my formative years. I remember when Our Dumb Century came out my senior year how my friends and I would pass it back and forth in classes for weeks. During the late 90s and early 00s you could always start a conversation with “Did you see The Onion this week?” Almost a decade later, however, the fake news outlet has lost a bit of its cache. I still pick up the hard copy each week and read the headlines, but I’m far more interested in The A/V Club than in the magazine’s comedic offerings (sidebar: The AV Club might be the greatest general interest/criticism site on the web).

When I found out that they were going to start producing video content I was interested but skeptical. After watching the first three uploads on The Onion News Network (which will be posting three videos each week) I have to say I’m impressed. Not that what they’re doing is cutting edge (honestly, who isn’t writing fake news these days?), but they’ve successfully managed to adapt the spirit of their printed stories to video, and in the process have given me a reason to check in each week. They’ve also created a wonderful web interface with ads present but unintrusive (it’s easier to stomach a sponsored clip when it comes after the thing you want to watch — with a 5 second ID before the clip).

Months ago I was having a conversation with a friend about this whole endeavor. He had brought up the fact that what The Onion does is quite different from what The Daily Show or anyone else in the business produces. We’ve seen a real anchor or real reporter covering fake news (SNL’s “Weekend Update”), we’ve seen fake anchors and fake reporters covering real news (The Daily Show/Colbert Report), but The Onion News Network produces pieces with fake anchors and reporters covering fake news stories.

You’ll see what I mean in this clip about Civil War reenactors being sent to fight in Iraq.

All in all, a great change of pace for a very likable company.

Read the AP story at the New York Times

On Friday, while watching VH1’s well-meaning new Web 2.0-derived television show Acceptable TV, there was a point at which the entire business side of our deregulated media universe suddenly and sadly became crystal clear. The show, an American Idol for funny (and short) TV pilots, should be a fantastic cross-over between old and new media. I should be. It also very easily could be. The problem is the television infrastructure simply can not allow it to be what it wants to become.

Some background: Acceptable TV is the brainchild of Dan Harmon and Rob Schrab, the wizards behind last summer’s Monster House, the recent Sarah Silverman Program, the never-produced Fox pilot Heat Vision and Jack, and most importantly the web-site/theater series Channel101.com. The premise of the show (which is also the premise of Channel-101), is that a series of short comedy pilots will air. Then you (and me) will go to a website and vote on our two favorites. The next week the top two vote getters will be back for a second episode, the other three will get cancelled and replaced by three new pilots. Rinse and repeat.

That’s where things start to get murky (things that I’ll detail right after the jump…)

(more…)

After months of flirting and/or fighting Viacom Inc. remembered the long-standing tradition of tough guys getting the girl* by sicing its lawyers on Google Inc.’s YouTube. The ubiquitous video “sharing” site, which has been alegedly hosting some 160,000 clips of Viacom properties, is now being sued by the media giant for a sum of one BILLION dollars.Viacom says: [YouTube] “harnessed technology to willfully infringe copyrights on a huge scale” and had “brazen disregard” of intellectual property laws.

YouTube says: The Digital Millenium Copyright Act protects the company from these very suits so long as they remove clips when asked.

Neither side really matters as, in this case, we are the ones with the power. In the case of YouTube, it is the user who is decided what is uploaded. If people wanted to see videos of kids lip-syncing in front of webcams, then that’s what will be uploaded. If users want the highlights from last night’s Daily Show, then that will be uploaded as well.

Half of this lawsuit could be described as old media hopelessly grasping at something that will hold off the inevitable. Though the other half, the more interesting half, is really a discussion of whether the future of web applications will be based on a closed system or an open system.

CurrentTV, which I posted about yesterday, is very much a closed system. Users upload their videos, but then it is the CurrentTV system that decided where (or if) those videos will be displayed. They don’t offer embedded video and the company has established its own rules and regulations for who holds the copyright. Legally this is great because there is no grey area. The problem is that it really limits who will see these videos.

YouTube, on the other hand, is the ultimate open network. Anyone can upload anything and then post it wherever they like with the only limits being those imposed by people who see the uploaded video and deem it either explicit or in violation of a copyright. It’s paradise for the user and hell for massive companies who make their money producing content.

No one considers CurrentTV a threat because it doesn’t step on toes. Unfortunately for Viacom toe-stepping can ultimately result in revolution — so good luck with that law suit.

Read more about Viacom’s suit against Google via BusinessWeek

*At least in the first act.

In the current media climate it is not unlikely for a new show to post its pilot on iTunes (or other on-line distribution center) weeks before its actual premiere date. It can build buzz, get the network some early feedback, and my personal favorite aspect: it untethers the programming from clutches of the network.

