Reel Pop

Latest vid comedy site BushLeague.tv debuts

The handiwork of various and sundry L.A. comedians/actors/writers, BushLeague.tv is a hodge podge of dude-analia, i.e., in their words, "jackass opinions on video games, tech, news, sports, boobs, 101's, and all the other essential tools every dude needs" -- a suh-weet grab bag that apparently doesn't have room for "original premise." The site's a combo of HBO/AOL's failed vidblog This Just In and vote-centric sites like Funny or Die: Every post is voted by readers as "sweet" or "bush," with the top posts ranked on a scoreboard, e.g., the top earner ("I Got My Hippie Shuffle On Last Night"), a how-to vid ("How to Change Your Oil"), and a post about an Eagle that was shot in the face titled "As AMERICAN as MOM, apple pie, and rhinoplasty."

All in all, the site's chock full of tepid puns and smarmy exclamations, and suffers from a lack of a cohesive voice and, apparently, juiced up stats -- on its first day, none of the posts have been voted "bush," but every post has a surfeit of "sweets." The site has promise, though, if the writers can focus their message and stop hoping against hope that the Internet needs yet another group blog produced by charming asshats.

Flickr's 1st vid hit? The Day There Was No News

[via] The handiwork of Jason Arber, director of production at U.K.-based video producers Wyld Stallyons, The Day There Was No News displays a series of outtakes in which BBC News anchors silently fidget in front of the cameras as they prepare to begin addressing their audience. The news ticker scrolls anti-headlines, e.g., "Breaking News: Nothing is still happening," "There are no terrorist attacks" and "There are no funny stories."

The vid's eerie effect comes from the fidgeting -- shuffling papers, practicing chin raises and knowing looks, pursing lips -- which is every bit as practiced as their artificial, accent-less speaking cadence. You wonder in what context these skills are useful besides television. I bet anchors are really good at silently standing in an elevator with only one other stranger. And doctor's appointments.

As one Flickr user observed, comedian Adam Buxton uploaded a similar clip to YouTube last year that has about 375k views. Buxton's vid, which eschews Arber's calming soundtrack for BBC sound effects, is striking because it zeroes in on the anchors' awkward, expectant moments -- when they're resetting themselves to speak (the chin raises, the half-lip grins) but are unsure when the speaking begins. Almost like a man and wife awkwardly waiting for their child's experimental dance program to finally, blessedly, cease.

Given Flickr's absence of video view counts (only the owner sees his/her uploads' popularity), "success" on Flickr is more ineffable. Better for the site, which prides itself on communities engaged in aesthetic judgments rather than views. Err..somehow I missed that view count over the last few years. I'm blessedly not a view whore on the site. Those counts are teensy tiny though.

Carson Daly's planned webcast already boring

With an existential caterwaul from the dust bunny'd depths of my un-Swiffered apartment, I hear the news of Carson Daly's planned webcast about popular UGC vids and wonder, dear god, why?

Branded entertainment shingle Madison Road is partnering with NBC latenight gabber Carson Daly on a daily webcast devoted to user-generated videos.

Daly and Madison Road will launch in July "The Really Big Internet Show," a daily five-minute webcast that will feature the day's most talked-about original online videos.

Justine Ezarik, an Internet vid star who goes by the name iJustine, will host.

The studio math here is simple: Lots of people watch the most popular vids + Justine Ezarik is bangin = eyeballs and advertising dollars. But really, have you ever seen anything quite as boring as a show about popular videos? Besides, maybe, Web Junk, they all rather suck.

The reasons why are pretty simple: the online video experience is promulgated by interaction, however fleeting. Forwarding, commenting, IM'ing, whatever. But meta shows about popular videos removes that personal connection and, instead, simply shows you a collection of funny/interesting things you can't do anything with. Instead of adding to the fun, meta commentary kinda endcaps it.

Oddly enough, I think that's why a show like America's Funniest Home Videos can thrive for 19 seasons. AFV reveals videos you haven't seen before, it adds something (however smarmy) to the mix, and its content was never interactive to begin with.

If I want to watch the most successful UGC content, I'll find it myself. Or it'll be forwarded to me. I don't need or want to watch Carson Daly do it for me.

Second City to launch web shows

From THR's Alex Woodson: Media Rights Capital and storied comedy concern Second City announced today they are partnering on an online comedy venture called "Second City Quarantine," which will launch later this year with original material from the current troupe and alums like Tina Fey, Steve Carell and Bob Odenkirk. Quarantine will launch with six or seven mini shows. More at HollywoodReporter.com.

SuperDeluxe folds into AdultSwim.com

Turner's original comedy vid platform SuperDeluxe is being folded into AdultSwim.com, the company's more successful, young male-oriented comedy channel. From the memo to employees:

Our management of the Turner Animation, Young Adults & Kids brands requires us to always look for efficient, strategic ways to grow them. In Super Deluxe.com and Adult Swim.com, we have businesses whose potential for individual growth is limited by their increasingly complementary content. Rather than position them as competitors for the same audience, the smarter move is to consolidate the two brands to create a richer, stronger platform that builds on Adult Swim’s number-one position with young adults.” Candolora described Super Deluxe as “a business with a loyal audience and critical following.

I'm a big, big fan of SuperDeluxe -- classic vids include Douche, by NY comedy troupe The Post Show, the guide to cheap living by Jonah Ray, and I am Baby Cakes -- but it's no surprise Turner's consolidating their brands. Doesn't make sense to compete against yourself for the same audience, especially when the web's not exactly hurting for comedy aggregators: Funny or Die, Comedy Central, CollegeHumor, ad infinitum.

Microsoft adds Zune TV downloads

Microsoft has added about 800 episodes from MTV Networks, Turner, and NBCU to its online store as part of a subscription push. Other networks and movie deals are forthcoming. The 800 episodes pales in comparison to iTunes' 350 shows (w/ seasons of episodes to each show).

I hate to sound like a fashionably hip MS-trasher (and I've got no severe love for Apple), but truth is the Zune's crappy. I bought one for my mom for Christmas and spent the next 2 days on tech support because the Zune (like most MS products) is not intuitive to use. The download store, which didn't have TV shows at the time, is a mess of un-navigable options. The Zune itself, while pretty, is similarly complex. It's as if MS looked at every thing Apple did with the iPod then changed it slightly for the worse, just to see like they weren't copying from the iPod directly.

That's all very harsh, and, admittedly, I haven't looked at a Zune since December. But it left a bad taste in my mouth.

TheWB.com to get new shows

By Alex Woodson
Along with older offerings on the just-announced TheWB.com, like "Friends" and "Gilmore Girls," the site will also present new short-form content from a few recognizable names. Here are the details on some upcoming projects:

"Sorority Forever": Exec produced by McG ("We Are Marshall," "Supernatural") through his Wonderland Sound and Vision, this mystery/drama is described as "'The O.C.' meets 'Prom Queen,' but set in college." Big Fantastic, the producers of "Prom Queen," will also exec-produce.

