$500 000 Worth Of The Truth

ok, i know i should be appalled by this, but i find it very intriguing, albeit mostly in a guilty-pleasure type way.

fox has just gotten themselves the u.s. rights to the huge columbian tv hit, Nothing But The Truth. wait, you haven't heard how the game works yet. this is the best part.

- contestants are hooked up to a lie detector and asked 21 questions. if they answer all 21 questions truthfully (according to the lie detector) then they walk away with $500 000. it might sound easy, but the questions do get more and more personal and delicate as they go along. it might start off with a question like 'do you like your mother in law' and eventually get to 'have you ever cheated on your spouse?'

and of course the contestants family will be in the audience with cameras catching every reaction.

It's Simply Over

finally the Simple Life has been canceled. i really don't have much to say about this one.

Tru, Court, Whatever...

have you been noticing the lack of courtroom/legal system programming and the expansion of reality content at courttv over the last while? well, you aren't the only one, because the people at the network have as well and they have decided to do something about it. they have decided to change their name. on january 1st of next year courttv will become trutv.

zap2it quotes marc julius, the network's general manager saying, "early in the rebranding process, we realized that the current network name doesn't reflect the direction of our programming or our growing target audience of real engagers. In trutv, we now have the ideal name that fits both the programming and the target audience. The network will be top of mind for real engagers seeking real-life action programming, real-life emotion and access to places they can't normally go." (zap2it jokes that they are really trying to make that 'real engagers' tag stick, but i don't see that happening - it is a pretty lame term).

anyway, that's the deal over at courttv. they will still begin their days with some trial coverage and then viewers will get to 'enjoy' star jones in her new talk show, but after that the afternoons and evening will be for the 'real engagers'.

B.I.N.G.O.

i watched about 10 minutes total of abc's short-lived National Bingo Night during the six weeks it aired this summer, and based on the rating i saw, not many other people were watching any more, if that much. abc, however, just announced that they are bringing the show back for a five day in a row run this december.

why are they doing that you ask? well, the reason is the internet, and no it wasn't some big fan outcry like what saved Jericho. in this case it was the fact that during the shows run there were more then 3 million cards downloaded by play-at-home participants which helped make abc.com the #1 tv web site during that time.

and therein is what caught my eye about this story. the idea that finally the big networks are realising the potential of the internet as something to be embraced rather then feared. it took them awhile, but things look to be slowly happening. another big step forward was when they realized that giving viewers the chance to watch full shows online for free was a good thing for the shows and therefore the networks as well....

letting someone watch an episode of Lost that they missed during the week keeps them involved in the show and makes them more likely to catch it the next week, rather then creating a situation where they miss too much of the story and therefore start to get disinterested. Or helping someone discover a show that is already a few episodes into the season so that they can catch up and get into the weekly flow. the examples are numerous and the potential is there.

i understand that it basically all comes down to money, but to be so stuck in the old tv ways isn't going to help them in this new internet-tivo-world, and the return of National Bingo Night is another small example that at least some people kind of 'get it'.