Reel Pop

Nothing but Net worth for March Madness

By Andrew Wallenstein

Not since the Summer Olympics has Internet video had the kind of gamechanging opportunity that will come its way beginning this week with March Madness On Demand, CBS' online home for the NCAA men's basketball tournament. But if CBS Sports can continue the momentum it has experienced in recent years, it will do more than just further establish the Internet as a go-to place for premium content, but set up an more interesting competition in 2014. 

Any lingering doubts about the staggering 11-year, $6 billion deal CBS signed to keep March Madness in 1999 have eroded as the value of what seemed then an afterthought--new-media rights--are putting a whole new layer of worth on the franchise. Sure, CBS has projected a $30 million haul from this year's online offering, but it's not so much the current numbers as the possibility for further growth, whether through this year's addition of Microsoft Silverlight as a video player delivering better quality or an iPhone tie-in that will brings games to mobile for $4.99 a pop (albeit strictly via Wi-Fi this year, not 3G).

CBS' current deal runs through 2013, but you can bet years before then Les Moonves will find his company competing in a whole different set of brackets to renew the rights: a field closer to four than 64 of media heavyweights like Walt Disney Co., News Corp, NBC Universal and Time Warner that will fight to steal it away. 

But what makes it interesting is the timing. There's another major media property that will be up for grabs in 2014: the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, the first event to come after NBC Uni's current deal expires. ESPN's George Bodenheimer has already publicly licked his chops about making a play, and CBS and Time Warner reportedly also talked about joining forces to nab the Games.

But if the Olympics and March Madness are both up at the same time, can there really be a boardroom discussion about grabbing rights for one without calculating how that affects positioning for the other? Is it possible one conglomerate has deep enough pockets for both? And how does the Internet change the game for either or both properties? Five years from now, it will be interesting to see how those questions get answered.

Andy Dick under "House Arrest"

House Arrest with Andy Dick: Mo Collins

The Andy Dick rehabilitation tour continues on Atom.com. The comedian/train wreck just launched a talk show with a premise that hits close to home: Given his well-documented legal troubles prevent him from leaving his home, what better thing to do to bide the time than do a low-rent talk show. I prefer him on VH1's "Sober House."

Run off radio, Adam Carolla returning online

The grief is still setting in having lost Adam Carolla as my go-to guy on radio here in Los Angeles. But even as he discussed his sudden departure today, he vowed to rise again via podcast, which will begin Monday at AdamCarolla.com. It might sound like quite a reversal of fortune for  a comedian who has had more than his fair share of mainstream success from "Dancing with the Stars" to "The Man Show" and his indie film effort, "The Hammer." But Carolla seemed noticeably excited at the prospect of launching what is presumably an audio-only feed--why not video, Adam?--from his own site. Sure, he hasn't exactly figured out the business model just yet, but Carolla has a grasp on the current shaky economics online. He says he's willing to do it for free until he can figure out how to monetize, whether via advertising support or a subscription fee (which I would gladly pay). This is an online foray worth paying attention to given that Carolla is more than just some local shock jock; if he plays his cards right--big if--in time he could amass the kind of radio audience that rivals his local one because he'll be drawing on his star power to deliver audiences from all over the world. Then again, maybe he'll just replace Howard Stern again as he did here in Los Angeles, only this time on satellite. Give the Web a solid go first, Adam.

Update: With ink barely dry on his pink slip, Carolla scores himself a TV deal at CBS. 

AMC "Breaking" Online

What better way to get your appetite going for a second season of the awesome AMC series "Breaking Bad" than with a fleet of online original material. Here's more on what's available to tide yourself over until the March 8 premiere. 

'Incredibad' to test YouTube promo power

Very curious to see what spot on the Billboard chart marks the debut of new album "Incredibad," which drops today (Feb. 10) from the crew they call Lonely Planet. That's better known as the trio of "Saturday Night Live" writers including Andy Samberg, who has dropped a selection of cuts from the album going back years on the program, including "Dick in a Box," "Jizz in My Pants," and what may be the funniest one yet, the rap parody "I'm On A Boat," featuring T-Pain. Given that these tracks almost always rise to the top of the crop on YouTube, as well as NBC.com, what happens if "Incredibad" charts pretty damn high on the list? A combination of TV and online could be just the right strategy for putting rocket fuel in your album sales. Rock on, Samberg. 

ABC Family comes up with 'Alibi"

What better online companion to the ABC Family series "The Secret Life of the American Teenager" than "My Alibi," a new webisode series from Take180, a website that solicits "participatory" programming from its audience no longer than 3 minutes per episode (get it, 180 seconds?). ABCFamily.com will now syndicate "Alibi," which has a "Breakfast Club-ish" take on high school drama. Check it out for no other reason than to see "Beverly Hills 90210" alum Gabrielle Carteris play the principal.

Seth MacFarlane's next batch of Cavalcade

After making a splash last year with Google Content Network, "Family Guy" creator is finally putting out a second chapter of his "Cavalcade"-branded video shorts with a new advertiser in play. Burger King has been replaced with Priceline, complete with an animated William Shatner (is that redundant?). First short: Ted Nugent is Visited By the Ghost of Christmas Past. Also on YouTube's SethComedy channel.

