Are we already at Television 2.0?

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A funny thing happend while watching the season finale of The Office. Based on a mention in the show, I found myself browsing CreedThoughts on the NBC website immediately after the show. It was kinda weird the blog exists since on the show the "blog" is just actually a Word document that the incredibly incoherent Creed is writing stuff into.:)

But this did get me thinking as to how TV shows have moved beyond just television now (probably started with the lost 2 seasons ago.) After watching the season finale of Lost with friends (Thanks Faisal!), the next day I spent an hour on Lostpedia tying up so many things I'd seen earlier in the show. Spending time on the site makes you appreciate the show at a whole new level, adding even more depth to the entire experience.

These offline components allow the fan base to galvanize which helps the show retain loyal followers and hopefully attract new ones. On the other hand, I really believe it also gives TV writers an incentive to write shows with greater depth and meaning, knowing that people have an avenue to find and publicly appreciate their work. On the flip side, there's a deterrent in place to avoid putting crap out there.

As the use of Joost - like systems spreads, we're going to have an even greater opportunity to seamlessly use these other media. Imagine pausing Lost, to look up on the same TV screen an entry from Lostpedia.

ABC has done a really good job with their online video offerings, but the blogs and extras seem to work only for Lost and ABC has let fans drive that, rather than drive it themselves. NBC seems to be a little more pro-active on moving their TV-shows to the other media. For example, The Office has exclusive webisodes with characters from the show and Heroes (another Lost-like mind-bender) has online comics related to the show.

There's good reasons for them to do this. In a DVR-driven world, the other media opportunities are not just a way to retain fans. They're also another opportunity to advertise to people who're probably skipping your TV ads.

Comments

The Dirty Canuck said…
i have an entry in draft about the changing nature of television too, though the focus more on the creative side. as a hardcore fangirl of various fandoms for about 15 years, it's been interesting to see how economics and technology have changed the nature of fan involvement in media and how that involvement has fed back into the message itself.
6:33 PM
Josekin said…
I just want to say... that Heroes is not mind-bending like Lost is.
6:43 PM
salgar said…
To both of you, I concur.:)
3:59 PM
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