Many of you who know me are well aware that my wife and I do not own a TV - nor do we plan to get one in the foreseeable future. However, after hearing the radio show This American Life was coming to Showtime as a TV series, I personally felt the slightest twinge to jump on the boob-tube bandwagon. It is no surprise to me that a channel such as Showtime would create such a series - frankly, anything resembling This American Life would never survive on network or basic cable TV. On a side note, I find it hilariously predictable how much better the website is for the Showtime version of This American Life than its public radio equivalent. To be expected I guess.
My wife and I have been long-time fans of this show and wish it the fullest of success on TV. Honestly, I could just as easily see folks swarming to it as I could see people not getting it and quickly moving on. Being so far detached from the culture of television at this point, I am not sure if I understand the medium enough anymore to be able to make a valid prediction. Still, I cannot express how happy I am to see a TV network willing to take a chance on something well worth it. As Ira Glass has made very clear, the radio show is not going away - the two will exist together. My hope is that some of the progressive methods that public radio and This American Life have instituted - free podcasts, audio downloads of programs, etc. - will be brought into the Showtime program as well. I know that one person cannot change a whole industry, and a very established industry at that. Still, my hope is that a little bit of public radio will rub off on this one show. Perhaps TV execs will then notice that fans react well to the attitude public radio fosters - you know, putting the priority of distributing the medium to the wide audience possible over pulling in the highest profit. I guess we will see…ira glass, media, profit, public radio, radio, showtime, substance, television, this american life tv
The week is closing up, so it is about time to drop some links. It has been a while since I broke 30 for the amount of links - time opened up a little more this week, giving me a chance to post a little more. I especially got a kick out of the 