For a company whose tagline consists of the statement, “It’s not TV,” HBO has been incredibly slow-moving to distribute it’s content on any platform that isn’t television. The subscription-based network’s past digital strategy was basically not to have one. Then, last month came the announcement that HBO on Broadband will rollout free access to about 400 hours of programming to current subscribers. And today it launched a YouTube Channel.

So far, there’s not much to it. There are full episodes of the critically-liked, fledgling In Treatment, some special features from The Wire, and clips from Flight of the Conchords. Good to have, I suppose, but nothing too special that will replace the original home box office anytime in the near future.  It’s basically a promotional vehicle, giving limited exposure to some minor offerings. This makes sense considering HBO is, at its core, a subscription-based service, operating under different economics than your normal advertiser-centric TV network.

What catches my eye, however, is that the entirety of Mel’s Video Blog is available on the channel, and also the report that “HBO said it expects to launch YouTube-exclusive content in the near future.”

###Supplementary content like the videod ramblings of Bret and Jemaine’s one-and-only-fan costs next to nothing to produce, provides the shows and network with easy promotional material, and gives fans additional entertainment. Now that there’s some place to put it where people will actually see it (instead of tucked away in a corner of HBO.com) it’s that much more valuable. I happily expect that we’ll see a lot more of it.

Filed under: Tilzy.TV by Joshua Cohen
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Last week there was a minor hullabaloo about NBC’s announcement to stream full-length episodes of vintage television programs on NBC.com and some other network-owned, online properties. Classics like The A-Team, Miami Vice, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, Battlestar Galactica and others will be available to view in their ad-supported entirety.

Of course, many of these programs are already available on the NBC/News Corporation joint venture, Hulu, and on OPENHulu for those without a beta invite to the original.  It seems that NBC is taking a monitored, super distribution approach, pushing their content out to as many of its wholly or partially owned subsidiaries as possible. It’s a smart idea.

What happened last week with a little less hullabaloo was CBS’s announcement to stream full-length episodes of vintage television programs on CBS.com. Early seasons of Star Trek, MacGuyver, The Twilight Zone, Hawaii Five-O, and Melrose Place are now available for your viewing pleasure.

The quality is only decent and the video player doesn’t expand to full screen. But on a gloomy Saturday in a New York City that’s covered in eight inches of snow, watching the resourceful Angus complete impossible missions for the Phoenix Foundation and seeing what made William Shatner the man is as entertaining an option as anything else. Besides, my sled and $115 doggy snow boots are in the shop.

Filed under: Tilzy.TV by Joshua Cohen
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Like New York’s Fashion Week, major motion picture and television awards ceremonies aren’t exactly examples par excellence of democratized media. This Sunday, when Hollywood’s biggest and shiniest descend upon the Kodak Theatre for the 80th Academy Awards ceremony, there won’t be any independent coverage to capture a Mizrahi-Johansson red carpet moment. The event’s television broadcaster, ABC, and other established, starry-eyed networks have this spectacle on lockdown.

Big media and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, however, are doing an okay job getting Oscar coverage on the web. In addition to live streaming the announcement of the nominees, the Academy has been running a Road to the Oscars series on its website hosted by Antonio Sabato Jr., as well as a video blog from Academy president, Sid Ganis. They’re well produced, and Sid seems like a nice, level-headed guy, but they’re geared towards those neck-deep in the biz or suffering from the highest of Oscar fevers. Plus, the 30-second pre-roll ads between every two or three videos make me want to bludgeon the Oscar.com web/ad sales team with a statuette.

After the event, TV Guide will have all the red carpet  footage of meandering, smiling stars you could ask for. If you like some snarky with your celebrity style coverage, check out AOL stylelist Monday morning. That’s where you’ll find Joan and Melissa Rivers, having been downgraded to web only, delivering their signature, no-holds-barred, red carpet recap.

What about watching the actual nominated films? The box office, DVDs, and illegal file sharing sites are your best bests for the full-length features, but if you want to check out short-form the, the internet is your ticket. Buzzsugar has put together a great list of the Live-Action and Animated Short-Film nominees. Check ‘em out. They’re often better than the longer, star-studded stuff anyway.