"Exposed": Also exec-produced by McG through Wonderland Sound and Vision, this centers on a college student with some serious baggage who is hunted down by his former associates. Or, "A History of Violence," but set in college.

"Rich Girl/Poor Girl": From Gary Auerbach, exec producer and creator of "Laguna Beach" and "Newport Harbor," this reality show is a "comedic experiment," in which a wealthy girl from Orange County swaps places with a low-income teen from L.A. "Trading Places," but set in Southern California.

Untitled Josh Schwartz music project: Created by Schwartz, the "O.C." and "Gossip Girl" exec producer, this series will look at the behind-the-scenes action of a fictional Hollywood rock club. Bands both established and unknown will perform on-camera. Its exec-produced with Alexandra Patsavas, the music supervisor for "The O.C.," "Gossip Girl" and "Grey's Anatomy."

Also on tap are "High Drama: Against All Oz," an unscripted series that documents the production of a big-budget high-school musical, "Lockdown," a thriller about a jealous husband who imprisons his wife and 3D animation project "Chadam," starring a character icon for band The Used.

YouTube vid inspires Obamacrombie t-shirts

Yesterday, courtesy this YouTube video, the internet noticed three Abercrombie-clad Obama supporters stationed directly behind the Illinois senator while he was giving his Pennsylvania primary concession speech. Speculation was whether the supporters were product placement, Hillary supporters, or represented some other nefarious nexus of crass commercialism and pop politics. According to various sources, neither the Obama campaign nor A&F had anything to do with the dudes.

Just launched today: Obamacrombie, a blog selling t-shirts that mashup Obama's name with Abercrombie's logo. Given the amount of media savvy it took to launch this -- the actual placement behind Obama, the faux-frat comic writing on the site -- this is one hell of a coordinated product launch. Has anyone ever sold t-shirts via a concession speech before? Unless the guys selling these shirts aren't the same dudes from the vid. Either way. Totally insipid, brilliant, and destined to be forgotten in 5 minutes.

p.s. According to the WHOIS info for the domain, the company behind the shirts is based in Camden, NJ.

Next Web-to-TV stars are, uh, already stars

The premise for this Wired article seems fatuous. Bemoaning the dearth of good online video, Wired asked Human Giant, the UCB alums whose Web vids scored them an MTV slot, to predict the next five Web stars who'll make it to TV. Sorry, amateur comedians -- all HG's picks, save perhaps one, are professional comedians:

• Derek and Simon -- scripted by Bob Odenkirk, runs on SuperDeluxe (which is owned by TBS!)
• Fatal Farm -- two L.A.-based vid creators who do professional commercial work
• Wainy Days -- starring David Wain from "The State"
• Tiny Hands -- runs on Comedy Central's Motherload
• JakeandAmir.com -- the CollegeHumor dudes, who already have an MTV contract

What lesson do we glean when a troupe of Web darlings -- whose sudden rise to fame was somewhat accidental, and a new phenomenon at the time -- picks a who's who of established comedians (what is this list, their T-Mobile myFaves?). The list elucidates nothing about the online talent pool, save the fact that online video's completely awash in professional talent, which everybody already knew. What does it even mean any more to say a talent goes from Web-to-TV, when that talent's already an established name?

Did 'Gossip Girl' gain sans streaming?

By Andrew Wallenstein

No doubt you'll see some question the conventional wisdom that streaming episodes of TV series online helps maximize exposure for a show once ratings for last night's edition of CW's "Gossip Girl" get out there. The episode experienced a small rebound in the 18-34 demographic, registering its best numbers since November. Someone out there is bound to credit the uptick to CW's decision to cease putting "Gossip" episodes online so as not to cannibalize the original broadcast.

Not so fast though. Truth be told, increasing a few tenths of a rating point is hardly worthy of champagne popping. Plus the increase is just as attributable to the fact that this was the first episode of "Gossip" to hit the airwaves in three months, and came on the heels of a buzzed-about marketing campaign. It's also worth considering that as much waves as CW's decision made in the media industry, it's not like the average 18-year-old will catch on for another week or so. If "Gossip's" numbers stay up for several weeks, then it might be a different story.

HBO throws 'Molotov' online

By Andrew Wallenstein
No better place than the Internet for HBO to release a new documentary set in virtual reality. "Molotov Alva and His Search for the Creator: A Second Life Odyssey," which premieres on Cinemax on May 15, will also be shown on Cinemax.com and on the Second Life virtual area Cinemax Island. In addition, HBO will tease "Molotov" in the coming weeks with an iTunes podcast and sneak peeks on Cinemax’s YouTube page and Cinemax On Demand.

Zuiker eyes 'CSI' convergence

By Andrew Wallenstein
You gotta love Anthony Zuiker, the producer who masterminded the CBS mega-franchise "CSI." With all his success in ye old media of television, you would think he would be the least-informed on the promise of the Internet. But he is very much in the know, having already experimented with a Second Life tie-in, and no doubt more on the way.

So it shouldn't come as much surprise that he was in Vegas this week at the NAB convention pledging to bring TV and digital platforms together lest the former be cannibalized by the latter. Which is all well and good, but here's the question: Is "CSI" the franchise to make this long-awaited convergence happen? Everything about "CSI" is so steeped in conventional storytelling -- the murder-mystery whodunit -- that I'm not sure this is the one that can really pioneer this. Were Zuiker running ABC's "Lost" or CW's "Gossip Girl," which at least have more natural Internet tie-ins, not to mention a younger audience, maybe I'd be sold. Still, it's hard not to wish him well.

MySpace signs int'l distro with ShineReveille

THR's Alex Woodson had the story late yesterday that MySpace has signed a deal with ShineReveille International to distribute content from the social networking site on the TV, DVD and merchandising ends. The agreement applies to original MySpace content only, such as "Roommates" and "Special Delivery".

Original series that aren't produced by MySpace, such as "quarterlife" and "Prom Queen", will have the chance to join the distro agreement on a case-by-case basis.

The biggest Jooster

Lotta buzz about Joost this past week, starting with this piece "major retrenchment" piece in the Times of London and followed by the tech blogs. Paidcontent followed up with a call to Joost PR (which denies problems, natch), and Om interviews CEO Volpi, who says Joost is focusing on more mature ad markets, mostly abroad.

Here's my brief take on Joost: It's a completely unnecessary application that's been leapfrogged by media conglomerates, who're offering their content online in ever greater numbers and varieties.

