Television Archives - The Connected World

The State of Change in Television

Jun 23

Earlier I brought you the story of Dish Network’s battle with the television industry over commercial skipping and Dish chief Charlie Ergan’s contention that “television needs to change.”

Well, here is one of the ways television is changing. Amazon.com is moving forward with three productions of original programming for it’s Amazon Prime streaming service. Netflix has also announced an initiative to produce original content. Amazon actually has a division called Amazon Studios that accepts scripts and ideas from all over and chooses those it wants to pursue. It is effectively crowdsourcing production, which in itself is revolutionary.

Original programming on Netflix and Amazon could be a major disruption of the traditional TV model as these programs would not be tied up in the complex and arcane rules of cable networks. These programs can live on the open Internet and on any platform with a broadband connection. It’s just going to take one big hit, one major success to dramatically increase viewership and prove the model.

This could be a back to the future moment as well. In the 50′s brands helped produce and promote the original soap operas on TV. It made sense; they produced shows that appealed to their core market of housewives and put them on when the wives were home alone and available to watch. I could easily see brands today doing the same thing, using online distribution like Amazon and Netflix as partners.

Industries and large companies always resist change. Change is hard, expensive and risky. They would rather drive their current model into the ground as the music industry did. Or maybe by some self deluded thought they believe they can outlast the future. Pandora’s box has been opened, the technology is all in place. Television will change, in fact it’s already happening. Original programming from unusual places like Amazon and crowdsourced content is only the beginning. New opportunities will be available to the savvy and courageous.

The Great 3D TV Scam

By David JacobsLeave a Comment

Jan 15

A recent study indicates most of the American public is not interested in buying a 3D television. This is no surprise to me as I have always thought 3D television is indicative of a greedy industry pushing technology consumers never asked for.

Once you have sold plenty of HDTV’s, what’s next? How do you get consumers to keep upgrading their televisions? I understand the motivation but 3D is completely the wrong answer. It’s a gimmick, and not a very good one either. The same thing is happening with movies in theaters. Way too many 3D movies that have no reason to be 3D and they don’t even look better. Read Roger Ebert’s great article on why 3D movies suck.

We may have a solution, however. What will propel the televisions in 2012 and beyond will not be the evolution is so-called “smart” tv’s. These are televisions with Wi-Fi and Internet applications built in. We have been waiting for this convergence for a long time and it’s looking like 2012 is the year it will happen. Apple is driving this change with their still rumored TV product. Even before the rumors are confirmed, other manufacturers are racing to get their own smart tv’s out. I will write more on smart tv’s later but for now let’s hope the smart tv technology will spell the end of the great 3D TV scam.

Toddlers & Tiaras – The Show That Makes Me Cry

By David JacobsLeave a Comment

Dec 19

So-called “Reality TV” gets sicker and sicker every year, but the one show that really gets to me is Toddlers & Tiaras on TLC. This show is all about beauty pageants for little girls, from babies to 3-4 year olds. More than that, it’s about the moms and their obsession with everything from hair to makeup to presentation. They continually tell us on the show how their daughters love it, but you can’t help but wonder who really likes it more.

It’s hard to describe how wrong the show is. The kinds of pressure they put the kids under, the complete obsession with “winning”. I literally make me upset just to talk about it. I suggest you watch an episode yourself to fully understand. I can’t stand watching the kids on this show, no matter how much they seem to enjoy it at times. I’m sure an elephant at a circus thinks it’s got it good at times, but we all know he would be just as well and probably better free on the safari.

The general objectivity of beauty at such an early age, the mothers who often act horribly and yell at the kids. The pounds and pounds of makeup, the mouth inserts to change the jawline. This show literally makes me want to cry. I cannot watch it. There is nothing cute or funny about it. These are real kids who deserve to just be kids and not parade around and win crowns to make their moms feel better about themselves.

The Secret Of Apple Televisions

By David JacobsLeave a Comment

Nov 27

It’s been a rumor for years and years that Apple is building a televisi0n. Finally, with the new Walter Isacson biography on Steve Jobs, we have a hint that Apple has indeed been hard at work.

“I’d like to create an integrated television set that is completely easy to use. It would be seamlessly synced with all of your devices and with iCloud. It will have the simplest user interface you could imagine. I finally cracked it.”

