Program scripts from week of September 15, 2013
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.
New Reading Models
I have been a fair bit of traveling recently and that means my beloved Nook Color is getting a workout. One of the advantages of an e-book reader is that I can carry around not only things I really want to read but also things that I think I probably will be interested in. One of those is a very ebook kind of book called “Ebooks and Self Publishing - A Conversation Between Authors Barry Eisler and Joe Konrath”. It’s actually the transcript of a live Google Docs discussion and for those of us interested in these kinds of things it is fascinating. So imagine my joy when I got home and sat down to look for topics to find two ebook related stories waiting for me!
There are books that I would love to have on the Nook. Roger Zelazny’s “Chronicles of Amber”, Isaac Asimov’s “Foundation” trilogy, Harper Lee’s “To Kill A Mockingbird”. Books that I love to reread every couple years. The problem is that building a new digital library is a huge expense for books I already own. Well the folks at Amazon are looking at solving that problem. Their newly announced Kindle Matchbooks program allows you to buy Kindle versions of paper books that you have purchased from Amazon. There are two really cool things about this. First it will cover any book you’ve purchased at Amazon going back to 1995 (which just happens to be the year they were founded). The other thing is price. Most of the ebooks will be priced between 99 cents and 2.99, some may even be free. Curiously this is exactly the price range that the two guys in that book I read feel is the sweet spot for ebook sales. It’s an interesting concept that actually makes a logical connection between the old and the new. The first thought that came to mind was the video combo packs that combine Blu-rays, DVDs and, wait for it, digital versions.
The other story I think has great potential for an old line media. The folks at Barnes and Noble have entered into a deal with UWire to be able to offer college newspapers on Nooks. What I really like is that it gets an audience that has effectively given up on newspapers to start thinking about newspapers on their readers. If you can get the future leaders of the nation in the habit of turning to their e-readers to get the daily news it might translate into a potential future for the rest of the newspaper industry. As per usual it is NOT the industry itself that has figured this out but the thinkers outside the industry.
Which is exactly what would have been predicted by those two guys in that book I was reading.
There is still some of that. Most recently were the final episodes of AMC’s show “Breaking Bad” are shows that will have the shows fans glued to their seats. Sure you could record it and time shift the program but the reality is that no one wants to miss really good TV. That’s the compelling part. You want to be able to talk about the show.
Now there are two things we do know about making compelling television. First, that some people are already doing it. The second is that plenty of other people don’t have a clue. These are the people who need our help.
Now most commonly there are two ways for people who don’t really get it to try and fake their way to compelling programming. The first is get as racy as possible. It’s tough if you’re working on network TV because of the FCC regulations. We’re seeing more and more cable channels seeing how far they can go. A recent NPR story said that AMC actually has a limit on the number of times the “f-bomb” can be said. In the end does that really create “Must See TV”? Only in the short run. The problem with relying on shock is that after a while the audience gets used to it and it’s not shocking anymore. “Breaking Bad” has certainly been shocking in its run. At the same time it has also offered memorable characters and great storylines.
The other way that folks try to create that special TV is to re-make the hits. Steal ideas, do spin-offs and sequels. If you pick the right ideas or follow the right characters from one show to the next. So it’s interesting to note that now that “Breaking Bad” is ending its run the producers have to try and create some new compelling programming.
What are they doing? Creating a sequel.
I was really hoping that I could avoid this whole thing. It’s stupid, and pointless and very much a tempest in a teapot. I don’t care that it was the lead story on news outlets that should have known better the morning after it took place. The fact that it is still managing to be news is astounding. What’s worse is that by actually taking notice of it here I’m actually becoming one of those people who keep it high profile.
But it just won’t go away.
What is it? It’s the Miley Cyrus...you groaned right there, didn’t you? I don’t blame you. It’s a stupid story about a stupid act.
The latest bump up for this stupid story is an equally stupid story in USA Today in an interview with dowager rock queen Cher. In the interview itself she pretty much trashes Miley. Not because it was bad taste, let’s face it that’s a subject that Cher has no standing on, but because she thought it was badly done. Once the story was published there was the inevitable backlash and Cher sort of backed away from her comments.
And that’s really the unfortunate part in my opinion. Cher DOES have standing to discuss outrageous female stage performance. That is almost certainly why McNewspaper asked her the question. Sadly what Cher retreated to a “she’s pushing the envelope, being an artist” stance that smacks of PR timidity.
If what Cyrus did was in fact art somehow, and you can count me among those who find that concept dubious at best, then it ought to be able to stand up to scrutiny by people with expertise in that area. That’s part of the whole process and always has been.
So by backing away from her criticism Cher is pretty much telling us that she realizes it’s more about the outrage than the art.
Which is, of course, what most of the rest of us realize from the outset. So how do we fight back against the onslaught of these nonsense stories? Two ways I think. The first is follow the path Cher took before she lost her nerve. Treat it like art and then take it apart. It will become obvious quickly to the vast majority of people that’s it not worth the time and effort.
The second way? What I wish I could have done from the beginning.
Just ignore it. The stories die without sunlight.
Call that the View From the Phlipside
No comments:
Post a Comment