A longer take: When I reviewed Joost last October, I called it a good complement to TV that wasn't up to snuff as a standalone platform. Here, in a few simple reasons, is why Joost isn't the game changed everyone hyped it to be:

1. It's an amalgamation of tools already available online
   e.g., online video, chat, and social networking. I can watch video on any number of sites and chat with my friends using AIM, Yahoo Chat, Gchat, whatever. I don't need a platform like Joost to do that. In fact, Joost circumscribes your online wandering.
2. Taking advantage of those tools requires synchronous use
   You can use Joost's internal chat no matter what show you're watching, but there's the rub: you have to be on Joost to use it. The dominant trend in watching media is asynchronous consumption. Why not just AIM outside Joost while using Joost. And if you're doing that, why not look all around the web for content. And if you're doing that, why do you even need Joost?
3. Joost is a download, but there's an excellent variety of non-DL content available
   Joost plans to offer a browser version and live content. Bully for them. But for now, a downloadable app for online video makes almost zero sense -- unless you can give consumers something they can't get anywhere else, which Joost can't. Unless you're all about high demand channels like Earth Talk Today.

I look forward to checking out Joost's future versions. But they better be snappy. Everybody else done caught up already.

NBC announces new webisodes, digital series

NBC announced new online content for summer today, including original webisodes for "Heroes," "Chuck" and "The Office", new videos for "30 Rock", and a new original series called "Fears, Secrets & Lies".

The webisodes will start in July and update throughout the season in an attempt to interweave content online and off. "30 Rock," meanwhile, will offer several online features, including Jack Donaghy's Online Business Courses ("Jack U") and a blog by Jack, on which viewers can offer business advice and upload their own videos -- including tours of their own workplaces, a la Kenneth the Page.

As for "Fears," from the release:

Users help create an original online series by sharing their deepest, darkest secrets, their unimaginable fears and their scandalous desires. Two hosts will entice and inspire users by sharing their own stories, as well as providing discussion topics each week via vlogs. Users will submit stories in one of three areas on the site: Fears, Secrets or Desires. Starting in October 2008, selected posts will be adapted for an online NBC Anthology series that brings the posts to life with creative interpretation meant to tease, tantalize or terrify. Segments will be produced both in-house at NBC.com, and by Hollywood talent normally associated with the big or small screens, not necessarily the computer screen.

Sounds a bit like Stephen Bochco's "Cafe Confidential" for Metacafe, except switching anthropological verite for melodramatic re-enactments. No word on launch date, but we're inquiring. "Fears" launches in July.

Leno apologizes for 'gayest' gaffe

By Andrew Wallenstein

It took two weeks, but Jay Leno issued an apology for a comment he made on air that triggered a protest site, My Gayest Look, complete with photos hundreds of middle fingers raised in uproar (even squirrels). He tells Us magazine, "I certainly didn't mean any malice."

I, for one, agree. Here's my column in today's THR that chalks this up as much ado about nothing.

Video: Pat Sajak is bald

Your April Fool's joke sucks. Here's why: the internet transforms what was once a sporadically-applied culture of goof into widely-applied, poorly-executed bunkum. Expectation undermines the reveal. The internet memes April Fool's Day, and that kills the jokes. It also kills my feed reader, which is clogged with Rent Rodman to play horse.

I would be overjoyed were someone to create a Museum of Sh*tty April Fools Jokes, post haste.

I found one April Fool's joke clever, but not for the humor: On Wheel of Fortune this evening, Pat Sajak asked Vanna White to remove the hairpiece he's been wearing for twenty years. She did. The audience gasped. But it was a clever ploy engineered by the show's makeup artists who needed a new challenge after decades spent applying permaface to Vanna's rapidly drooping brow.

The clever part: The video has already made its way across every vid site out there, from youtube and AOL video to Yahoo and Metacafe. Truly great viral marketing. Though I guess it helps to have a broadcast audience of every old person ever.

TedMosbyIsAJerk.com gets TV nudge

By Andrew Wallenstein
Blink and you missed it, but there was a clever online shout-out on last night's episode of "How I Met Your Mother." When Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) confronts a waitress he once bedded, the spurned lass informs him she set up a Web site intended to dishonor his name -- only she doesn't know that Barney used his friend's name, Ted Mosby, when they met. Hence, the creation of Ted Mosby Is a Jerk, which is something of a virtual shrine of hate. The highlight: a deranged song roasting Ted sung by the character, Wendy the Waitress, that runs over 20 minutes long. Not as funny: faux Ted Mosby porn posters (one pictured below).

Touched base with CBS and 20th Century Fox the morning after and it was indeed a creation of the series. "Mother" executive producer Carter Bays came up with the song while in the shower; he even plays saxophone on the track, which was originally intended to be just three minutes long. The song, which was crafted in Bays' backyard ministudio over the course of two weekends, is performed by the actress who plays Wendy the Waitress, Charlene Amoia. If you can hang onto the end, there's some Beatles-esque backwards messaging, where you'll hear, "Wendy the waitress is the mother." -- a reference to the show's titular mystery -- but the fifth time it plays it clarifies, "Wendy the waitress is not the mother." (Awww, come on!)

"Mother" has played around online before, perhaps even funnier in the form of pop-princess Robin Sparkles, the teen alter ego of character Robin (Cobie Smulders). It's a great way to spread the love for a series online, as Conan O'Brien also found a few years ago when an offhand reference to Horny Manatee led to the creation of a website that garnered 3 million hits in a matter of weeks.

The sad saga of Steve-O

(Illustration from Jackassworld.com)

By Andrew Wallenstein
When MTV's "Jackass" franchise made the move this year from movies and TV to the Internet, fans of its patented blend of comic sadomasochism had reason to rejoice. Surely JackassWorld.com would allow these gross-out artists to push even further beyond the boundaries of good taste in a medium with few content restrictions.

So who could have foreseen "Jackass" would be upstaged online, and by one of its own people?

Continued

VH1 perfects art of the 'Pick-up'

By Gretta Parkinson

It's no secret that the best place to find clueless, sometimes creepy, mostly sweet but painfully shy and somewhat oblivious geeks, freaks and losers is online. That's why VH1 is teaming up with the world wide interweb to cast the second season of last year's "The Pick-up Artist," starring Mystery (pictured above), some wingmen and an army of dudes whose ultimate dream -- talking to women -- is also their worst nightmare.

VH1 launched its 10-week online casting competition for "The Pick-up Artist 2" this week, enabling charm-challenged wannabe studs to prove just how badly they need help. After three rounds based on Mystery's "how-to" techniques, online users will choose a winner from the hosts of "friend-zone" guys, "token old" guys and "you're not gay?" guys to be one of the show's eight cast members.

