Last October I posted my thoughts about the then-new Boing Boing TV web show. At that time the show was only a week or two old, and I was really disappointed in what I was seeing. I admit to having very high expectations because of how much I respect what Boing Boing has meant to Internet culture, and because DECA, the entertainment studio producing the show, is very well-funded.
Since then I've checked in every now and then to see how things were developing and changing. I'll say one thing, it's become far more interesting and has much more of the spirit of the blog now. They seem to have gone to an anthology-style approach, which works for a daily show with such diverse content. The day I'm writing this, they have an animated piece inspired by and created with images from early video games. The second half of the show has a piece of short traditional animation that is random and funny.
What I like even more are the videoblogs inserted with personal commentary. In this one Xeni Jardin gives us a running commentary as we watch a video shot by Sean Bonner of blogging.la documenting the Anonymous vs. Scientology protests in Los Angeles on February 10th. Something about the way the anthology shows are mixed in with news commentary seems much more like the spirit of the ecelctic and terrific blog that built the Boing Boing brand.
There's less original content and more repurposing of material created by others, but it brings attention to lots of talented creators from around the globe. This can feel a little weird with no commentary about the content, though. On EPIC-FU we frequently show 30-45 secs of videos from indie bands in the middle of our show in the Spotlight segment, but it's surrounded with commentary on other things to help balance out the presentation. Doing a daily show is quite a different animal, however, so as long as the entire week isn't like that I can't give them too much shit about it.
On the whole I'm glad to see that the folks at Boing Boing and DECA are not afraid to change the show and their approach to creating it. In my opinion the challenge facing the growth of Boing Boing TV appears to be to figure out a way to brand the show, because as it stands I'd have no idea how to tell someone about it who isn't already familiar with the Boing Boing blog. We have a similar challenge with EPIC-FU -- looking for the best way to communicate a focused brand message while still offering diverse and rich content from the web, which can seem totally random to someone who isn't immersed in it on a daily basis.
If anyone has any thoughts about how you'd describe Boing Boing TV or EPIC-FU in a single sentence, please post them in the comments. It should be something that makes you immediately get a picture of what the show is, who it's for, and why anyone should care about watching it. As Fred Seibert taught us, thinking about how to talk about a show can help focus the actual show content itself.
Doctor Popular said:
I really want to like BBTV, but it hasn't totally won me over yet.
First off, I don't think the episodes are too short, but the segments contained therein totally are. It seems like on most of the typical episodes they introduce some really interesting subject (an artist or a concept or whatever) then there's a midroll and you expect to see more of the original segment but instead you get a snippet of some animated cartoon (that you've probably already seen). What happens to all the rest of the interview footage?
I do like the editing and pacing of the show, it just always leaves me wanting more. I subscribe to the show via iTunes and had never seen that when they post the episodes they also add a bit of information that helps explain the episodes. I guess I'd just like to have more of that info in the videos.
I do like the many faces of the podcast (Xeni, Mark, & David) but I could totally do without the high number of Monochrom and Ape Lad episodes.
What you mention about branding is also true, they do seem to have trouble figuring out the shows identity and what they are trying to achieve with each episode. Is it high brow entertainment, an interview show with makers and artists, or a vehicle to expose short films to a wider audience?
I was surprised they recently changed the format of the show. I thought the midroll advertisements were pretty effective advertising and fit in the show well, and I really liked the old videogame intro.