Of course you can always watch the event on TV. If Jon Stewart doesn’t suck again, it might even be entertaining.

Filed under: Tilzy.TV by Joshua Cohen
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Yesterday I saw this video for the first time.  I figured it was just another link in the chain of “electo-tainment” (not “electotainment”) that started with Red State Update or Barely Political’s Obama Girl, includes all the derivatives of the latter, and was lengthened with the recent addition of the musical with a greater message of hope than Rent, Barackula. But no, no, no. Amigos de Obama is the real deal.

In a heated election where the media’s constant mention of the Battle for the Latino Vote (they make it sound more like an historical skirmish than a campaign strategy) and Spanish-language campaign ads (like Rudy Guiliani’s Un Plan) are arguably the only mainstream media attention given to Latinos, Miguel Orozco wanted to fill the void.

###The president of Nueva Vista Media – a digital media company focused on communicating messages for Latinos across a variety of platforms – was so taken with the politics of the “skinny dude with the funny name” that he wanted to create something that would appeal to and energize an underrepresented portion of the electorate. Cue the mariachis.

Will it work? I have no idea. I’ll leave that up to Jeff Jarvis to decide. But growing up a 45-minute drive from the Mexican border and being so surrounded by mariachis that I thought it was weird to eat a burrito in a restaurant without traditional Mexican musical accompaniment, I think it’s pretty sweet.

Filed under: Tilzy.TV by Joshua Cohen
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If I were to sift through all traditional media brands and pick out the one with the strongest web legs, I think it would be Jackass.  Short-form comedy of a decidedly sophomoric bent that appeals to young males and has lots of room for ancillary, interactive extras is, perhaps, not just what the web needs (after all, we get our share of idiotic ridiculousness on the web) but it’s a sure-fire concept on which I am willing to bet big.

Alright, here’s the obligatory clip of a Jackass exposing himself to senseless danger to whet your palette before some sick analysis…

Read On…

Filed under: Tilzy.TV by Jamison Tilsner
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I’m sure you’ve heard of the fancy-sounding super-distribution.  Sounds like a secret tool for content creators with loads of cash but, truth is, we can all be super-distributors.

TubeMogul already has big-name online producers like Vuguru, Next New Networks, For Your Imagination and CBS Interactive hooked with it’s free service, so what other tricks does the young super-distributing company have up its sleeve?

To promote our shows/brands, most of us want to distribute our videos far and wide to video sites across the internet, but uploading and managing dozens of sites would take days for each video.  TubeMogul has the solution with its cross-distribution and tracking: upload your video to TubeMogul and, with a single click, distribute to about a dozen sites including YouTube, Google, Yahoo, MySpace, Brightcove, Revver and DailyMotion.  That’s just the beginning.  TubeMogul offers a host of valuable services, the most important of which are completely free.

Read On…

Filed under: Tilzy.TV by Jamison Tilsner
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Steve Nash is a point guard for the Phoenix Suns of the NBA. He’s one of the 10 best to ever play the position. He’s a two-time MVP. The league honored him those accolades in back-to-back seasons, something that they have bestowed upon only eight other players, including Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Wilt Chamberlain, Larry Bird, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Sayng he’s in good company would be a serious understatement.

Last night, after his team suffered an intense 130 – 124 loss against the visiting Los Angeles Lakers, Nash drove home from America West Arena to his sick Scottsdale pad in whatever car $65 million over five years affords. I know because I saw him do it. There was a webcam mounted on the dashboard pointed right at the left-leaning, Canadian-born, superstar athlete, and for his 20-minute work commute, I and around 350 other viewers watched him answer questions from fans, streaming live from the driver’s seat.

Steve Nash Live is an ongoing promotional tool for Live Video’s new live video offerings. Despite its name, the site only recently added live streaming capabilities. Before, it was probably best known for being the home base of the breastacular Bikini News and the pre-Roommates Iron Sink Media productions of Soup of the Day and Noho/Weho Girls.