Once they're cast, contestants will participate in a grueling, eight-week boot camp, which, unfortunately for them, doesn't include building a house of cards or swimming with your shirt on. If all goes according to plan, they'll re-emerge as lady-killing lotharios, the most improved winning the title of "Master Pick-up Artist" and a $50,000 prize. And at the very least, they'll have learned to make some good conversation (and hopefully, some eye contact) with members of the opposite sex.

CNN to sacrifice last bit of cred for comedy show

In an Ishtar-esque display of WTF, CNN announced this week the debut of a new Saturday morning comedy news program in which anchors will remind viewers via tepid puns why they should change the channel.

The 30-minute "Not Just Another Cable News Show" will air Saturdays at 7 p.m. ET and repeated twice later in the evening. It will be followed each time by News to Me, a series on popular Web videos.

One can only hope that, as with Fox's ill-fated "1/2 Hour News Hour," clips from the show will be leaked online, thus providing the Web with another cathartic moment of collective bershon.

Judging from the smattering of similarly oriented media lately -- Fox, followed by the HuffPo's 236.com, followed byCNN -- there's apparently a consensus among news orgs that their competitive position in the news marketplace is enhanced via homegrown comedy. I'm sure that judgment is based on sound data, data which probably says a large portion of their audience watches (and learns more from) shows like "The Daily Show." Thus, the ideation "we need to do comedy news too".

But that's misunderstanding both the problem and the solution. The problem is that news orgs like CNN -- despite their vaunted budgets and global scope -- are vested less in news and more in infotainment. To suggest that adding more entertainment to that mix will win back viewers who are looking for news is bunk. The solution, obviously, isn't to compete with comedy news but to do better journalism -- an idea which is unfortunately akin to saying "let's make less money". Thus it always has been, and always will be.

NCAA: First round streams surpass all of 2007

Just so you know why nobody's returning your emails: The total number of streams during the first round of the NCAA tourney surpassed the total number of views for the entire 2007 tournament, CBS announced at the end of last week. CBS credits dropping registration requirements (duh) and implementing social tools, e.g., Facebook groups. More data on hollywoodreporter.com.

MTV Releases Full South Park Episodes Online

Following through with their November announcement, MTV has released all twelve seasons worth of full South Park episodes online. When the plan was announced last year, MTV Networks Chairman and Chief Executive Judy McGrath explained the decision by saying that placing versions of TV shows online doesn't hurt television ratings, and may actually help. "One does not diminish the other by any stretch of the imagination. That is kind of our hat trick." In other news, duh.

Episodes play in a pop-up window, and are preceded by a 15-second commercial (currently for Toyota). Each show has two additional 15-sec commercials (also by Toyota) interspersed throughout the clip. Vids are of moderate quality, but load times are negligible, and the player can be pushed full screen. As with ABC's online experience, the vid player offers a theater mode in which the non video screen real estate is dimmed.

NBC's 'Mom Simulator'

By Gretta Parkinson

It's true what they say. You never really know what your mother went through until you're a mother yourself. But what about those less fortunate bearers of the Y chromosome who won't ever get that specific opportunity? How about a "Mom Simulator"?

It's a video teaser brought to you by the clever people behind "America's Favorite Mom," a multimedia contest presented by Teleflora that culminates in a primetime special on NBC scheduled on Mother's Day. Featuring three Apatow-ian slacker-types hooked to machinery that allows them to feel the joys of "baby's first steps," "breast-feeding" and "birth," this promo successfully capture that unique brand of crazy that could only be found in moms ... until now.

CBS Interactive gets into the game

By Andrew Wallenstein

Gotta hand it to CBS Interactive -- they understand the value of good timing. CBS Corp.'s digital division has been talking up a storm as of late -- Monday's OMMA Global Hollywood event featured a keynote from chief marketing officer Patrick Keane, and CBS Interactive president Quincy Smith held a press conference last week with his team in Los Angeles. What better time to raise your visibility with tip-off for March Madness on Thursday, which will quite likely set records for online video viewership. Here's more details from THR's Paul Gough on CBS's full-court press.

One of the interesting takeaways from CBS came from Keane, who took Nielsen to task for not giving a full picture of the audience that sees its TV shows on both living-room sets and online. "Jericho," for example, may have premiered in the midseason at a 4.2 rating, but it adds a not-insignificant full rating point when various online windows for the show are tallied up.

"We want Nielsen to have a cumulative audience," Keane said. "They're not measuring what is the total opportunity."

Fair enough. But it will be interesting to see whether this full rating point matters much as CBS deliberates over whether to actually bring back the series for another season. As THR's James Hibberd spells out in his recent column, "Jericho" could use all the help it can get.

Hulu opens to public, YouTube's the Twitter of video

Vid site Hulu, the joint venture between News Corp. and NBC Uni, is now open to the public. Announced almost exactly one year ago -- and in private beta for the last few months -- the platform offers access to full-length movies and TV episodes with limited commercials and a variety of access options via Hulu itself, distro partners like Yahoo, and via embeds. When originally announced, the site was almost universally derided site unseen as a clumsy attempt by two lumbering congloms to compete with YouTube. But since its beta debut, Hulu has only impressed with a rich variety of features, beautiful vid streams, and a generous sharing and distribution scheme.

When I wrote my first impressions on the service back in October, I was still preoccupied with Hulu's competitive position vis-a-vis YouTube. Since YouTube has been the gold standard in online video -- since it was such a radical and accessible departure from traditional experience -- there's a tendency to consider it THE WAY to distribute video. But that's overlooking the multiple ways viewers consume video, and how preferences change as options expand.

Competition among platforms is a multivalent thing, encompassing content, distribution/accessibility, design and positioning. The latter's the tricky one.

Where once YouTube was a prime destination for all types of video -- full TV episodes, short clips, movies broken into ten part chunks, etc -- these days I see it best used as a short form device. Short, unassociated clips consumed in rapid succession. Like Tic Tacs. Or Twitter. YouTube, to me, is the Twitter of video. It's the status update of the world, delivered through vids that go viral, uploaded clips from "The Daily Show," Olberman's rants, Smosh vids, product debuts, and thousands and thousands of webcam confessionals.

Hulu will never -- and should never, IMHO -- have that degree of social buzz about it. It doesn't need UGC or user uploads. It needs only to be the best as what it does, i.e., deliver long form content with superlative quality and a variety of accessibility options. When it comes to professional vids, Hulu is the gold standard.

The problem(s) with ABC's 'Squeegees'

My full review of ABC's new online-only show "Squeegees" -- the first show from the new Disney digital production unit, Stage 9 -- will appear tomorrow in THR. I'll link it up when it's live. But for now I wanted to post a little more about something I didn't get to cover much in the review, i.e., why networks need to produce videos that appeal to more specific cohorts, instead of regurgitating network fare intended for a broad audience.

