Current TV / Al Gore
Tuesday August 2, 2005
So Al Gore is introducing a new TV channel called ‘Current TV‘, he is one of the investors in this enterprise. Who is it aimed at? The ‘web’ generation. Is he capitalizing on the fact that he ‘invented’ the Internet? *tongue in cheek* From the quick rundown over at RedNova, it seems like he envisions the new network like an interactive podcast, much of the contributions coming from the viewers themselves. I will admit though, it does seem to be a good format, two to seven minute “pods” of content, with half-hourly newscasts taken from Google data. He already has a following of 20 million households (through buying an already existing news network, NewsWorld International) so we shall see from the kind of response it gets, if his idea is good or not.
Comments • [feed]
Comment 1
Sounds to me like a video blog- sort of… hmmm erase this quick before someone steals our idea! (Naw nevermind- would be just another crappy reality show by the time the networks finished with it.)
Diane commented on August 2nd, 2005
Comment 2 [ Administrator Reply ]
Well it would be a reality show made by REAL people though! (something the TV networks don’t really understand…) And yes - vodcasts are really taking off too.
rich commented on August 2nd, 2005
Comment 3
Reality? Like watching Tommy Lee go to college? Like watching Paris Hilton break a nail and ruin a farmer’s day? Like putting a bunch of silicon-filled strangers in a house and telling them to “go at it” for big bucks? Like filming every minute of anybody’s day for weeks on end? So, what would be “not real?”
mrcorey commented on August 2nd, 2005
Comment 4 [ Administrator Reply ]
Yeah as in not real Corey! Please, why would Paris Hilton go to a farm, it’s contrived, not reality per se. Silicon-filled strangers in a house, when was the last time you saw that?
Real might be say, following the life of a caterer, or the reality of politics in a big city, or a police officer’s daily routine (and most police officers do not get to fire their gun in their entire career).
The original reality shows were about people we could pretty much relate to (well, almost), and it just snowballed from there onwards. Now “real” means building a house with no exits, daily stunts and games, eating peanut and jelly sandwiches for a week, I mean this is just another corporate entertainment machine that we’re told is “reality”.
Podcasts and the like are better because everyday people make ‘em. You get the dead air as they um and aw as they try to get music on, or talk about inane bullshit that you find crazily funny or boringly dull. But either way you know the person is the person and not just a facade for show.
rich commented on August 2nd, 2005
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