The simplest user interface you could imagine. Some people are theorizing about a gester interface like the Kinnect on XBox, but this is wrong. The interface revelation is Siri. What could be easier than talking and simply telling your tv what you want. “Change channel to ESPN”, “Record this program”. “When is the next episode of The Walking Dead on?” Sounds like giving commands to an iPhone. Build your television with iOS and you have it all. iCloud/iTunes integration, Siri, apps, everything.

Trust me, Apple will have a television in 2012 and it will be built on iOS and you will talk to it via Siri, and you will die to have one.

Pam Am, The Playboy Club And The Death Of Creativity In Television

By David JacobsLeave a Comment

Sep 25

Two new television programs getting big pushes this fall are ABC’s Pan Am and NBC’s The Playboy Club. ABC especially is promoting the hell out of Pan Am. Both these shows are period pieces and direct, shameless rip-offs of AMC’s Mad Men.

Mad Men was a breakthrough when it came out. A beautiful period piece set in the world of Advertising in the 50′s and 60′s. The writing is superior and the attention to detail in the show is remarkable. What is sad is once something becomes very popular, people in TV rush to copy it. So it’s no surprise to see these two new shows. Frankly I wonder what took them so long. There is such a void of creativity in television, truly great shows only come around once and awhile and most of what is out there are rip offs. CSI became popular and what did they do, replicate it several times. Same for Law and Order.

I guess it’s been this way for quite awhile though. Television goes through phases. For one period, everything is a cop drama, than a hospital one. Lately, the traditional cop drama has morphed into more of a psychic cop drama like Medium.

I predict both The Playboy Club and Pan Am will be failures. People do see through this pretty well and neither bring anything original or interesting to the party. None of the actual creativity comes from the major networks anyway. Virtually everything that is decent now comes from networks like AMC, FX, and HBO.

For the record, here are the only shows I watch these days that I think are worth watching.

Breaking Bad – I came late to this show but I’m hooked now

The Walking Dead – I have read the comic and it’s awesome. I was very worried they would mess it up, but so far the show is great.

Sons of Anarchy – How can you not love crusty Ron Perman as the head of a rough and tumble motorcycle gang?

The Daily Show – When the actual news is so insane you want to tear your hair out, this is the only thing that may keep you from completely loosing it.

I’m sure there are some shows I have missed but with three kids, I only have time for so much. Add your favorites in the comments below.

When Companies Cannot Admit Failure

By David JacobsLeave a Comment

Jan 11

Jay Leno, host of the Tonight Show. Cropped fr...

Image via Wikipedia

NBC took a big gamble when they moved Jay Leno to primetime and it obviously hasn’t worked out. Now they are canceling the prime time show and contemplating putting him back to late night, which itself is complex now as they gave his old job to Conan O’Brien.

What caps my hide about this story, however, is the way NBC has handled the news. NBC has said the show “didn’t meet affiliates’ needs” and that the show performed “exactly as we anticipated on the network.” NBC is saying here, it’s not our fault, the show was fine, blame the affiliates. The painful truth, however, which is clear to everyone is that the show wasn’t very good and very few people were watching. Critics didn’t like it and the general buzz was bad. So if the show really performed “exactly as we anticipated on the network.” that’s pretty sad and it’s no wonder NBC is the last place network.

I don’t know why companies feel they cannot admit failure. Customers will not punish you for failure, only continual failure and an inability or lack of desire to fix things. This is why AT&T is taking such a beating lately. Their network is failing in certain cities and they have been slow to correct the problems and even admit the seriousness of them. That’s what people are most upset about. Admit openly and honestly you have a problem and than get on it. Customers will be patient, for a time. But if you will not admit your failures and you issue trite press statements that smack of ridiculousness in the face of the facts, you will be punished. We are in a very media savvy society; people understand the game now. It would have been so easy for NBC to say something like, we are constantly innovating and pushing the envelope with our content. Jay Leno in primetime did not work the way we imagined so we are changing things up. We anticipate an exciting new line up, including our popular late night programming.

Bill O’Reilly likes so say his show is a “no spin zone”. The entire world is a no spin zone now. PR people are traditionally trained to control the story, even guide it if you can. A traditional PR approach to this NBC/Leno story would be to control the damage on what is basically a negative for the network. But of course the problem is there is no control anymore and there doesn’t even need to be any damage. By admitting your own failure and presenting a plan to correct things and move forward you take away the very weapon others could use against you. When the emperor has no clothes, he shouldn’t parade around as if he does. It’s a new media world now and we can all see you naked.