To make "Squeegees," ABC hired Handsome Donkey, an online comedy troupe that garnered some praise last year for their frat boy-ish comedy videos. Take a look at their vids. Le Montage: a spoof on movie montages and their inevitable feel good endings. Photograph: A spoof on a Nickelback song, and horrendous music video filmmaking techniques. Bad Candy: on ill-conceived confections. These are all highly specific, mostly guy-oriented vids. Dude humor for dudes.

Now watch "Squeegees." It's about as basic as sitcoms come. Instead of riffing on cultural themes, the show uses gag humor. Naked dudes hanging from straps. Stupid dude eating glass. This is lowest common denominator fare, made to appeal to a general ABC audience.

That's what I don't understand. Why treat online video like TV? Why create something meant to appeal to a broad spectrum, when what the Web does best is coddle small(ish) groups of devoted viewers. If ABC wants to push boundaries -- and don't tell me that hookup in the office scene was a boundary pusher, 'cause it was laughable -- then they should identify specific parts of their larger demo and appeal directly to them.

In its rush to copy the success of short form online videos, ABC has only managed to copy the format of the videos. That's the wrong tack to take. The real value is in the content.

P.S. The intro to the show reminds me of that crappy video Ben Stiller made from Winona's tapes in "Reality Bites." Just sayin. Fail.

'Quarterlife' heading to Bravo

Two days after bombing its debut on NBC, the series is heading to Bravo, according to James Hibberd back at HQ. "Quarterlife" has garnered about 6 million viewers online so far (though that bumped during the TV debut) but only 3.1 million viewers Tuesday.

Lessons from the 'quarterlife' bomb

One day in the near tech-o-fied future, when all video is online video and we've got cat5 cables jacked into our nose, we're going to laugh about all this handwringing over what content belongs where. Which'll hurt. Because, like, we have cat5 cables in our nose. But until then, it's our epistemological duty to dissect "quarterlife's" ratings bomb (which I sadly predicted, and show creator Herskovitz acknowledged) and discover some lessons therein. To wit:

The poor ratings on NBC don't mean 'quarterlife' sucks
Like I said in my review, it's a well-done series with good acting and a compelling (if somewhat derivative) storyline. The series garnered a few million viewers online, and was easily the best produced entertainment on the web. Television doesn't have to be the ultimate arbiter of quality. There's an audience out there. But ...

Quarterlife Will Flop on NBC

The Marshall Herskovitz TV pilot-turned-web-drama-turned-TV-show-again "Quarterlife" makes its debut on NBC tonight. The online series tells the "Melrose Place"-esque tale of pretty people suffering their newfound white collarhood prettily, only this go round the story's modern'd-up with webcamming: Dylan (played by Bitsie Tulloch) is uploading confessionals to a cammer's site, and what she says has unexpected consequences for her friends. But when the show hits the tube, I think it will fail.

When I reviewed "Quarterlife," I was impressed by not only the high production quality, but Herskovitz's ability to tell an emotional story that doesn't get bogged down in the gee-whiz artifice of online esoterica. While the characters tend to be caricatures in mainstream fare's inimitable no-matter-the-character-flaw-everybody's-hot kind of way, the series demonstrated that online video series could be more than slap-shod productions. This was quality entertainment, and it was only online.

But when "Quarterlife" hits the tube, it won't benefit from that positive association. Like a star collegiate player entering the NFL, "Quarterlife" will be competing against tougher opponents. Tonight, those opponents are relatively toothless ("Jericho" on CBS, "Primetime" on ABC). But when "Quarterlife" moves to Sunday on March 2nd, it'll be up against "Cold Case," "Family Guy," and "Oprah's Big Give." Just speaking form anecdotal experience, I'd say every dude I know will be watching "Case" or "Family," and every woman 30+ will be watching "Oprah."

Assuming I'm right on the audience demo, that leaves twentysomething (quarterlife-ish?) women watching on Sundays. That's interesting, give that recent surveys show that women are more likely to create online content and watch mainstream fare online. It will be interesting to see if those types of viewers follow "Quarterlife" to the bigger screen. Somehow, I don't think there'll be enough for the show to succeed.

MS + Yahoo = What for Video?

On the news of Microsoft's unsolicited acquisition bid for Yahoo this morning, I'm trying to wrap my head around everything Yahoo's been trying to do in the video space lately. What vid props/capabilities would Microsoft get in that space?

Yahoo's current video strategy
"Video everywhere you are on the net." Back in August, Yahoo announced they were re-focusing on video, and planned to offer a single channel for music videos, TV shows, movie trailers and sports highlights. They also planned to offer video through Flickr. IMHO, both sound like uninspired ideas. Over the next few years, I expect destination sites will go the way of the dodo, as younger users learn to navigate meta search engines and apps. Unless the media companies actually prevail in their ploy to cripple search engines -- and they won't: See recent lawsuits against the Pirate Bay and Seeqpod, for example, plus follow the Perfect10 v. Google case -- I see exclusive platforms as a thing of the past. That includes current exclusive distro agreements.

Also: Flickr with video? Ugh. A surefire way of alienating that site's user base, including me. Do one thing, do it better than everyone else, win.

Current video share
Yahoo currently controls 3%-5% of the video streaming market. YouTube has about 27%. Microsoft's video properties have about a 2% share. A combined MS + Yahoo would be good for getting advertising dollars. But as far as mindshare goes, YouTube's still top dog.

Content deals
Off the top of my head: new content deal with UMG to allow user uploads of music/video; recent deal with Belo to enhance local TV coverage; content deals with AP, CNN, and some sports leagues. Many more that I'll fill in later.

Video properties
Not counting video.yahoo.com, Yahoo owns vid-editing platform Jumpcut (I originally saw that as an excellent Flickr-like purchase, but don't think the site's going gangbusters by any means). Yahoo also recently announced they were acquiring vid hosting and distro company Maven Networks, which works with Gannett, Hearst, Fox News, Sony BMG, others.

More to come.

p.s. Forgot to mention Yahoo's extensive, if muddled, experience with producing original video content, e.g., Richard Bangs Adventures, In the Hot Zone with Kevin Sites, Wow House, etc. Definitely expertise that MS doesn't have, but the cultures def would need to remain separate.

The Tele-pocalypse Cometh

For about two years now the media's been kerfluffing itself over the impending, inevitable, and well-nigh poetic demise of television. Online video's been critically feted, the boob tube critically poo-poo'd, and those sundry tales of doom echoed in the empty stadiums of blogs.

Lately, it's only gotten worse. Writers are starting their own production companies. NBC is declaring an end to the pilot season. Women are turning off their TVs! Online video will kill your television, so you may as well turn it into something useful. I hear they make good aquariums.

Sadly, though lotsa folks are content to cheerlead this Bataan Death March toward a Kierkergaardian-slash-Elliott Smith either/or future -- either it's TV or video! TV or video! -- the reality is much more complicated.

