Posted on 08/03/2005 9:23:20 AM PDT by Andy from Beaverton
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RESOURCES
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| CURRENT TV •Eleven hosts who look like candidates for Teen People's 25 Hottest Stars Under 25 keep things moving. •Possible breakout star: Jason Silva, born in Caracas, Venezuela •You almost believe lanky Silva when he says Current TV will answer all of life's great mysteries in three to seven minutes. |
At 8:31 p.m. Monday — when viewers again were hearing about the top Google searches for "current" — Current TV went black.
CNBCW on Time Warner's Channel 232 was up and running, and TXCN was reporting on a car wreck on Channel 230. But Current TV's Channel 231 was a black screen.
Not our fault, said a Time Warner rep Tuesday morning.
Could it be a right-wing conspiracy against former Vice President Al Gore's new cable channel for young adults? Or, perhaps a conspiracy against the proliferation of niche TV?
A publicist for Current TV said they're looking into what happened.
No matter. A blackout is bad news for a cable channel making its prime-time debut. But if you had been watching Gore's cable channel all day, you didn't miss anything, because Current TV repeats itself.
According to the Web site, current.tv, at 8:30 p.m. the channel was airing a report on suicides in Japan.
Seen it.
Current TV came back on the air about 40 minutes later — just in time to conclude a story about a quadriplegic surfer.
Seen it.
Borrowing a term from Apple's iPod, the channel's clean-cut hosts call the segments (all eight minutes or less) "pods." Pods are shuffled as viewer requests pop up on the Web site.
We also had seen pods about parachuting off bridges and cliffs, Deepak Chopra's spiritual thoughts, an ectasy party in Iran, model/surfer Albert Reed, an architect who designs pre-fab homes and newlyweds arguing about money.
There also was a two-part pod on a 29-year-old University of Texas grad who is the first female minister for a Baptist church near Milwaukee, Wis. "Hook 'em, Horns," she says.
Repeating segments on a cable station isn't unusual, but what is surprising is that the material isn't that current.
The hacking of Paris Hilton's Sidekick in February prompted a segment that also introduced host Justin Gunn. Most of the pods appeared as though they were produced in the spring.
Every half-hour Google Current looks at the most popular hits for certain topics or words such as "current," "dark" or "create." It sounds like a cool way to inject some freshness, but even those are repeated.
And where is the sense of humor? On the first day of broadcasting, Current TV seemed a lot like a grown-up version of Sesame Street — without the Muppets.
The lineup could get more interesting. Current TV wants 25 percent of its programming to feature viewer-produced shorts. The hosts continually solicit homemade videos and invite visits to the Current TV Web site.
For the moment there's a safeness about Current TV that most wouldn't expect from a new channel trying to attract the 18- to 34-year-old audience.
Tipper Gore, author of Raising PG Kids in X-Rated Society, would probably approve.
Great. A television channel for those who think MTV requires a long attention span.
APf
Algore is really missing his calling as a comedian or straight man to another funny story teller. He'd make millions.
I miss NWI as well.
No nonsense news, no Natallee Holloway, no Runwaway Bride, no screaming heads arguing about Michael Jackson...
Faux News is nothing but Tabloid TV.
CURRENT TV: DEAD AIR, LITTLE HUMOR!
Maybe Algore needs to talk to Alfranken about how to get financing for his broadcast "venture".
They took my ITV newscast away!
GRRRRRRR!
Al Gore's involvement just adds insult to injury.
The segments are short enough to hold the attention of the average dope-addled young Democrat voter. TV for speed freaks and crackheads.
My cable company had had this service for many years. It's called "Local Access". I think "Local Access" is a little more sophisticated, though.
Too bad I don't have a video camera
ping
Sounds like a description of Al himself.
I don't get the Google bit.
It's like me selling advertising to watch me surf.
Dead air, little humor -- I thought that WAS algore!
Don't tell me... I'll remember...it's on the tip of my tongue.
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