In this week's issue of Entertainment Weekly CBS and Cadillac have a partnered ad that includes a thumbnail flash drive containing a flash-based presentation of CBS's new fall line-up and Cadillac's new sedan that apparently CSI: Miami's Adam Rodriguez enjoys leaning up against.
The tv shows were a massive snooze fest (Johnny Galecki in a laugh-tracked sitcom, why?!) and the video ran extremely poorly on my computer so I re-formatted the device and am now the happy owner of a snazzy new 130 mb drive. Thank you, CBS and Cadillac!
Also this week, after a much publicized fallout with Apple iTunes, NBC has rushed into a partnership with Amazon's Unbox to make their new fall line-up available online. You might remember Unbox from what had to be the most negative review CNet's Tom Merritt has ever written and it doesn't look as though the service has made much progress (although it does now allow itself to be uninstalled, which I suppose is technically an improvement).
NBC choosing to partner with Amazon was a good enough start. Amazon receives much credit for getting many casual computer users to feel comfortable putting their credit card information online, but tech and innovation have never been their strong suit (their patented 1-click technology has not exactly setting the woods on fire nor has their online grocery store).
NBC is offering many of their new shows' pilot episodes two weeks before their broadcast dates and free on Unbox, plus Amazon is throwing in a $1.99 credit. This can be used to download another episode of a show you're more familar with to try out the service. But Unbox is still an unmitigated disaster and I can summarize why in one word: JANK!!!
Unbox still gets an F- in the "Could my mom install this?" department and not just because my mom has an iMac and Unbox has zero-Apple compatibility, zero useability and extremely intrusive DRM. Simply put, this app sucks and should've been scrapped and re-built from the ground up the day after it was released to universal jeers.
But even though these shows all look terrible to me I appreciate that television networks are finally wrapping their heads around the idea of putting the first few episodes (or in ABC's case, all episodes) online to give their new shows a fighting chance at finding an audience. Fox is still failing big-time at this. With 75% of its season already shot and in the can they cancelled Anchorwoman after airing one episode. And then in an extremely baffling move, made all the discarded episodes available online.
Sigh, and yet Arrested Development was not permitted to live? When it was just earlier this year that the Nielsen's ratings board decided to start counting what DVR users are watching and realized that the Office and House are two of the most popular shows in the country when previous data placed them in the gutters?
I've said it before and I'll say it again, if these corporate wanks put half as much time, money and resources into innovation as they did prosecuting bullshit lawsuits and squabbling with each other over ego and parent company encroachments there might actually be something worth watching on their schedules delivered in a way that kept up with the public's enthusiasm for emerging technologies.
But don't listen to me, listen to Conan!
Update: Vindication! Buzz Out Loud's opening story today, NBC ruins "free".
Comments