| "body"> | | | | freedom. We get the freedom to create, a medium |
| If you’re anything like me, you’ve spent | | | | where we can choose to show our creations, and |
| many, many hours of your life watching television. | | | | the freedom to download a show and share it with |
| From sit-coms and game shows to cartoons and | | | | our friends. Word-of-mouth spreads and all of a |
| reality TV, we’ve sat in front of the box for a | | | | sudden your show’s got a huge underground |
| large part of our life watching stories of one sort or | | | | cult following. What happens next in the story? You |
| another. What we mightn’t have known is | | | | tell me. |
| that for every one show that gets on the air there | | | | As always people are going to try and make a dollar |
| were probably a hundred that didn’t make it. | | | | out of something cool and new on the human scene. |
| This might be hard to believe with shows like | | | | If you look at the show on [ you will see a pretty |
| ‘The Joe Schmo Show” and “The | | | | funny TV program. It is sponsored by Sprite, a |
| Simple Life” out there but our world is a | | | | division of the Coca-Cola Company. There’s |
| strange place with weird people, now isn’t it? | | | | nothing really wrong with this (artists have to get |
| However with the advent of the Internet and legal | | | | their funding from somewhere) except that it could |
| file-sharing you can now film your own TV show and | | | | possibly result in nearly the same paradigm as the old |
| put it up on the Web for everyone to see. If | | | | TV company-controlled structure, if Sprite achieves |
| it’s any good, word will get around. | | | | power to dictate what content goes into the show. |
| That’s how the Internet works: Word of | | | | There’s a name that has been coined for this |
| mouth. | | | | sort of behavior and in this case the |
| You no longer have to make a pilot show and sit in | | | | product-placement, commercially-based Internet |
| front of a large group of executives praying that | | | | program fits into this category perfectly: Astroturf. |
| they will like your material. Television is heading for | | | | The former shows are grass-roots programs, a sign |
| your computer, literally. You can already download | | | | of the individual freedom that can be obtained on the |
| some of your favorite corporation-backed shows on | | | | Internet. Astroturf makes itself out to look like |
| the Internet legally, for a small price. It is a commonly | | | | grass-roots philosophy, yet like football, it is definitely |
| held belief that in the not-to-distant-future computers | | | | a more painful place to get tackled. |
| and televisions will become one, a flat digital screen | | | | The whole concept of file-sharing has a huge amount |
| replacing your monitor. Eventually all TV channels and | | | | of nebulous clouds surrounding it, but in this case |
| individual shows will have websites where you can | | | | things are simple. You want people to watch your |
| download and stream their programs. The interesting | | | | show. You haven’t downloaded someone |
| new phenomenon is that you can join in the fun too. | | | | else’s copyright material. You’re sharing |
| There’s a low barrier to entering the Internet | | | | your own creation. Get to it people, and get it to the |
| TV game. We have now been given the freedom to | | | | people. I want to see what you can do. One can only |
| produce, and to share our stories with the rest of | | | | take so many reruns of “Gilligan’s |
| the box-watching world. | | | | Island” and “Different Strokes”. |
| Check out [ and These two sites are a couple of the | | | | ‘What you talkin’ bout Willis?’ is |
| multitudinous masses that are now being put up on | | | | what they’ll be saying after watching your |
| the Web for people to watch and share. It can | | | | inspirational new television masterpiece. Hey, you |
| almost be thought of as an artist’s exhibition, | | | | might even start a whole new era. Remember, one |
| where you and your TV-maniac friends finally get to | | | | day, a long time ago (and thank the Universe for it), |
| show your shows to the rest of us. I get the feeling | | | | no one even knew what a sit-com was! |
| that the whole idea is based around the concept of | | | | |