Ann Coulter mocked in "SNL" online extra

Can whoever runs the Web operations for "Saturday Night Live" just switch jobs with Lorne Michaels? That person definitely has better taste than the show's executive producer considering he let yet another brilliant impersonation be consigned to NBC.com when had it not been cut from the broadcast it could have been a viral sensation. A screamingly funny dead-on, pitch-perfect imitation of Ann Coulter from new cast member Michaela Watkins for reasons unknown to mankind is deemed not funny enough for TV because....why? "SNL" made the same mistake in November by cutting another screamingly funny dead-on, pitch-perfect imitation of a politico, this one being Andy Samberg's recreation of Obama right-hand man Rahm Emanuel.

Bud Bundy returns to Crackle.com

From Crackle: Star-ving Ep 1 feat Ed O’Neill & David Faustino

If you're David Faustino, formerly known as Bud Bundy from the Fox class-ick "Married...With Children," there are two career choices available to you. Degrade yourself on VH1 reality shows alongside other TV has-beens or head online and blaze your own path back to glory for a fraction of the salary you used to make. Faustino has opted for the latter in his new Crackle.com series "Star-ving," though I can't say that it affords him any more dignity than, say, "The Surreal Life." The whole premise of the series is that Faustino has hit rock bottom, a fate reinforced by the fact his best friend is someone who makes Faustino's career look like Brad Pitt's: Corin Nemec of another Fox series, "Parker Lewis Can't Lose" (yeah, I don't remember it either). In the premiere episode, he hits up Ed O'Neill, his TV dad from "Married," for a $100,000 loan, which unleashes a F-bomb-laden tirade Al Bundy only wishes the FCC would have let him spew on air all those years ago. It was enough to keep me curious: I'll keep watching, if only to see what Christina Applegate will do in a later episode.

Showtime takes 'Tara' to YouTube

Take that, Hulu! Showtime has posted the entire first episode of its new series "The United States of Tara" (sorry, embedding disabled). Just another sign that YouTube will get more and more full-length programming, and not just library filler. And what does Showtime have to lose: You watch and like it enough, maybe you order the premium service on cable. Last year, CBS Corp. (which owns Showtime) became the first programmer to give YouTube some full-length programming to put on site. 

Heavy.com goes "Balls Out"

Heavy.com's "Burly Sports Show" is getting its first dose of celebrity with an appearance from Seann William Scott in support of his straight-to-DVD release "Balls Out: Gary the Tennis Coach."

iTunes discounts TV episodes

Looks like Scrooge Jobs is getting the Christmas spirit over at Apple. Just noticed a rare, albeit "limited time," offer that involves variable pricing on TV episodes for select current-season shows for just 99 cents. Here's this season's premiere episode of CBS's "NCIS," for instance, "Silent Night." There's plenty more CBS product available for half of the usual $1.99 price point, including all three "CSI" series, "Survivor," "Numbers," and just to prove Jobs has a soft spot for more than just Leslie Moonves, Fox series "Fringe," which is produced by Warner Bros. Strange this is, previous-season episodes of the same shows, like this fifth-season installment of "NCIS," are still $1.99. The discounts just apply to standard definition; all HD product is still $2.99. Recall way back in May Apple instituted variable pricing for NBC and HBO, but hasn't shown much love to the others even though many studios were hoping for much more flexibility. Let's see what 2009 brings.

Playboy keeps clothes on for "Interns"

Episode One

Playboy is doing original programming for mobile phones but its not what you think. No naughty bits are visible in "Interns," the company's first mobile-focused reality series, which also has a home on MySpace as of last week. Think "The Apprentice" redux, complete with intensive product integration.

Can viral lightning strike twice?

Who can forget the viral sensation that was Evolution of Dance, the most visited user-generated content of all time? Now dancer extraordinaire Judson Laipply is back, and he wants you with him. Plug your face or the mug of someone you love--or hate--in EOD2 and get involved in the hilarity. If EOD2 can get even 1% of the traffic of the original...

MTV announces CollegeHumor series

MTV makes the long-awaited news official today: CollegeHumor.com is getting its own series on the network in 2009. Cannot think of a Web comedy property more deserving of a shot at the big time; these guys have churned out more consistently funny material than anyone else online (runner-up: fellow IAC property 23/6.com, which has improved greatly since a wobbly start). Permit me to wish for CollegeHumor's daffy duo of Jake and Amir to get their own MTV Films project by 2010; these guys are hilarious, as you'll see in the recent video (above) they did to promote the Webby Awards.

Funny Or Die Flies HBO's "Conchords"

Given the stake HBO took in Or Die Networks earlier this year, it was only a matter of time before we saw some kind of tie-in between the two brands. I'm actually surprised it's taken this long. But with a second-season sneak peek of "Flight of the Conchords" available in full length four days before it goes on HBO, the comedy site gets an injection of premium content that will go over well with the show's fans. That said, who needs who more here anyway? Wouldn't Funny Or Die be better served getting that speculated programming block on HBO, where it's programming can get some on-air exposure?

