Tweet Two years ago I mourned the death of the “gay show.” In the early-mid 2000s cable networks boasted scripted shows with all-gay leads — Queer as Folk, Noah’s Arc, The L Word, DL Chronicles, Dante’s Cove – following post-Will & Grace buzz and advertiser demands for targeting. After those shows went off-air, broadcast and cable nets alike [...]
Posts Tagged ‘TV’
’30 Rock’ Charms Producers Guild By Mocking TV — On the Web
Posted by Aymar Jean Christian on January 25th, 2012
Tweet The Producers Guild joined the WGA this past weekend and honored original web programming. As Tubefilter notes, the nominees were usual suspects, a mix of web-grown originals (Ask a Ninja, The Guild), derivative programs (Parks and Recreation, 30 Rock) and web-to-TV success (Web Therapy). 30 Rock‘s Jack Donaghy: Executive Superhero won. Another of its series, [...]
Introducing: Hacktivision
Posted by Aymar Jean Christian on January 16th, 2012
Tweet I couldn’t think of a more perfect time to announce a new blog about the future of video and television! Within the last month, YouTube’s re-launch has changed the video landscape, Hulu and Netflix announced more original content, and the web series community has been experimenting with award shows. Hacktivision is the brainchild of Josh Braun, a [...]
Posted in uncategorized 
Tags: research, social networking, TV, Video (Web/Mobile/Transmedia) 
No Comments »Is Liz Lemon Bad At Her Job?
Posted by Aymar Jean Christian on January 11th, 2012
Tweet Previewing the new (hit) Showtime series House of Lies, New York‘s Kera Bolonik offered a brief but pithy aside: Is anyone on TV bad at their jobs these days? Not if it’s a high-status gig. But feel free to be a bad waitress, or a crappy paper salesman or receptionist, or an ennui-ridden local-government intern, [...]
Over-The-Top, Top-Down and Bottom-Up
Posted by Aymar Jean Christian on January 9th, 2012
Tweet If we’ve learned anything about over-the-top video, it has been its agnosticism. Web video distribution can be progressive or regressive, support diversity or concentrate eyeballs at the top. Whether a company loves it or hates it depends very much on how much it has and how much it has to lose. Last week saw [...]
Posted in uncategorized Tags: distribution, indendent film, TV, Video (Web/Mobile/Transmedia) 1 Comment »Can — And Should — YouTube Recreate TV?
Posted by Aymar Jean Christian on December 20th, 2011
Tweet Thanks to Chuck Tryon for linking! A redesign can make or break a website — remember Facebook before the News Feed? — or it can mean nothing at all. The consequences of YouTube’s latest redesign are unknown, but I view it with some ambivalence. I’m excited, but I have my reservations. Clearly I’m in the minority. [...]
Web Video Wrap-Up: Recapping Fall As 2012 Approaches
Posted by Aymar Jean Christian on December 19th, 2011
Tweet Thanks to Chuck Tryon for linking! As some of you know I’ve spent the fall writing my dissertation/book and interviewing for academic jobs (professorships and postdocs). Both are going well. But I haven’t blogged much in the last few months, and keeping up with news has been nearly impossible. My last web video news roundup of August [...]
Posted in uncategorized Tags: TV, Video (Web/Mobile/Transmedia), web series, web video weekly 1 Comment »Why TV Still Loves Books
Posted by Aymar Jean Christian on November 12th, 2011
Tweet The final version of this post has been published at Sparksheet. Comment there! From Sherlock Holmes to Gossip Girl, television has always loved books as source material. But recently it seems like every new series announced comes from the hottest novel or work of pulp fiction. Of course, there are deep historical connections between [...]
Who Wins When TV and the Web Converge? Nielsen and the Problem of Web Ratings
Posted by Aymar Jean Christian on October 24th, 2011
Tweet Believe it or not, ever since 1994 media executives have been claiming the web will become television. It’s a theme I will explore extensively in the second chapter of my dissertation. It’s been a consistent refrain from the likes of Microsoft, who in the 1990s invested millions in created original web content; tech companies [...]
Why Americans Will Ruin British Teen Shows
Posted by Aymar Jean Christian on October 24th, 2011
Tweet Originally posted at Splice Today! Thanks to Racialicious for linking! There was a moment in last week’s penultimate episode of the BBC series The Fades when the lead character, Paul, realizes he might not be a good guy. The series is a noir tale of angels and demons, or ghosts rather, and Paul is the [...]
