As I’ve mentioned in the past, the Hollywood Writer’s strike is creating an opportunity for other kinds of television shows, and new media in particular. 23/6, in particular is one of those kinds of entrepreneurial stabs, which is making a run for the Daily Show in terms of a parallel content (political satire from a liberal bent).
Quarterlife, on the other hand, is a web-based show from the minds behind “My So Called Life”, and in a demonstration of exactly how desperate Network television is to fill its lineup with *some* kind of content, has actually picked up Quarterlife for broadcast earlier this year.
To put this in context, there is no question that the production values are *higher* and there is an unmistakable pedigree, but this is almost like NBC picking up the team behind Lonelygirl15 to produce a series on Lonelygirl15 — to be broadcast across the United States in as little as two months.
Now imagine how ridiculous this would have sounded six months ago — when Lonelygirl15 was outed, and she ended up everywhere as a result of the expose. Sure, it might have ended up as a mid-season replacement on Friday nights (that’s when Geeks are watching television, right? Hey, I remember the X-files and Star Trek both being on Friday nights — and that’s personal experience), but this?
This is craziness.
An incredible interesting. You can be sure that if Quarterlife does even marginally “well”, that other networks will also be racing to scoop up entertainment that has cut its teeth on new / alternative media, as they will no doubt be cheap and, for the most part, not part of the union.
Even when the strike ends, its not hard to see that this is another watershed moment in television history; just like the prior strike heralded reality TV, as it needed television programming without writers that bred shows like COPs and America’s Home Videos — and indeed, the Fox television network — so will this strike likely herald a time when places like YouTube and MySpace are not just places to waste time.
They are, in a very real sense, a legitimate place where mainstream [Cable networks have brought on MySpace stars, such as Tila Nguyen -- I mean Tequila -- on MTV] network executives are going to be scouting for talent. And not just actors and actresses — it goes all the way to complete shows.
