The Harper’s Island Experiment

There’s no question that the internet, VOD, TiVo and their brethren are changing how we consume our “TV” entertainment.  While some in the industry struggle vainly to bolster the existing ways of doing business, there are some signs of experimentation.

One such example of minor experimenting is ABC’s upcoming show “Harper’s Island.”  In addition to being made in conjunction with Eqal, the team behind LonelyGirl15, meaning significant additional online content, there is another twist ABC hopes will draw in viewers.

Here’s how TVSquad puts it:

I’ve been a little antsy about getting involved in yet another continuing drama (and one that could be canceled at anytime), but this was filmed and is being marketed as a limited-run series. Somewhere between a mini-series and a regular season, and that makes me feel a little better about taking the time to watch it.

The old business model for TV said that real money doesn’t arrive until you complete 100+ episodes and can go into syndication.  While this might still be true for the moment, I think that model is being significantly disrupted.  It seems that fewer and fewer series have the legs or the faith of an audience to last those four seasons and unless the episodes can stand alone (CSI, et. al.) then syndication can prove difficult.

By making a one-season-and-done series there is not only more possibility of an audience sticking around until the definitive end (assuming the show is any good) but there are lots of ways to gain new viewers online over time.

I’ll certainly be watching the numbers on “Harper’s Ferry” but I’m still not sure I can commit to watching the actual show…

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• Will Harper’s Island usher in a new way of programming television shows? (tvsquad.com)
• Eqal Collaborates with CBS for New Interactive Show, Harper’s Island (beet.tv)
• Miles Beckett From Eqal: Harper’s Globe Premiere (dailymarauder.com)
• Multimedia “Digi Novel” Arrives This Fall (mediabistro.com)

ABC Vs. YouTube

I love the ongoing “pissing into the wind” approach of big media in their battle against the ease and speed with which any and all content will be spread:

Looking for highlights of last night’s Oscars on YouTube? Good luck.

That’s because ABC, which broadcast last night’s show, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which produces the event, don’t want clips of last night’s show on the world’s biggest video site. Instead, they’d prefer that you watch highlights on ABC’s Oscar.com site. (via)

Aside from the fact that I was able to find a number of live streaming links of the Academy Awards last night (on of them was even on the popular Justin.tv) there are literally hundreds of clips of last night’s show on YouTube and elsewhere.

Oh, and you can also download the entire thing from any number of P2P sites.

The point is that ABC has wasted time and energy trying to protect their property instead of working with the powerful distribution forces that were going to win either way.

Quick Little Boxee Update

It has now been over a month living cable-free and I am loving it.  Not only am I saving money and watching far less “bad” TV – I define “bad” TV as that stuff you watch when you are just idly flipping through the channels – but I have gotten to really experience Boxee.

While there are now all sorts of ways to watch TV on your computer, I find Boxee continues to be the most comprehensive.  Now, with the addition of the ABC web-content it is just that much better.

I think my favorite part is that I can navigate it almost entirely via my little Apple remote while sitting back in bed.

Even if you are still paying for cable, go download Boxee and get a pretty good taste of the future.  My guess is that you will quickly begin to wonder just why you are still paying for cable.

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• Boxee Gets ABC
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How Many Video Portals Does It Take To Screw In A Lightbulb?

Image by The Rocketeer via Flickr

The NYT has a good look at the ever-growing number of sites on the web offering you, the viewer, the chance to watch high-quality programming and wonders if they are all just a flash in the pan, much like the portals of yore:

“Now it feels like the same thing is happening with Internet video. As good television programming has become more available to online providers over the last year or two, new video sites have been popping up faster than “Law and Order” reruns. And as with the portals, big companies as well as start-ups are trying to get into the game.”

As I mentioned yesterday when I begged for an invite to Boxee (got one, too! thanks Boxee!), there is a big question as to whether or not any of these efforts will be around this time next year.

The biggest problem they all face is that they all offer the same basic content.  Now that the TV networks have decided to set a vast majority of their shows free via syndication, embedding and the like, it no longer takes a genius to find last weeks “Grey’s Anatomy” online.

Basically, everyone is just a rebroadcaster of some sort and none of them own the core product – the shows.

I think that the idea of everything on demand and on one screen is where we are headed, it’s just a question of time.

Another Communal Viewer Hits the Scene

First it was SeeToo, which I saw demoed but never used due to lack of mac-compatibility.  Then there was word about an upcoming NBC group-viewer.

Yesterday I rec’d an email from someone over at Lycos who said, “Lycos has been powering online viewing parties for Disney’s ABC Family Television Group for more than a year, with our proprietary, patent-pending Lycos Cinema Watch/Chat/Interact platform, allowing multiple users to watch synchronously and chat with other friends and fans in real-time”

Now comes Videophlow (complete with absurd web2.0 spelling). According to TechCrunch:

“…Videophlow, which takes the same dynamic community experience and applies it to YouTube. Groups of friends watch the same videos simultaneously as they interact with chat, emoticons, and gestures – viewers can even throw virtual tomatoes at the screen, complete with an animated splat.

All users will see the same portion of a video at the same time, even if they skip to a different scene. And best of all, groups can seamlessly transition to new videos. This has the chance to be a big hit – I can easily imagine groups of friends swapping (and watching) their favorite videos during late night viewing marathons.”

One thing about the web – it isn’t who comes up with the idea but who can deliver it in the most user-friendly package.

Jury is still out on this one.

Lost Misses a Great Opportunity with LostScape

Although I have never been a watcher of ABC’s LOST (I always suspected it didn’t have a real ending…) I was intrigued when I heard that ABC had released an online game component called LostScape.

With all the mystery and intrigue surrounding the plot for LOST and the seemingly obsessive fan-base, this seems like the kind of show that would be ripe for an ARG.

Instead, what we get is a very clunky scroll, point and click experience intermixed with cut scenes from the show.  There is nothing at all innovative or involving about either the style or game play.

What a totally Lost opportunity for ABC.

“Squeegees” Bad, Broadly Speaking

ReelPop has taken a longer look than I could stand at the ABC/Disney webisodic “Squeegees”.  He has a full review in THR but I thought this comment on his blog was more important:

“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.”

I fear ReelPop is screaming into the wind but it’s nice to hear others taking up the call for first-rate programming on the internet.

Network’s Desperate Move

In yet another sign that the major networks are is deep doo-doo and just don’t get it, AdFreak (via NYT) is reporting:

“ABC and Cox Communications are developing an on-demand service that would let viewers watch the network’s shows whenever they want, but also disable their ability to skip commercials.”

Of course, there is already a widely used technology called, um, TiVo, that lets people watch whatever/whenever AND skip the commercials (or anything else they choose).

But should that stop ABC from offering their customers completely crippled and out-dated technology that doesn’t give them what they want?  Hell no!

Sweet plan, ABC.