"The TV did not replace the radio. Internet video is not going to replace the TV. P2P delivery is not going to replace all CDN delivery," writes video expert and Reel Pop friend Dan Rayburn. "These things are all complements to one another. We should see the TV for what it is, just another way to get different kinds of content for various viewing experiences."

In other words, don't forget about the law of the excluded middle. Happily, we have recent examples of said middle in HBO on Broadband and Vongo. And Hulu. And iTunes. And UnBox. And etc.

If you're not inclined to take my word, or Dan's, perhaps you'll lend an ear to VC extraordinaire Bob Pittman, who knows a thing or two about investing in new markets created by the Internet. Take a look at that linked interview. Though I disagree with Pittman in some instances, he takes a healthy, skeptical eye to the video hubbub. And his main lesson is important. Write it on your forehead, repeat after me:

TV won't die because TV's too convenient.

Vongo lessons for HBO

Starz has renewed TV and film deals with Sony and Disney -- plus locked up back library deals with Warner Bros., MGM, and Universal-- that'll give its download service Vongo (not to mention its TV properties) access to a fat suit's worth of content. More details at THR.

Vongo, meanwhile, is becoming a huge online content aggregator. Starz doesn't release subscriber numbers, but they've got a lot of premium content locked up through 2012. What's interesting about the service, though, is that Starz said last year that Vongo (which allows streaming of the flagship channel online, plus video downloads) doesn't cannibalize the channels on TV. Apparently, 70-76% of users don't even subscribe to premium cable, e.g., Starz or HBO, on their sets. Definitely something for the brass at HBO to consider as they roll out their online offerings.

Survey Says: Internet Is More Fun than Scribe-less Boob Tube

The "duh" moment approacheth. A slew of surveys out recently show that viewers, droopy-eyed from interminable reruns, are turning to the all-singing, all-buffering, all-day-long entertainment of the Web.

Let's put aside for the moment that all the surveys are authored by "Internet consultancies" with a vested interest in raising the perceived value of their online services in the wake of the strike (hi Mindshare, Interpret, and Burst Media, hi hi!). I mean, while what they're arguing is true -- that the Interwebosphere is infinitely more gee whiz than teevee -- they obvi have ulterior motives. They just want rebound sex. So hot.

Up first: Mindshare says 92% of peeps know there's a strike now, as opposed to ~30% in November. About half the 1,000 folks polled said they're spending more time online now.

According to Interpret, DVD movies, DVD TV shows, video games, and something called "reading" have all benefited.

And Burst Media says 16.5% of women may actually start turning off their TVs.

Get. Out.

P.S. Apparently people are also doing more laundry while they watch TV, too, which is inspiring and totally not the case at casa de Reel Pop.

Shuddup, Apple TV is NOT a Revolution

The old Apple TV: $300, received video from your 'puter, had a cool screensaver, was 'sposed to sell 1 million units in its first year, sold 400k.

The new Apple TV: $229, downloads directly from iTunes, movies start playing w/in 30 seconds (Amazon UnBox takes hours), is the new hotness.

In all the hubbub, there's some rush to compare Apple TV to iTunes in terms of disruptive potential. Not going to be the same deal: iTunes video capability launched in 2005 in a market empty of competitors. Turned peeps on their ears. Apple TV entered last year -- and flopped(ish) -- because it didn't differentiate itself enough.

The new Apple TV also has a host of marketing vectors to contend with: competing with cable companies, competing with Netflix, set-top-box clutter, DVD machines, even net-connected televisions, all of which compete among convenience, volume, and pricing. Apple TV needs to fit into that mix. Starting with $4-5 rentals from the big studios -- including 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros., Paramount, Sony, MGM, Disney, Lionsgate, Universal, and New Line Cinema -- is a great start.

So is it all good news for the consumer? While the idea of a complete end-to-end video solution is appealing to marketers and clutter-eschewing OCD'ers, it's not so fetching for anyone concerned with Apple owning their movie library. Or, of having yet another proprietary system for their movie content. In the future, when you move your video library, you'll basically have to move two to four boxes. It ain't just a stack of DVDs or VHS tapes. Apple's not going to change that.

What's amazing to me is that anybody approaches these news announcements as if there's one ring to rule them all. The future is a messy, multi-boxed, rent/buy world. The consumer's satisfaction won't be set by one singe provider, but by their success in navigating all the available options. And the market winner won't be the best service, it'll be the service that advertises best. Take that to the bank.

CNNMoney promotes video

CNNMoney relaunched today and is promoting video heavily on the front page. According to AJC [via], the site will soon produce 15 or more videos per day, six of which will be related to content in Fortune, Money, and Fortune Small Business.

Some thoughts on Fancast

Spent an hour this morning playing around with Fancast, the TV channel guide / trailer depo / streaming video portal that Comcast debuted at CES this week. Overall, it's a gorgeous site that has the potential to be a great video directory, but Comcast needs to improve several aspects of the user experience. Here are a few of my initial observations:

1. When you skip ahead in a movie or show, the first thing you're likely to see is a commercial. Not sure that's the best way to include advertisements, since it may be too disruptive to the viewer. Especially if the viewer is looking for a specific segment, and they have to skip around multiple times to find it.  Plus you can't pause the commercials, which seems like an obviously convenient feature to build in.
2. Each of the movies and TV shows have a different expiration date, but there doesn't seem to get a holistic overview of expiry dates for all video. So, it's hard to plan what to watch first.
3. Each show has tags, but no way to add your own. Understandable, but given that tags are just being used as keywords, why devote a menu item to them. Listing the keywords below the movie description would be as effective and less clutterful.
   It's almost as if Comcast is giving a nod to user-generated features, but not embracing the concept -- after all, there's no way to post comments on videos either, and Fancast doesn't include user-generated video (more on that below).
4. It's sometimes difficult to figure out if a TV show is available to watch immediately. For example, while watching The Family Guy, I clicked on the show TMNT under "Related" and was taken to that show's page, only to find out it was available on DVD, not fancast.com.
5. the label "Watch Now" can be misleading. Example: Currently the movie "Lions for Lambs" is promo'd on the homepage with a link that says "Watch Video". When you click that link, you're taken to the trailer. Not what's expected. When I went back, I saw a second link, "Last chance on demand", which took me to a page that said the show was ending it's run on Comcast's On Demand service after today.

Fancast sits at the tension point between Comcast's desire to promote its networks' long-form content and the Web's user-generated, social abilities.

It's a good directory for TV and DVD content, but not UGC video. That's probably a good decision on Comcast's part; Fancast can't battle YouTube. I certainly would never consider using a TV company's web site to find content created online.

But Comcast should consider adding the ability for users to comment, add tags, and interact with each other around the videos. Conversations spark pageviews, and pageviews spark ad dollars.

