Defamer
Game-changing perfect executive storm Ben Silverman gave the keynote address at the TelevisionWeek Upfront Summit in New York recently (a sorry substitution for a line of high-kicking dogs and ponies on the stage of Radio City, we realize, but what can you do). In it, the programming maverick laid out his bold vision for TV's cross-platform, "log on to NBC.com now to find out if Hiro ever gets off Samurai Island!"-future. From TVWeek.com:
"[Broadcast] will also be where we launch our episodic storytelling vehicles, but they will be living and breathing everywhere," he said. [...]"Around our new offerings there will literally be shows that end on air and the last scene will continue online," he said.
When asked about the reputation he has developed in his short time on the job as an entertainment chief who works closely with marketers, he said that's due to the new generation of showrunners who are "friends" of advertisers. [...]"Tina Fey loves American Express. They have been inside '30 Rock,' in the show. They have supported her through the Tribeca Film Festival," he said. "[Heroes creator] Tim Kring enjoys his relationships with Nissan. He felt Nissan helped empower the growth of that show."
Indeed, so jazzed is Tina Fey about the encroachment of corporate interests upon the storytelling process, she personally championed an upcoming 30 Rock B-plot in which, apropos of nothing, a man in a Soy Joy costume is gang-raped by the writing staff, his dead-eyed, still-convulsing body then dumped off the roof of the show's titular address and gored on a hot dog cart's umbrella below. The product integration is virtually seamless!
- NBC's Silverman: Broadcast to Be Event-Driven [tvweek.com]
Comments
Ben? This is Baby New Year 2000. We'd like "convergence" back please.
Ugh. That would be so annoying. What about people who don't have the internet and/or a computer?
This idea totally screams "economic/social class discrimination".
He's so cute. ^_^
Silverman & Joe Francis: Separated at birth?
So I'm guessing his pic is really the "before" shot of a cross-marketing opportunity for tooth whiteners and eyebrow groomers?
not to get all Clay Shirky on you, but is it actually discriminatory in the negative sense to make episodic tv less accessible? ...
re Tina Fey and corporate 'enroachment on the storytelling process' - dude, really? look at that show - it is an orgy of product/brand placement. More power to her, but it is what it is...
So what you're saying is that my grandmother will never find out who Flava Flav picks at the end of Flava of Love?
She thinks computers are sorcery.
@abettertomorrow: Yeah, but its self-conscious, ironic, product placement.
@abettertomorrow: Exactly. What's the percentage of internet users with Broadband (especially at home), 20%? It's something shockingly small.
Way to make that fourth placed network even less popular, Ben.
Until NBC can push episodes to my DVR, it fails.
Modern TV works for me because I can shape my viewing experience. (Picking the time and place I will watch it.) By forcing me to have to seek out something I only watch casually on my own terms, you've created work on my end. I don't need my entertainment to be "work" unless it is a video game.
(And don't tell me I can have the same experience if I have the Apple home system with video podcasts.)
This will crash and burn just like the quarterlife transition from web to TV.
BTW - We all know how the last scene is going to go...
"Drink more Ovaltine."
Wasn't it just a day or two ago that we read about people not watching serialized shows because they don't have the attention spans to keep up with the plotlines? And now he wants to make it more difficult to follow what's happening? Yeah, that'll work.
Excuse me, could you please replace the photo with the taloned-peacock Silverman logo of yore? It's the only acceptable photo of him.
@Tiger_Tanaka: Seconded!
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