One last plug for tonight’s 20/20 about small TV on ABC at 9p ET. I hope it’s going to be good and that I don’t embarrass myself (I sat in the interview chair for two and a half hours and so I’m bound to have said stupid things; here’s hoping those were two hours , 28 minutes, and 30 seconds that were cut).
Part of my mantra in those interviews is that big media pays too much attention to the silly flaming farts that end up on the home page of YouTube and too little to the gems that are buried within: the new voices that we couldn’t hear in mass media. So I went hunting for those gems. It’s not easy, I’ll admit. But I’m finding them — and I’d like you to help me find more. Please do leave comments with links to small tv that you think is good — not just cool, but good.
Here’s one I found last night trolling Blip.tv: Mary C. Matthews makes interesting small TV, including this series about disastrous dates:
See also this nicely reported and edited piece on a Christmas-tree salesman.
Her pieces are simply and well-made and begin to give shape to this new form of TV. I argue that broadcast television invented one new form: the sitcom, a perfect product for the medium — life and laughs in 22 minutes. Now many people are trying to figure out the right forms for two-minute TV. Rocketboom, Ze Frank, and others are experimenting with comment. Others are working on quit-hit serial drama. Matthews is experimenting with storytelling.
Please share the good things you find.
