Nicole Bogdas

I know the new issue is making its way to newsstands, but I caught last week’s issue at work last night and couldn’t help but be taken aback by the cover story:

‘Saturday Night Live’ Rocks the Vote
Who says Americans want change? Once again, viewers are voting with their remotes and choosing ”SNL” as their primary source of political and pop culture satire.

Seriously?

So, it dawned on me recently that I have this blog, and basically, I can write whatever I want now that I’m not representing SND’s Region 3. So, I pose this question to you all who are inherantly smarter than I: Do you watch TV on the Web?

I, for one, just watched last week’s episode of House because Charter cable sucks and never came to deliver my DVR and I work nights again. Despite the bane of having to wait eight days after airtime to see the show, it’s not so bad, but this is not the Web TV of which I speak.

Does anyone watch serialized comedies/dramas on sites such as YouTube? And if so, how does this affect your view of the WGA strike? Now, I don’t remember the ‘88 strike, but I have read that it spawned such hits as America’s Most Wanted, a true precursor to reality TV if you ask me. So, if you really wanted, and I do, one could blame reality TV on the strike of ‘88. I mean, sure, production costs are lower, but they also found the loophole around the guild. What do you get? Cheap TV without the pain of a union. Of course networks ate it up. And following that strike a surge of reality shows hit the air.

What’ll happen this time? It’s hard to say since part of the strike focuses on royalities collected from said internet broadcasts, but still, there are plenty of amaturs out there looking for a break, and this seems to be an opportune time.

Of course, being in the loop and all, the LA Times wrote this story long before I even thought to look for it. From the column:

Here, friends, is the basic conundrum of watching Web entertainment: How much convenience are you willing to surrender for the sake of quality (and the other way around)? Wouldn’t you rather flop on your sofa and just watch TV? Isn’t this a lot of trouble to go to for video viewing?

“No,” Marshall Herskovitz told me. “You’re just old.”

Ok, so what does this have to do with visual editing? Well, as we’ve already established, this is my blog and I can write what I want, but I can’t help but tie things together in a neat little bow. Ok, it’s a messy sideways bow, but go with me….

Is scripted, broadcast TV going  the way of the newspaper? An even bigger question: How old are we based on the fact that we once thought TV was a real threat? If the TV viewers who aren’t into online shows old, and we’re older than that: my god.

So, what does it all mean? Newspapers endured what was once predicted to be their end: TV. So, did we win? Is this good news?

TV is worried about the internet. That sounds like bad news.

One argument against the internet TV phenomenon is that it’s more convenienant and comforatable to watch broadcasts on your plasma from your couch. But how far away are we really from the integration of TV and the Web? They’re basically the same device, right?

But wait, one could argue that we’re basically the same device as say, magazines, or, with even more stamina, books! So, what’s that say about our staying power? Does anyone really think that TV is going to go away? How soon and how well will it morph with the times? And what can we learn from its ability to adapt?

Finally, and most importantly, if you do watch internet TV, what are you watching? I’m gonna get a little woozy without my Hugh Laurie fix.