"Grey's Anatomy" spoof on TheWB.com

Imagine if the Zucker Bros. of "Airplane" and "The Naked Gun" fame took on "Grey's Anatomy." It would look something like "Children's Hospital," TheWB.com's riotous send-up of hospital dramas with familiar faces like Rob Corddry and Lake Bell. All 10 episodes are out--a refreshing change from the usual Chinese water torture of one per week--and I'll say this much: I'd rather watch this than "Grey's Anatomy" itself.

Boondocks creator ready to 'Rumble'

Aaron McGruder, creator of the cartoon strip-turned-animated series "The Boondocks," is rolling out his side project, Boondocks Bootleg. First expected to roll out as part of the now-defunct Super Deluxe
, the project now resides on YouTube as "The Super Rumble Mixshow." It's McGruder doing his thing in non-cartoon fashion with a lot of the black-themed humor you would expect from Dave Chappelle (rest in peace). Behold Black Jesus above.

"Big Love" webisode appetizers

If you can't wait for HBO to bring series "Big Love" back for another season in January, there's more than this recap of previous season (Big Love in 4 Minutes [above]) to tide you over. On Saturday, HBO will begin rolling out a trio of webisodes called "3 Days Past Midnight" on HBO.com and on the linear channel. I'll publish the link once it goes up.

SNL drops Rahm on NBC.com

What on earth was Lorne Michaels thinking consigning the hilarious skit above featuring Andy Samberg's skewering of new Obama right-hand man Rahm Emanuel to NBC.com instead of putting it on the broadcast? Instead, "SNL" led off with its usual meandering, toothless opening bit that went after Detroit's top automakers groveling on Capitol Hill. It's great to se NBC.com to get exclusive content, but why "SNL" would bury material better seen on TV is beyond me. It's also telling that Samberg is the one being hidden; this guy plays such a limited role on the show week after week yet seems to always come up with the best stuff. Could there be a god in a world that gives Will Forte like nine skits per week while Samberg rides the pine??

YouTube Live. One Question: Why?

YouTube Live has wrapped for the night and all I can muster in response is, why? Like an MTV award show it was so clearly modeled upon, the event was passably entertaining, but what is to be gained by a next-generation entertainment powerhouse to stage something that seemed almost antiquated in format. If the goal was to pack in as many YouTube-bred talents into one room, Google has succeeded, but what's the upside there really? If the key selling point here is "live," why try to create an event that so felt so canned? YouTube needs to go back to the drawing board and figure out what they were really trying to accomplish here. If they were stitching together a few hours to sell to a TV network in hopes of doing some marketing, that's swell, though no such deal has been announced. It will be interesting though to see if Google releases any audience data to get a sense of just how popular this was.

Rad ad for "Tomb Raider" game

I'm so busy criticizing branded entertainment programming that it's rare for a standalone ad online to capture my attention. But check out this new promotion on IGN.com for new videogame "Tomb Raider: Underworld" from digital marketing agency Eyeblaster and ad agency JVST. It's a takeover ad that truly takes over the page once you do her bidding and "pull down the ring" in the top right corner of the page. From there, it's a nice piece of visual magic complete with HD video option. Enjoy.

FunnyorDie, Atom get presidential

A quality comedic impression of a president is hard to come by, but that doesn't keep a few leading humor sites from trying. FunnyorDie has brought in Jordan Peele, of the soon-to-be-defunct sketch comedy series "Mad TV," to do his Obama, and at the very least it can be said it's a better take on the new president than "Saturday Night Live's" Fred Armisen can offer. Meanwhile Atom sends a not-so-fond-farewell to President Bush in the faux-interview series "Face to Bush."

ESPN.com finds its Mayne man

If a comedian like Steven Wright is just too intense for your tastes, might I recommend the wry stylings of ESPN anchor Kenny Mayne, who just started his own webisode on ESPN.com, "Mayne Street." To characterize Mayne's deadpan delivery as dry would be like saying the Sahara is warm. Apparently Mayne's one week on "Dancing With the Stars" was enough to get a bite from the showbiz bug, so he's moonlighting once again a faux behind-the-scenes rendering of "Sportscenter." If you've seen the Bristol-based commercials ESPN has been running for years, "Street" operates in the same vein, though 30-second spots are much punchier in comparison. But if you miss ABC's "Sports Night," "Street" will ease some pain. Mayne needs to watch out he isn't too dry though; hot-headed co-anchor Scott Van Pelt steals the show so thoroughly in the premiere episode that "Van Pelt Avenue" could get the greenlight if "Street" proves a dead end.

Saturn runs rings around CBS webisode

Saturn puts the "ad" in the new CBS webisode Novel Adventures by taking production integration into overdrive. Ostensibly a warmed-over Lifetime retread about a book club's breakaway faction of MILFs like Daphne Zuniga, "Adventures" isn't exactly subtle about handing over the keys on the creative to Saturn, which manages to cram shots of its logo and hybrid vehicle just about every five seconds. Makes NBC's throat-ramming integration of Ford Mustang in "Knight Rider" seem tasteful by comparison.