Though last night while purchasing the new Justin Timberlake video on iTunes I noticed something I had not seen in the online-sales-game: a new show that has yet to air on the broadcast network offering SIX(!) episodes to download (at $2 a piece).

Such is the case for FOX’s new comedy The Winner (produced by Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane). But the fun doesn’t end with iTunes (it never does). The Winner is currently on a cross-platform media blitz. Says StuidoDaily.com…

That means you’ll be able to watch new Fox series The Winner, starring The Daily Show veteran Rob Corddry, on a dizzying array of distribution platforms — Sunday night prime-time broadcasts, $1.99 iTunes downloads, “on-demand” viewing at the Fox MySpace page and local Web sites for O&O stations, DVDs for sale at Circuit City, and even in-flight viewing on Jet Blue planes. What’s more, you won’t have to wait for the series to air in sequence — four episodes are already available at FamilyGuy.com and they’ll go online at fox.com, myspace.com and the local Web sites on Tuesday (February 20). All six episodes in the series will be available as digital downloads from iTunes and other, unnamed “electronic” retailers starting Februry 20, and beginning February 25, a two-episode DVD will be used as a promotional giveaway with certain 20th Century Fox TV DVD purchases at Circuit City.
[READ]

Like I’ve said before, its a great time to be into television if you don’t happen to actually own a television.

Finally I’ll be able to watch “The Best of Hooters Swimsuit Competitions” in the glory of web-streamed grainy video.
On Monday YouTube inked a deal with Digital Music Group to bring over 4000 hours of television and film content to the ubiquitous streaming-video home. This is the first time fully-licensed, ad-supported content will be available on the site, theoretically paving the way for future monetization.

It sounds like it should work, though I don’t really hear a lot of people clamoring immediate access episodes of iSpy and The Gumby Show. Still, its a step forward and we certainly don’t want to stand in the way of progress (which I recently found out is the opposite of CONGRESS! Get it!?).

[READ]

Ain’t got time to catch a fast train
If you aren’t much of a CNBC fan or don’t regularly read about corporate hot-shots and their super-special corporate shinanagins, you might not have been following the story of Maria Bartiromo and Jet-Gate^TM. Luckily for us, The Times has ran a story filling in most of the details, though still leaving plenty of room for us to use our imaginations (personally, I’ll be imagining a unicorn riding a mini-bike).

You have got to love Bartiromo, even if she does get a little too close to her sources. After all, it was in her presence that President Bush said he’s used, “the Google.”

Remember Trio? It was the now defunct digital cable station owned by NBC. Having never watched it, though hearing an awful lot about it, it sounded a little like a VH1 for people who “like pop culture” instead of “like” pop culture. It’s biggest claim to fame was airing those awesome shows that seemed to always get cancelled by the networks (and eventually spinning them off to their current web home Brilliant But Cancelled Dot Com). I think they also used to rerun the original Late Night episodes, which is always a plus. The network dissolved a year or so back, but has recently relaunched as a web-property (hasn’t everything). Behold getTRIO.com.

Pop culture is still the focus of the new venture, and their sights are well focused: stuff to do, stuff to buy, stuff to watch. It’s basically yet another site that promises to direct you around the web better than anyone else.

Though it’s not quite as TV-y as it used to be when… um, you know… it was on TV.

With a name like Zucker, he has to be good.
NBC Entertainment President Jeff Zucker is being promoted to President of NBC Universal, replacing Bob Wright who is stepping down after running the company for 21 years. Zucker launched his career as executive producer of the Today Show (when he was 26!), making it the most profitable show on NBC and thus winning the love and admiration of most of the GE board of directors.

Along with his successes at the company, he also happened to be at the helm when NBC went from a first place network to a fourth place network. Zucker made the deals to extend the life of Friends for two seasons, which momentarily postponed the sad realization that the network had no game plan for a television landscape that didn’t revolve around sit-coms (unless you consider four different versions of Law & Order to be a game plan).

Still, if you were to ask me which broadcast network has the best shows on the air right now, I’d say NBC. So good luck with the new gig Jeff!
[READ]

Finally a place where I can see 14-year-old girls complaining on the internet!
Cable giant Comcast and web-giant(esque) Facebook will be teaming up for a new web-series “Facebook Diaries.” The show will be a compilation of user submitted videos compiled by Emmy winning producer R.J. Cutler which will then be available on Comcast’s Ziddio.com. And apparently people will log in and watch this.
[READ]

So nice to have Veronica Mars back on the air, and it’s especially nice to have Veronica back to her old, cheery, sarcastic self. The fall arc was decent, and picked up steam toward the end, but the whole thing seemed awfully mopey (I’m blaming this, in part, on the re-cut title sequence which somehow managed to suck a lot of the excitement out of the entire show). This week’s episode, which kicked off the “Who shot Dean O’Dell” storyline, was tops just about all the way through.