Ice Cube's UVNTV is crap

Who builds this crap? Seriously. Who lets designers and engineers build crap like UVNTV.com, the Ice Cube/DJ Pooh "real-time broadband television network," which is the most godawful piece of design I've ever shielded my eyes from and which is now blighting my monitor like a digital pox. The site apparently launched last fall, but a press release in my inbox from 5wpr says the site's launching today. I'm going to use the occasion, manufactured or otherwise, to list why a site like this will never survive in its current state.

1. You can't stop the videos from playing. No pause button. No volume control. Reminds me of the problem with Jackass 2.5, also courtesy of Microsoft's Silverlight. Don't know if that technology's the problem (doubtful) or the site designers' laziness (probable).
2. No elapsed time meter telling you how long you've been watching, how long the show has yet to go.
3. Picture skips and buffers and doesn't even give a buffering meter. Notice a trend here? They've put TV on the Net, but forgot to add in the Net's advantages, i.e., better user response and feedback.
4. Confusing mission -- there are links to other entertainment sites, is UVNTV supposed to be a portal? There's a bunch of coming soon placeholders, is this site ready to launch? All the pages look the same, even when you click on different main tabs. The video's different, but you have to sit through ads every page refresh. And you can't control the volume without using your computer's main volume, which drives me insane.

Ugh, enough. Design like this makes Internet TV, whatever that moniker means, look like a crappy business idea. Congratulations, Cube, you have truly brought the ghetto to the Net.

Video recorder invites hackers to tinker

Because I'm not a gadget-o-phile, I'll note this briefly and move on: The Neuros OSD is an open source video recorder that lets you capture media from any receiver/player in MPeg4 format. Not only is the device powered by Linux, the Chicago-based company that produces the Neuros literally invites hackers to modify its programming and circuitry to fit their needs. Good for ripping stacks of physical media to a flexible digital format. Very cool.

Living Room 2.0

While reading Steve Rubel's post on Living Room 2.0, I was struck by his observation that we didn't watch the news of Benazir Bhutto's death in the traditional living room. Instead, we heard the news online, on blogs, on news sites, even on Twitter.

Good observation, although not a new development. We've watched news events online for years now. I remember the first major news I watched online was the bombing of Baghdad in 2003. And these days, our news consumption is even more distributed: cell phones, Blackberries, iPhones, blogs, news sites, television, YouTube, etc ad infinitum.

And yet, consuming info on these tiny devices isn't the mental image I have of how people consume major news events. What I see is that TV/movie trope: The pedestrians crowding a storefront of televisions, like moths drawn to a flame. Even recent movies depicting the future, like "Children of Men," show people sobbing as they watch television.

But that's not how we consume news, is it. Like Steve says, we do it individually these days, through those tiny screens. We cry alone. Recall scenes from "Prom Queen" and "Quarterlife," or even that horrid "Coastal Dreams" series. Those shots of news delivered via cell phone. The individual discovery. The back channel. This is the future, not shared observation. We're never going back to the living room, not in the sense of family togetherness time.

So. How to reconcile this reality of individualized consumption with the prospect of what Steve Rubel calls Living Room 2.0, where "Internet-enabled devices and services [are connected] to those sets...[bridging] our offline connections (the family) to our online friends around the world"?

I don't see this happening, at least not in this manner. When we consume media together, it's a shared experience. When we communicate with geographically disparate friends, it's a private experience. Bringing those two together won't make the living room social again. It'll bring the world to your hearth, but only for one family member at a time.

Witness, for example, the most ballyhooed online TV service, Joost, and its ability to let you chat with other people watching the same show as you. How would that work in a living room? Which member of the family gets to chat with their friends? Is there a screen for each individual? Are we all watching on our laptops, able to pause the action separately? Why not just decamp to our individual rooms?

So Steve's right and wrong. There is no set-top box that'll solve these questions, no API or GUI. The weird truth is we're moving away from shared meatspace experience. As long as we can do more alone, the living room will be a cold, empty place.

Fox Previews Terminator on Yahoo TV

From the inbox: Fox will make the pilot episode of "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" available for preview on Yahoo  TV this Friday from 9 p.m. until Saturday at 9 p.m. No commercials.

I haven't seen screeners of the show, but I have absolutely no faith in its premise. You can't just take the two most annoying characters from a movie about killer robots and make compelling drama. It's like "Starman" without the glowing, magic marble.

Reviews and spoilers here and here if you want them.

CBS Don't Play That

The Internet is call and response. One person creates a video or writes a post and other people link to it. Or respond on their blog. Or forward the URL to friends. The motives for sharing are varied, but at a basic level it's all about social transactions. URLs are like gifts. Here is this thing I saw, you're saying, I hope you like it.

On a more complex level, sharing URLs (or the posts/vids embedded there), is understood by Neal Gabler's term "culture of knowingness". In an online world, access to and facility with data gains more importance. You don't need to know something as much as demonstrate that you know it. We've learned to support our arguments through links.

Thus Net content can facilitate conversations begun offline. A few years ago, movies were ephemera, seen once and rarely again. Then came VHS and DVD and you could share the experience in a limited manner. Same for TV. Radio shows, most ephemeral of mediums -- listen once, poof, it's gone -- were late to the game but finally began using podcasts. As I wrote last year:

my relationship with media has become one of utility. I'm so accustomed to sending links to friends, or linking to things, that any unlinkable media is almost useless. When I listen to NPR, I wish I could freeze the broadcast and pull a link from the radio, send it to a friend. When I watch TV, same thing. When I go to the movies, same thing. Last year, the award for best picture went to "Crash," a movie about hyperlinks.

We can't so that yet, but the Net gets us close. And I reiterate these ideas -- which I think are basic -- because over at Poynter yesterday, Peter Zollman says CBS doesn't do a good job of publishing its TV shows' video on the Web.

"CBS Sunday Morning" may be the best news show on television. A couple of weeks ago, it carried a superb piece on the art of conversation -- one that I wanted to send to a friend. So, logically, I went to CBSNews.com to look for it.

It's not there. Or maybe it is -- but I certainly couldn't find it.

John Battelle responded. By not posting its video, CBS is effectively cutting off the conversation, a conversation that would continue online, whether in forums, blogs, or video. A small problem, some might say. But the deuce of it is the lost opportunity. Each piece of content placed on the Web has the potential become a conversational centerpiece. Just like a well-designed centerpiece at mom's holiday dinner table, it provides a common reference point for disparate points of view.

A hokey analogy, but a true one. Instead of thinking of TV programs as one-off sales vehicles offline, consider them to be potential conversation starters online. Conversations create markets. So while post-air date videos are detritus to your ad sales right now, consider the potential after market value -- and the value to your audience -- those videos acquire.