The video was shoddy. The audio cut in and out, but it was still pretty cool. Read On…

Filed under: Tilzy.TV by Joshua Cohen
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I never watched My Wife and Kids, so I haven’t found Damon Wayans comically relevant since Homey didn’t play that. In fact, I haven’t seen the comedian who introduced me to Louis Farrakhan on screens big or small since before my bar-mitzvah. But with the impending launch of his new comedy warehouse, brother Wayans is working hard to get his visage way out into cyberspace, to remind forgotten fans and let new ones know that he’s still funny…err…kinda funny.

If you visited YouTube’s homepage over the past week, you could catch Damon saying wassup and introducing you to the video choices he made as YouTube’s guest editor representing Black History Month. From Malcolm to pimp eating watermelon, he playfully explains his choices that certainly span the gamut of African American experiences in the U.S.

The above is evidence that Damon’s still likable, endearing, and yes, still funny. It’s the other comedians of soon-to-launch WayOutTV who are only kinda.

###His “viral video production agency,” hasn’t launched just yet. When it does, the site will showcase videos staring Damon and a handpicked, ever-increasing crop of comedians doing their best to gain massive internet notoriety. Until then, a sampling of what’s to come can be found on WayOuTV’s YouTube page.

In the past decade and a half, the means of distribution have changed, but much of Wayan’s tastes in humor have not.  While a Leprechaun pimp and a black Incredible Hulk probably would’ve cracked up a live, early 90’s In Living Color audience, it doesn’t fare as well on the internet in 2008.

But WayOutTV does have its moments, especially when it comes to spoofing burger spots. Cal’s Jr. shows how a hamburger can have homoerotic qualities and Burger Thing puts another spin on the Burger King King genre that I thought had peaked with Ben Schwartz. Damon Jr., who looks exactly like pops, also shows promise as a testosterone-charged, sexually ambiguous inmate in Big Workout. I just wish there were more vids starring his dad.

Here’s an idea for a viral video that Damon should start with: The Black Landord.  It’s a sketch worth a few million hits and might even benefit from that early 90’s, In Living Color aesthetic.

Filed under: Tilzy.TV by Joshua Cohen
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When you think about it, it’s actually kind of a genius way to bring housewives into the digital age.

Web video, which was once relegated to merely uploading footage of Junior’s school play onto YouTube, is now a viable form of entertainment by moms, for moms. Maybe it sounds a little dippy, but, believe me In the MotherHood, which is a branded series sponsored Sprint and Suave (actually the line is “conceived by Suave and Sprint” – get it? – a pregnancy reference. Ha!), is a pretty smart concept. After all, who buys more stuff than mom?

The web series, which had 5.5 million viewers last season, is inspired by real-life stories from moms who upload their ideas to the MSN site (McCarthy hasn’t yet submitted any anecdotes on the happiness or horrors of parenting after being a Playboy Playmate of the Year, but we still got a whole season ahead of us). The ideas are voted upon by other members of the MotherHood community and the best are polished up by fancy Hollywood writers and shot for the series. As a reward for submitting a winning idea, the “moms” are flown to attend a taping.

Erika Nardini, MSN’s Senior Director of Branded Entertainment and Experiences, says the thing that makes this concept so compelling is that “these are every-day stories from real-life moms turned into content with very high production values.”

While these plotlines may sound less than interesting, and even though some of the material is a retread of 100 lame American sitcoms, the show is very well done. McCarthy’s overly-campy performance, along with Handler’s deadpan deliveries, play with the genre is a self-referential and refreshing way.

And what’s more, In the MotherHood takes the banality of the mommy stories and turns them into entertainment. For example, it makes the obnoxiously “perfect” mom, Kelly, seem like the most odious of creatures (in the trailer, she mistakes Remini’s character for “the help” and expresses gratitude when she learns that the help, in fact, speaks English), and shows how the run-of-the-millplaydate with the Spawn of Satan can actually have really annoying real-life consequences.

