"The View From the Phlipside" is a media commentary program airing on WRFA-LP, Jamestown NY. It can be heard Tuesday through Friday just after 8 AM and 5 PM. The following are scripts which may not exactly match the aired version of the program. Mostly because the host may suddenly choose to add or subtract words at a moments notice. WRFA-LP is not responsible for any such silliness or the opinions expressed. You can listen to a live stream of WRFA or find a podcast of this program at wrfalp.com
Program scripts from week of April 30, 2012
My name is Jay Phillippi and I've spent my life in and around the media. TV, radio, the movies and more. I love them, and I hate them and I always have an opinion. Call this the View from the Phlipside.
Biggest Loser
It was a couple months back that we heard about the contestant uprising on NBC’s hit reality show “The Biggest Loser” and it was a couple weeks ago that we finally saw the footage. Two contestants ended up walking off for reasons that haven’t really been clearly defined. If you want to get a better feel what kinds of things go on behind the scenes I recommend checking out any of the blogs of past contestants. Personally I followed Season three contestant Matthew McNutt’s blog. Just google his name and it should come right up. I said at the time that the contestants would lose in a showdown with the producers and that seems to be the way it has played out. But there are two other points that arise from the whole issue.
The first is the level of abuse the two departed contestants are taking in a lot of quarters. Sadly the internet seems to spawn every mouth breathing closet bully on the planet. Here’s the bottom line - for whatever reason they made a decision to leave. A decision that even the show acknowledges they have every right to make. And let’s not lose sight of the fact that his decision was...to leave a TV show. On the scale of important decisions in their lives this will show up at the very bottom. A literal proportion here people. Seriously.
What really concerns me about all of this is the apparent direction that NBC and the new production company have decided to take. If you’ve seen the movie “The Hunger Games” you’ve got a feel for how the contestants must have felt. Rules being changed apparently at random to “improve the competition”. It’s a stupid pointless manipulation of a successful formula that I believe puts the future of the franchise at risk. You see The Biggest Loser isn’t like The Amazing Race or Survivor. Those of us who are fans of the program don’t watch it for the competition. In fact “playing the game” is something of a dirty word in the Biggest Loser universe. We don’t watch the show for the conniving and the backstabbing. The fans watch this program for the inspiration of people making a difference in their lives. Wrestling with personal demons and gaining control of the forces that are destroying the contestants.
Focusing on playing the game and messing around with the rules to make it more interesting is a sure way to make sure that the Biggest Loser is the biggest loser.
New Theater Life
I’ve spent a lot of time over the last several years on this program talking about the need for old school media to figure out their place in the new media environment. Sadly I’ve probably spent more time talking about how the old timers have failed to make that transition than those that have succeeded. So it was encouraging this past weekend to see an old line medium that might be making a move in the right direction.
My family and I had gone to catch a movie in Erie. While we were waiting I took a look at the the upcoming events displays. What interested me was that most of those displays were not about upcoming new releases. Instead they were one time special events. I’ve noted this idea before with live broadcasts of concerts or events like the upcoming broadcast performance of National Public Radio’s “This American Life” show. You’ll be able to go to select movie theaters and be able to watch the live broadcast of the special concert version of the show. When I first heard about one of those events I thought it was an interesting concept. It now seems to have grown to a regular part of the offerings. There were promotions for everything from a special one night only viewing of the first movie to ever win an Academy Award, 1927’s Wings which starred Clara Bow and introduced a new young actor named Gary Cooper to presentations of the Metropolitan Opera’s new production of Wagner’s Ring cycle operas.
Now to be honest while I am a huge old movie fan, I’m not much of an opera fan. But the opportunity to see what looks to be a visually stunning version of a great piece of music without having to shell out big bucks to go to New York. So that’s a real chance for the movie theater to bring me back one more time. And that’s a brilliant concept in this moment in the media.
Now I’m sure that some folks will find the whole concept strange. Effectively this is watching TV on the world’s biggest screen. So what? The experience of going to the movies has changed multiple times over the course of the medium’s history. The technology now offers movie theaters the chance to offer special events, to bring truly special performances to places where they might never otherwise be seen.
That’s good for the audience and good for business as well.
E Book Life
When I went looking for an ebook reader a couple years ago I looked at both Amazon’s Kindle offering and Barnes and Noble’s Nook. In the end I went with the Nook Color and really enjoy it. As more of my friends have gone the ebook reader route they’ve made choices all over the spectrum from all the various manufacturers. It’s interesting taking a look not only how it’s changed my reading habits but also the effect it’s having on the wider world of readership.
This past Christmas season saw a huge increase in sales numbers for ereaders. When you add in dedicated software like Nook or Kindle apps for tablet computers and smartphones and a whole lot of people are reading ebooks. According to the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project in the last year 43% of adults have read either a book or something long form like a magazine on some kind of ebook reader. 21% have done so on a dedicated piece of hardware like a Nook or Kindle.
But here’s the real kicker in this research. Nearly a third of folks using ebook readers are reporting that they are doing MORE reading than they did before. And if you’re afraid that ebooks will bring about the end of the DTB (that’s Dead Tree Book) that may be an over stated fear as well. 88% of the folks who read an ebook in the last year also read a traditional book. In the end reading is reading. And anything that encourages people to read more is just fine in my book.
My own experience is pretty similar. Now it would be hard for me to read more than I normally do. I read all the time. In fact I used to drive some folks at my last radio station crazy by reading while I was on the air. During songs I had all this free time so yeah, sometimes I’d read. I didn’t see it as a problem. I am reading more widely than I have in the past. The Nook Color allows me to explore the growing ranks of indie self published authors. I’ve also found a way to help review some new books from smaller publishers. Between the two categories I found some exceptional writing and I’ve found some pretty wretched writing. On the other hand there is also a huge library of classic writing out there that can be picked up legally for free.
So maybe just maybe reading is just reading. And that’s a good thing.
Call that the View From the Phlipside.
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