michael’s thoughts

I’m not a big fan of reality television. Or more accurately, I enjoy celebrity reality TV (Hogan Knows Best and the like), but shows like Survivor or Big Brother do nothing for me. Call me high brow, but I like a scripted comedy or dramatic series.

Having said that, I do have an idea for a reality show that I would enjoy watching. So here’s my pitch to the world. Most of these shows are about trying to win the big prize – typically a sizeable amount of money. But what if that were the beginning of the show, not the end?

What if you picked the winner on the first episode, and gave them a couple million dollars, and then followed them around for a few months to see how their lives changed. NBC is doing a similar thing with the dramatic series Windfall – but why not do it for real?

Depending on who you picked to be the “winner”, I think a lot of drama and humor could be found in taking someone to a Ferrari dealership for the first time, or out to a $200/plate restaurant, or to a money manager’s office.

I think a good title for this reality program would be Nouveau Riche and if someone would like to front some sponsorship money I’d be happy to executive produce an online version of it.

So the big news today, aside from Ken Lay passing away, is the departure of Amanda Congdon from Rocketboom. I have nothing to add to the whole gossip angle about what may have really happened. I have no inside information, but I’ve been on the inside of enough deals gone bad over the years to know that what comes out publicly typically has very little resembalance to what actually happened.

I comment because Jason Calacanis posted some advice and also a more general endorsement of the online content industry.

I have mixed feelings. I agree that online content is the future, and there will be big big money to be made. But I don’t know if it’s time yet to set up an online studio. While people will watch short clips on Youtube or Google Video, and even Rocketboom, I don’t think the attention span is there to watch longer-form content on a PC screen. The tech elite will, but not the masses required to bring in ad dollars.

The ultimate solution needs to be a set top box, perhaps a deal with TiVo. In the mean time I stand by my earlier thoughts that maybe DVD is a bridge. But even that seems too complicated for the majority. Maybe if the content is compelling enough. Hard to say.

This is a space where I’d like to throw my hat into the ring. Most likely as a producer or content aggregator. But I don’t know if the timing is right yet. I hope I don’t miss the boat.

Now that I figured out how to embed videos, all bets are off.

Tags: Chelsea Handler, YouTube

So I happened to be checking out the officlal Google Video Blog and found this video with my new favorite TV host, Chelsea Handler. But this isn’t from The Chelsea Handler Show. Apparently she was/is also on Oxygen’s Girls Behaving Badly which I have never seen, but I am vaguely aware that there is such a show on the Oxygen network. Anyway the video clip is amusing.

And in the interest of completeness, I suppose I should mention there is some further video of Ms. Handler available over at her show’s website at E! Online.

Tags: Chelsea Handler, Oxygen, Google Video

I saw this story on Slashdot about some “alternate reality” game called “Perplex City“. It’s one of those games that bleeds over into real life, with physical clues to find in the real world, sort of like a big treasure hunt.

I haven’t read the whole story on this particular game, but I’ve seen these in the past and I know some of them have been marketing stunts. But I think normally the marketing stunts are tie-ins for video games and movies and the like.

I wonder if such an “alternate reality” game would work as a marketing tool for a real life destination. I would think that liesure busineses in a downtown area could be banded together to create a cross-venue game. Perhaps the bartender in a nightclub would have the next clue, but only if you knew the secret passphrase which you’d have to learn by having attended a certain theatrical performance or perhaps seen a movie at the theatre next door.

It seems like a reasonable part of an economic development strategy for anyone trying to revitalize an urban area on its way up. I’d be interested to hear if anyone knows of anything like this being attempted.

I had totally forgotten that I have an account at last.fm. I’m not sure what reminded me that it exists, but I headed over there today and downloaded their plugins to reinstall them on my box. When I first used the last.fm plugin I don’t think last.fm even existed, it was just the AudioScrobbler project. No clue how that turned into last.fm, but the bottom line is that it’s a cool web site where you can be a musical voyeur and see what other people are lisetening to.

I’ve put up a little sidebar javascript thing on here to broadcast my recent plays for all to enjoy and laugh at. Alas the last played chart looks like crap as I haven’t done anything to integrate it well into the CSS layout for this site, in part becuase I think I might hate this layout and want to change it soon. Who knows.

In any case, it’s not pretty but it’s there. Now prepare to be schooled on some music.

EDIT – I’ve moved the recent playlist to its own page as it was way too ugly and busy crammed into the sidebar. Plus it takes a few seconds for the image to be generated and load from last.fm and I’d rather not have every page rendering hang on that. So now you can find the “recent playlist” link under the “static” section of the side navbar. Enjoy.

OK, I’m going to steal (syndicate) a little of my own thinking here and rip this off from my livejournal, but I doubt there is much cross readership there anyway. Now that that’s out of the way, how many of you watch The Sopranos? It’s OK, just raise your hand right up if you do. OK, good then, and how many saw last weekend’s episode with Carmella in Paris? Mmhmm, good.

And how many people got the feeling that David Chase had just finished re-reading The Unbearable Lightness of Being prior to coming up with that episode? Yeah, me too. Maybe Nietzsche will have a cameo in next week’s season finale.

I have decided I am a fan of the cable “On Demand” service.  I’ve never had it until I upgraded to digital cable at my current place a few months ago.  Prior to that I had basic analog cable, prior to which I had digital cable but no on demand service, and prior to that I had DirecTV which does not have On Demand since I’m not sure how you’d do that with satellite.

I’ve always been a big Tivo fan and customer, and I never felt like I was missing out without On Demand.  But what I’ve realized is they’re totally separate beasts that provide complimentary entertainment functions.  Tivo is great for recording arbitrary programs, pausing live TV, etc.

With On Demand I can create ad hoc TV marathons.  Yesterday’s was an Entourage season two marathon, since I never saw season two and it’s almost time for season three.  Tonight I introduced my roomie to the wonderful world of Deadwood, and in the process got myself all jazzed up for the upcoming new season.

I still have not gotten into watching movies from the On Demand library, so we’ll see if that prospect grows on me or if I am staisfied with simply Tivoing movies I want to watch.

There’s a relatively new show on E!, The Chelsea Handler Show. I hadn’t actually watched it until I just happened to see it come on last night. This show seems to be flying under the radar, as I had no idea what it even was until I watched it. And that’s a tragedy. This chick is the height of comedy.

I’m not sure how to describe what the show is, exactly. It’s sort of a sketch comedy/man on the street type thing. Sort of like a Tom Green Show but with copious amounts of wit. It’s really funny and everyone should watch it starting immediately.

I don’t really have a “type” as far as women go, but if I did I think Ms. Handler would be it. I’ve seen one half hour episode of her show, and yet I feel pretty confident that given the right circumstances I’d propose. A sense of humor like that in a girl is so attractive. Well, plus she’s not unpleasant to look at.

Anyway check out her show. It’s hy-fucking-sterical.

EDIT: corrected improper channel information – the show is on E! not VH-1

I’ve been watching Boston Legal fairly regularly lately. The season finale was last night, and it was good. I’m certainly looking forward to next season.

I’ve been an off-and-on fan of David E. Kelly’s legal dramas. I really enjoyed the first season or two of Ally McBeal, but then it lost its novelty. I never really got into The Practice. But Boston Legal I do enjoy.

I’ve noticed something disturbing, though. David E. Kelly has changed his production company credit sequence. It used to be an older woman in a rocking chair watching Picket Fences. Alas that is no more. With Picket Fences not being in syndication any more, that was the only tie to the show we had. So sad to see the memory of such a great show fade into the ether.