Fat Pigeons

There’s a new show out called Andy Barker PI. It’s a comedy about an accountant turned private eye. Pedigree’s good (Jane Espenson, Conan O’Brien, Andy Richter), and the reviews coming in are strong.

So they’ve scheduled it against Grey’s Anatomy and CSI.

Good: There’s no comedy in that slot on the other channels. So it has a chance of picking up those that don’t watch Grey’s Anatomy or CSI
Bad: It’s up against Grey’s Anatomy and CSI.

Here’s where it gets interesting.

Before the show has even aired once, the first six episodes are available to download from NBC.com. And special note – the first six episodes are, in fact, the entire first season. Before one episode has aired on TV.

Now, you have to watch an ad to access the show online, sure. But that’s not going to come anywhere near covering the cost. So why have they done this?

To promote the show.

With luck and a following wind, posting of the episodes on the internet will build enough word-of-mouth to encourage sampling of the show when it airs.

Will the Internet-access stop people watching it online? Yeah, some. They’re gambling that the buzz will make up for those, and add some more.

So they’ll have people sampling their show. After that, it’s down to the quality.

Not a bad gamble to make.

Of course, if you want to watch those episodes from outside the US, you’re shit outta luck.

Sorry.

…he learned from World of Warcraft.

OK, it was just seven things.

But they’re useful.

From The Hollywood Reporter: It seems that MGM is the latest studio to jump into the D2DVD market.

Interesting news.

And just possibly related to the recent decision to create two Direct to DVD Stargate movies. MGM owns the franchise, whose TV run is now coming to an end after ten years on two networks.

It’s a big hitter, with a solid fan-base – which translates into sales. Don’t be surprised to see this as part of the launch lineup.

David Bishop edited 2000AD seven years ago, before moving on to fresh pastures.

Before doing so, he wrote a rough guide to putting together a weekly comic as reference material for his successors.

If you’re at all interested in the technical aspects of running a comic, this is a fascinating read.

Damn but the man is good.

John Rogers talks about the way he thinks new technology is going to impact viewing.

To summarise: Big networks die and networks built on informational assessors will become the dominant guiding force.

That was a bit of a mouthful. Let’s break it down.

A TV network is a filtration system for television shows. So, for example, if you want a gentle drama you’d hit Sunday night on ITV1.

That’s changing. With the advent of multi-channel, PVRs, and DVDs the proliferation of viewing options means that the role of the network as selecter of your evening’s entertainment becomes unsustainable. With so much choice being delivered on-demand, one channel will no longer satisfy.

So how do you choose what to watch if you want something new – and here’s the tough part – that you’ll probably like?

One way is to use Opinionated People’s Choices.

Oprah Winfrey’s recommendation carries weight. As does Quentin Tarantino. As does Harry Knowles. As does Warren Ellis.

The specifics of what Quentin or Oprah or Harry or Warren will recommend or decry are actually irrelevant, but I think we can safely say that if we like some of the things that one of them recommends, we’ll probably like most of the rest. Similarly, if we don’t agree with their tastes, then we can safely and happily ignore them.

Rogers suggests – and I concur – that the next logical thing is the development of these people into… well, we don’t know what to call them yet. Informational Assessors. Taste Buddies. Whatever. The important thing is that these are people who have a strong sense of The Things They Like.

And then we build channels on the fly from the choices of people with strong tastes. Here’s how to do it:

– Pull a data feed off the Internet and tag the programmes with an informational flag (Warren likes! Warren hates!)
– Set a threshold (All Warren All The Time! Just The Best! Not Too Weird!)
– Use this as a feed to your PVR to grab and store

Bosh. Your very own Warren Ellis TV channel.

It’s another way of cutting through the murk.

Down the pub this evening, I was appalled to discover that the toilet had been vandalised with one of the most offensive things in the English language.

The word “Cunts” had been scratched into the wood above the urinal.

With an apostrophe.

(Big-ass spoilers for Casino Royale.)

Hm.

Now, which organisation makes money from terrorism, revenge, and extortion? Has an enormous thing about loyalty? And, it seems, Does Not Tolerate Failure?

O, my boys.

I’ve missed you.

Well, that one came out of left field, didn’t it?

ITV has been in a lot of well-publicised trouble this last few years. From a lack of direction at the top, to declining ratings, to critical savagings, to several failed takeovers, things have been going from bad to worse for what is still the only real contender to the publicly-funded BBC. Which has itself been undergoing a renaissance over the last few years, shining a light onto ITV’s current weaknesses.

One of which has been the lack of a Chief Executive.

Well, it looks as if Christmas has come early for ITV, as today news broke that Michael Grade has defected from the BBC for, ooh, ten times what he was earning, a large packet of shares, and the ability to be more hands-on in the world of television again.

This news gives ITV a fighting chance to regain its position, and – here’s the clever bit – also deprives the BBC of one of its big guns just before an extremely tricky negotiation with the government over the licence fee settlement.

It’s a beautiful coup. Well done.

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip has picked up a back 9. So that’s all right then.

Here’s what that actually means:

A US TV season is commissioned initially for 13 episodes. They’ve generally got about half-a-dozen in the production chain by the time they start airing, and are starting to prep the last half of the series.

If a series isn’t performing well, they stop at 13. That’s just about enough episodes to release on DVD (hello Firefly).

If a series is performing dismally, they don’t even air the full batch of episodes on TV, replacing it with something they know will perform. If it’s an outright failure, it may even be cancelled after just a couple of episodes and everyone sent home (hello Coupling).

As a US producer, what you actually want is a full season commission. A full US season is 22 episodes long, and those extra episodes are known as the back 9. So if the series is performing well enough (and what a world of calculation and deal-making is hidden in those two words), you’ll be commissioned for the rest of the season.

If you’ve picked up a back 9, then there’s a good chance that you’ll be able to stay in the game. Find your audience, and you can make it to a second season.

So congratulations to Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. It’s the new show from Aaron Sorkin, with two great actors in the lead (Matthew Perry – who knew?), and Tommy Schlamme as the staffed director.

There are a few problems with it, to be sure. It’s a show still finding its feet as of episode 6. At the moment, we keep cutting from the story to watch the show-within-the-show. In other words it’s as if the West Wing showed the voting in Congress every week for ten minutes of the running time. Not so fun.

Nonetheless, I think it’s got the potential to be great.

Now we’ll get the chance to find out if it matches that potential.