Ampers & Dot

Ok, first off- To all my loyal readers (yes, all three of you) sorry for not posting since Friday. I’ll do my best not to let it happen again.

Secondly, today is officially the 10th anniversary of blogs. Happy birthday, Blogs.

Now, on to today’s post: let’s talk TV.

So what people have probably already realized about the writers’ strike is that it’s temporarily detrimental for everyone. No one is happy about this right now. In the long run, hopefully this will work out for the writers. Read the full synopsis here then wait a second, reflect back on what you just read, and where you read it…

Wikipedia, you are the answer to all my questions. Anyone find it ironic that you can read up on why writers aren’t writing through a UGC (user generated content) site? Well that irony is half of what I want to talk about today. The UGC phenomenon is still fresh, growing, and ragingly popular. Think YouTube- there are more than 65,000 videos uploaded everyday. Think about the internet celebrities: the “Leave Britney Alone” kid, the “Don’t Tase Me Bro” dude, or the Star Wars kid… the list goes on and on- and it’s all pretty funny. My favorite story is about Andy Samberg of SNL fame (Dick in a Box/Chronicles of Narnia Rap)- who was discovered for his online videos.

The argument here is that this is the first time in entertainment history that you can become famous, nearly overnight, with a little creativity (or annoyingness…) and a few clicks of the mouse. Andy Samberg and friends were able to write their own material and put it online and now the guy gets to make real movies (unfortunately they’re apparently horrid). For anyone who is trying to get into the business, there is no better time. The writers’ strike is going to revolutionize the way Hollywood works (what they spend money on, how media is distributed… and hey, rumor is that Jay Leno has been fired already, to cut production costs) and although it’s going to be tough out there until it does work out- it will be very cool to see how this works out.

Over the next few months we are going to start seeing some great UGC on YouTube and hopefully it’s going to be hilarious.

This reminds me that I should call Davey, my friend who just moved to LA to become a writer, to keep on his good side before he becomes famous…

The second thing that the WGA strike is going to do to the web is boost online ad sales. I recently read that NBC has started refunding its advertisers in the amount of $500k due to a “Low Ratings” clause in their ad contracts. With the writers’ strike, there are no new shows. With no new shows, no one is watching TV. With no one watching TV, ratings suffer… so what do advertisers do with this big refund check?

Online Ad Sales.

Compared to tv commercials, online ads cost peanuts. Half a million dollars for an online campaign gets you ridiculous bang for your buck. So what does this mean for us?

1) No more new TV for a while. Damnit.
2) More online ads swarming down sites more than ever. Damnit.

And you know what? I don’t really have a silver lining here. So I’ll leave you with two links to help enjoy online TV in the meantime.

NBC’s Hulu (beta exploit) - this is a collection of all NBC shows, free. It’s currently in private beta testing, but someone cracked it… PLUS- this is fully legal within the beta agreement- so you won’t get in trouble, just enjoy (Both of these sites take you to the same info- but I’ve posted both because I’m sure one will be shut down soon)

http://openhulu.com/
http://tvparadise.org/

Find Internet TV - a site that links to all the good streaming sites (some are pay, avoid any with a dollar sign on them).

http://www.findinternettv.com/
That’s all I’ve got today… I’m going to be pretty swamped with work this week- plus holiday parties after work. I’ll do my best to get at least a link or two up each day, but I’m not even going to pretend to talk about Facebook’s overvaluation…

Enjoy