Full Review: MobLogic

Here's the full review on HollywoodReporter.com, published yesterday, and pasted below:

NEW YORK -- Here's a prediction: After watching a three-minute episode of CBS' new daily online show "MobLogic" -- the curtly bedazzling intro montage, the expertly concise man-on-the-street soundbites, the coquettish deadpan of host Lindsay Campbell -- you'll narrow your eyes, furrow your brow, and think, "Wait a minute: That was by the Tiffany network?"

True. With "MobLogic," the second show from the guys behind the financial-minded video blog "Wallstrip" (acquired last year by CBS for $4 million), CBS Interactive has delivered a visually compelling news and entertainment show with nary a trace of overproduction. Delivered daily via a bounty of Web media (iTunes downloads, YouTube embeds, HD podcasts, etc.), "MobLogic's" m.o. is mostly mob logic, i.e., man-on-the-street interviews. Host Campbell, also nee "Wallstrip," chats up midtown passers-by about a single daily news topic. She invokes, they emote.

The result is amusing, jaywalking-like juxtapositions, sans the imposition of hypertrophied chin. Take the episode about global warming, in which Campbell wades through a February snowstorm prompting pedestrians with, "There's no global warming, Al Gore's full of shit."

To which the interviewees respond variously, "It's not a myth"; "I don't know"; "I don't know, I'm cold"; and "Maybe God's having a party in the sky." Campbell is also adroit with scripted narratives (snappily complemented by pop-up graphics), which she delivers in a playfully didactic manner. To wit, the segment on how Democrats lost their Florida delegates, presumably because the party chose to move up its primary. Campbell: "Well, guess what. Common knowledge is wrong. And by that I mean inaccurate. Misleading. See also: Horseshit." And then she explains why. How about that. Smart eye candy.

Despite this superlative production, "MobLogic's" flaw might be that it's simply another snarky news comedy show. Do we need man-on-the-street interviews in Manhattan, where the citizens are hardly representative of the general American populace? (To be fair, I hardly think man-in-the-Olive Garden interviews would be more enlightening.) The producers promote "MobLogic" as a catalyst for conversation, but don't we have enough conversationalists -- pundits, bloggers, critics -- and not enough investigative reporters?

These are honest questions, honestly asked. At least "MobLogic's" up front about their nonreporter chops. This is infotainment. Take note, ABC (which has experimented with its own quirky online news programming): This is how you build an online news show around an engaging personality. You step out of the way. You syndicate the content far and wide. And you convince your Web-savvy audience, Mephistopheles-like, that you don't exist. If only for three minutes at a time.

Comments

[Jeff Marks]

Thanks for going back and spending some time with the show. We definitely don't think we've mastered what MobLogic is yet, but that's the beauty of a webshow. You get to put it out there and see how it resonates, what works and what doesn't. It's a lot of fun and having the community involved is the best part! Hope you'll keep checking in with us. Thx

[JH]

You're way way off. While ABC News was lousy with distribution the show itself was fine. Like most webshows it wasn't a full meal, it was like a Lunchables. You got a little news, a little potpurri, mixed in with some commentary or man-on-the-street interviews all done by a cute host. Good.

While Campbell might be a superior host it's all been nullified by a creatively barren show. Jaywalking on The Tonight Show is a segment you might see every week or so. On Moblogic it's what most of the shows are. Interviewing people on the street is not a particularly insightful look on what the people of this country are thinking, it's more a look on how crass and ignorant the masses can be. The other "content" consists of Lindsay sounding off on some topic of the day that's already been hashed and rehashed by the big media.

Let me just sum it up: Boring Q&A's with people on the street and 3 minute rants about a specific topic is okay for amateur content but it's not acceptable for a professional webshow if that's all that the show offers not matter how purty the packaging is.

[Steve Bryant]

@Jeff: Godspeed.

@JH: While I'm skeptical of the man-in-the-street angle, too (see 2nd-to-last graf), MobLogic nevertheless represents a dramatic leap forward for a stodgy net like CBS. Production and distro-wise they made all the right choices. The content format is questionable, but Campbell's a well-poised and politically adroit host. I'm confident they'll find their balance.

As for ABC's Amanda Congdon show, that thing ended up being a train wreck. For whatever reason, ABC tried to mix Congdon's quirk with a stultifyingly boring news anchor presentation. The distro wasn't there. And then they let her ramble from topic to topic. MobLogic is leaps and bounds ahead of that.