Much of Copyrighted Material in UGC is Fair Use, says Study

Much of the copyrighted content excerpted in user-generated content is eligible for protection under the fair use provisions of copyright law, according to a new study.

Recut, Reframe, Recycle: Quoting Copyrighted Material in User-Generated Video, by American University professors Pat Aufderheide and Peter Jaszi, studied 83 UGC videos (some popular, some esoteric) to determine the legality of copyrighted snippets and identified nine common kinds of re-appropriation practices.

While the study's conclusions aren't news to anyone who follows the industry -- we're allowed to remix culture?! Shut! Up! -- Recut, Reframe, Recycle is an excellent pedagogical tool that breaks down the various ways corporations are trying to restrict remix culture.

Here are the researcher's top five videos in each of the nine categories:

Satire and Parody

• Baby Got Book
• Bush vs. The Zombies
• George Bush Don’t Like Black People
• The Soprano Wars
• Victory in Iraq

Negative or Critical Commentary

• Metallica Sucks
• Grandpa Fred: Do you really have this kind of time to waste?
• Fox News Edits a Democrat to Make Him Look Worse
• Clint Eastwood’s The Office
• Coffee with Chou:  First Paris Hilton Interview After Jail!

Positive Commentary

• Internet People
• 7 Minute Sopranos
• Steve Irwin Fan Tribute
• Ain’t No Other Man
• Not So Innocent: A New Approach to Animaniacs

Quoting in Order to Start a Discussion

• Abstinence PSA on Feministing
• She Wants It on Feministing
• Daily Kos Open Thread: Ron Paul
• Swing State Project: Worst Political Ads
• Worst Music Video Ever

Illustration or Example

• Evolution of Dance
• What the Buck?  To Oprah with Love
• Internet People
• The 10 Most Ridiculous Things About the Beyonce Experience
• Britney Spears Is Bald Song

Incidental Use

• Prisoners Dance to Thriller
• Let’s Go Crazy
• Fat Cat watching TV SITTING on the couch
• My Birthday Party/Moonbounce Documentary
• Loud Neighbors

Personal Reportage/Diaries

• Me Onstage with U2…AGAIN!!!
• Arcade Fire - Wake Up pt. 2 - Porchester - 01/02/07
• I Was on American Idol
• Me on Letterman!
• Me and Madonna

Archiving of Vulnerable or Revealing Materials

• The Power of Nightmares
• Stephen Colbert’s speech at the White House Correspondents' Dinner
• Bush Doesn’t Care About Black People
• Bush Gives the Finger
• The Trap

Pastiche or Collage

• Dax Flame’s Hollow’s Eve
• Me Singing "Unwritten" by Natasha Bedingfield
• Daft Hands
• Apple Commercial
• Crazy Indian Video… Buffalaxed!

Addendum: On the Pho List right now there's a discussion about popular parody-ist Weird Al Yankovic and how/whether he gets approval for his songs. One of the Phosters pointed to this NPR interview from 2006, in which Al says he asks labels for permission out of respect, but acknowledges he isn't breaking any laws by creating transformative works with their material.

"I have a long-standing history of respecting artists' wishes," Yankovic writes. "So if James Blunt himself were objecting, I wouldn't even offer my parody for free on my Web site. But since it's a bunch of suits -- who are actually going against their own artist's wishes -- I have absolutely no problem with it."

Bonus: Weird Al's Don't Download This Song, on Revver.

Top 10 Pirated Movies and TV Shows in 2007

Happy New Year, studios: TorrentFreak has posted their list of Top 10 Most Pirated Movies and TV Shows of 2007. The film compilation lists "Transformers" at the No. 1 spot, followed by "Knocked Up" and (oh God, really?) "Shooter." Top TV shows were "Heroes," "Top Gear" and "Battlestar Galactica." Attention federal agents, please limit your investigations to awkward, bepimpled teenagers with cable modems and bad taste.

Except for B Star G. That's some epic drama. Plus robots are cool. Mark Wahlberg is not.

Addendum: My colleague Andrew Wallenstein noted last week that Wired also published a top downloaded content list, which was created courtesy of the P2P tracking firm Big Champagne.

TorrentSpy Loses Copyright Lawsuit

In a continuing sign of legal troubles for popular torrent-trading site TorrentSpy, a federal judge in California ruled today against the site on grounds that its operators engaged in "willful" deletion of important evidence.

The ruling opens the site to charges of copyright infringement in the U.S. The MPAA originally filed suit against the site last year. The judge then ordered TorrentSpy to track users so that the data could be given to the MPAA, but said that the service could mask IP addresses for the time being. TorrentSpy then decided to block US visitors, after which its traffic plunged.

TorrentSpy's servers are located in the Netherlands, and has continued to serve international users. There are several tools available to get around TorrentSpy's geographic restrictions.

IMHO: Despite the ruling against TorrentSpy, the MPAA and other interested parties are fighting a losing battle when pursuing individual sites. New sites and sharing methodologies appear regularly, making litigation at the site level not unlike a losing game of whack-a-mole.

See THR Esq for more on TorrentSpy ruling.

Striking Writers Starting Own Studios?

"Dozens" of striking writers are negotiating with venture capitalists in efforts to establish their own online entertainment studios and bypass the traditional studios, according to the LA Times.

Tech investors have been reticent to fund entertainment ventures in the past, largely because they see programs/movies as one-offs with low post-debut margins compared to tech ventures, which have more of an innate ability to grow virally and with less overhead.

Earlier this year, Will Ferrell's FunnyOrDie.com had a hit with the vid "Landlord," essentially making the Web safe for A-list talent.

A handful of web companies, like Revision3 and Yahoo, are currently attempting to produce original content for the web, with mixed results. Yahoo's had the most experience -- Wow House, Richard Bang's Adventures, In the Hot Zone -- but has often fallen short of its stockholder's expectations. Perhaps the most successful original entertainment initiative from a tech company is AOL's Gold Rush which, while not successful across all demographics, did attract a large number of women age 35 to 44.

Radiohead's Commercial

After dominating music news this year by offering their new CD, In Rainbows, at user-decided pricing, Radiohead is now showing a series of commercials for the CD's January physical release on YouTube. They're pretty horrible -- gloved magician hands? Really? -- but do a passable job of demonstrating the CD's slimmed-down packaging, i.e., it's in a sleeve instead of a jewel box.

The digital purist's move would have been to forego the physical release entirely. But if they're wed to in-store distribution, creating a slimmer package is a good way of reinforcing the message tendered with the download plan -- less is more.

The Wire Prequels at Amazon

In the vein of ABC's Lost minisodes, HBO drama (and best television show, ever, of all time, what?) The Wire is offering three prequel shorts at Amazon to promote its season 4 DVD,