Though I wish Veronica had heard the same background music we, the audience, had heard while talking to Piz. She would have then realized that he was the guy she should have ended up with, not Logan. I bet Piz was hearing the music. He’s a music guy. He’s knows that when mellow, indie-rock works its way onto the soundtrack of a teen-drama, the cast members on screen are suppose to realize their hidden love for one another. They AREN’T suppose to go back with their old boyfriends.

Alas.

Also, it should be noted that this is going to be the last multi-episode arc of the season, as the last five episodes will be stand-alones (boo). AND, The CW finally realized what year it is and started putting full episodes online. So have at it!

The original plan was to post something about NBC’s Thursday night comedy line-up and/or the premiere of Scrubs‘ sixth season. And while I tuned in for everything after My Name Is Earl, I don’t know, there just didn’t seem to be anything too remarkable worth commenting about. What were we expecting? Was NBC suppose to go from being a fourth-place network to A#1 in those two short hours? Hardly. It should be noted, however, that last night’s The Office was written by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, a fact that seemed to slip by just about everyone until the opening credits rolled (or maybe just me — when no one is around I do like to call myself “everyman”).

Instead, I’d like to take this time to highlight some television goings on that most people all ready know:

• Ben Karlin is resigning as the executive producer of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. A reason for the departure has yet to be released, though in the long tradition of powerful people resigning their posts we can only assume he “wants to spend more time with his family.”
• Michael Sera (aka George Michael Bluth) has been hired by CBS to produce content for Innertube, the companies online video portal. The show will be called The Good Life, and will be about television producers because it seems to be the only thing anyone in the television industry seems to know anything about these days. Still, good news to see our boy making good– even if what we’ll be seeing will be really small, grainy, and buffering.
• For the industry-junkies out there: I read an old New York Times Magazine article the other day from the summer of 1997 about Jamie Tarses. She’s, more or less, who the Jordan McDeere character on Studio 60… is based. The story itself, from what I’ve heard, helped play a role in her ultimate demise at ABC. She was also the executive who put Sports Night on the air. You can read the Times article HERE, but you have to pay for it.
• I did end up finishing season four of The Wire this week and plan to write about it over the weekend. Quick questions: while I know that most people who read this site DON’T watch The Wire (your loss, suckers), I’d rather not spoil it for those who do. So, let me know in the comments if you’d rather have me wait to post my season-wrap-up until after it airs on HBO, or if I should post Monday after its put On-Demand? The decision is yours and yours alone. UPDATE: a The Wire MUST READ.

If you’re going to watch television online, you’re best served over at ABC.com. None of the networks can really give you a completely satisfying experience in watching their content online, but ABC comes the closest. CBS’s Innertube, on the other hand, has a fairly ugly interface but takes things a step further by uploading original content. One new series, whose pilot was recently added is The Papdids.

The Papdids is basically Borat, but focuses on a whole family who has moved to the US from India. I watched about seven minutes before turning it off. I assume the show was produced for actual television, but couldn’t cut it– I suspect this will become a trend. On its surface, the show is “technically” funny, and perhaps it would have been actually funny if not for two specific aspects: 1) Borat came out last week and couldn’t be more ingrained on the consciousness of America. Watching anything remotely similar comes off as hacky no matter how departed the material may actually be– in this case, little separates the two. 2) There’s something about Kazakhstan. Borat, as a character, works because no one really knows anything about Kazakhstan and thus Baron Cohen can make a complete backstory without anyone (aside from the Kazakhstanis) knowing any different. The Papdids on the other hand are from India. India is a huge country. There are a billion people there, many of whom work for American companies. Buying this family as clueless foreigners is not only unbelievable, but borderline racist. Unlike Borat, The Papdids aren’t exposing America’s racism, as much as making American as uncomfortable as possible. The joke is on the family, not on us. At least that’s the impression that it made before the first act break.

Elsewhere on Innertube, CBS has uploaded the entire seven episode run of Smith, the quickly canceled heist-drama staring Ray Liotta. Of the seven episodes that were created only three were broadcast. As a fan of the show, it sucks that it didn’t last long enough to find an audience, but its nice to know that the web can be used to keep those unseen eps from the dumpster.