From the New York Times:
At the moment the most talked-about situation comedy in the United States isn't on television at all. It's on your computer, though, and you can find it on www.youtube.com, where thousands of videos of all levels of quality are posted every day.One of the amazing things about this story is that the guy behind the show is --ta DA-- Scrubs' Bill Lawrence. This is his full-throated defence of the multi-cam sitcom, odd since Scrubs is famously, aggressively one-camera filmed -- and in fact, it probably kicked off the current round of one-camera-filmed-comedy era. Nobody's Watching was created with two writers from Family Guy: Garrett Donovan and Neil Goldman. So I guess if this show does rise from the dead, it will, in a sense, be a new twist in the incredible odds-defying saga of that show.
A comedy called — with intended irony, but not in the way that it has worked out — "Nobody's Watching" has been available on YouTube for about two weeks. As of yesterday it had been downloaded more than 300,000 times by a growing legion of fans...
"Nobody's Watching" seems to be another example of a story that the Internet world loves: the power of the amateur over the professionals. It is also the story of "viral video," which is what YouTube is all about. People post a snippet of self-made video, and word spreads about how funny, shocking, stupid or embarrassing it is.
Between YouTube, Family Guy (and now Futurama!) rising from the dead -- kids -- nobody knows anything isn't just a credo anymore. It should be a tattoo network execs are forced to get when they sign their contracts.
Read the full Times article above -- it's quite a tale. And to save you from going to YouTube, lookie what I've got below. You're welcome.
Part One:
Part Two:
Part Three:
5 comments:
Well, it means a couple of things for sure - whether that's a sea-quake of change depends on the result:
1. Production co.'s are going to leak these pilots out into the net to justify going to other nets to see if they will pick up the show.
2. It certainly gives thought to a production co. that starts exclusively with internet video then moves to DVD and other media.
3. YouTube is going to start charging more for banner ads...
4. Advertising for these shows streaming on the net will be a viable option for production funding.
5. It's an outlet for writers, directors, actors, et al to hone their craft before "making it."
6. It's an outlet for credited writers to direct.
7. And I'm really surprised we don't see more long promos and trailers from the studios and networks and game companies.
8. Market research co.'s are going to look at the "Tubes" just like they do the Neilsens when formulating market strategies...
Unless I missed something, I'd say 9) networks could throw their pilots up on the web and let audience response help decide what gets picked up. Seems better than a focus group.
The other two writers are with Scrubs too. Makes me selfishly hope that show isn't affected if Nobody's Watching does get picked up. But it would be such a cool story if it does ...
I believe Malcolm in the Middle was the show that made network TV safe for the single camera (half a season before Scrubs).
And I don't know many execs quaking in their boots over this (it IS just 300,000 viewers, after all). But that's going to change VERY soon.
This seems like the direction things are going in.
When shows like this, TikiBarTv, Dead End High (I think that's it) all have more followers than widespread shows on cable.
This medium forces the audience to find it, put in the effor...and if it isn't worth it...pass along. But if they keep...you know they're hooked.
Also...a studio pushing something like this abound with advertising ops.
Actually it's not his defense of the multi-cam show it's a send-up of the multi-cam show and how ridiculous it is. Still really interesting stuff.
We're using our post as a petition for people to vote for NBC to pick this up since they have the first rights to it.
http://www.firejeffzucker.com
Post a Comment