The most notable thing about In the MotherHood is its multi-platform approach to building the show and its community. MSN has created a web community that is far more slick and robust than your average “Mommy Message Board.” In addition to the forum where moms can chat and vote, the site has polls, games, recipes and activities, plus destinations for the three stars where you can read blogs, watch interviews and ask questions. And truth be told, based on the number of posts in the message boards and the whopping amount of viewers last season, the ladies seem to be eating this stuff up.

Filed under: Tilzy.TV by Sarah Ricard
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Perhaps the only thing worse than bad improv comedy is bad sketch comedy, and, believe me, I’ve seen enough bad sketch comedy to last a lifetime. Thankfully, when I checked out ON Network’s original series, Backpack Picnic, I was at once relieved and amused. Don’t get me wrong, Backpack’s not for everybody – it’s about as random as it comes – but it’s definitely a breath of fresh air in the sketch comedy landscape where lame writing and tired clichés flourish.

When Backpack director, René Pinnell, saw Mitch Baker’s comedy show, the Edmond Bulldogs (named after his Edmond, OK high school football team), perform at Austin’s 2004 Out of Bounds Improv Festival, he was blown away. “I said to them, ‘We’ve got to do something together,’” Pinnell explained in a phone interview. “Two weeks later we shot a pilot and the next day, Mitch drove off to L.A.”

Pinnell spent a good chunk of the next year editing what they shot, and by 2006, it seemed that the Edmond Bulldogs would have their big break when MTV showed an interest in their pilot. But despite a few folks at the network championing the project, the Bulldogs’ pilot lived in limbo on MTV’s then-operational-and-now-defunct video site, MTV Overdrive.

Eventually a friend turned Pinnell onto ON Networks, which scooped up the project, now named Backpack Picnic.  Read On…

Filed under: Tilzy.TV by Sarah Ricard
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The Attack is coming! Sound ominous? Don’t worry your little head over it. It’s not aliens, sharks or some amorphous JJ Abrams creation, it’s just good old fashioned comedy. The Attack consists of Whit Hertford and Josh Covitt, two Los Angeles based comedians who want you to let them into your home. Alright, it’s OK to be a little scared.

Like many up and coming online groups, The Attack got their start as an improv troupe. Whit and Josh actually met taking the courses from the illustrious Upright Citizen’s Brigade Theater. Mix those performance skills into a little topical humor, add a dash of satire and a thick layer of  twisted imagination and you get eccentric sketches with almost vaudevillian timing. Delicious.

The group found their first success with a spoof on the “Talk to your kids about sex” PSA in which sullen faced kids ask their parents to answer the important questions they have about sex like “What’s a Cleveland Steamer?”

The video gave The Attack prime position in the oft-ignored niche of PSA parodies. But rather than rest on their laurels, they went right back out and parodied. And then parodied again!

###The Bourne Nutrition, a Damon-esque brawl over breakfast, soon followed and showed viewers not only some technical proficiency (you can tell these guys have taken at least one, but no more than three, seminars on stage fighting) but also a height disparity between the two comedians (Covitt measures 6 foot 1 while Hertford claims 5 foot 2, though he may be rounding up). And if comedy history has taught us anything it’s short guy + tall guy = hilarious. Also works with fat and skinny.

Right after Bill Belicheck’s tight-lipped response to losing the super-bowl, The Attack stepped up to show what was really on his mind. Days later football focused blog With Leather posted the video gaining it immediate notoriety.

The group is planning on developing several on-going web series, the first being R. Stilskin: Attorney at Law which is set to premier later this month. The show will follow the fabled spinner of gold as he uses his trickery in the courtroom rather than to kidnap first born babies. Other future programs will include puppet shows, animations and a hidden camera video of Hertford matching his physical prowess against some dudes playing inner city basketball (5 foot 2, remember?).

The Attack claims influence from the likes of Mr. Show, Little Britain, The Kids in the Hall, Gervais/Merchant & The State. Their shorts have been gaining a lot of attention on sites like Superdeluxe and Funnyordie and their political parodies have been showcased on CNN.com and The Huffington Post.

Extra note, if Whit Hertford looks somewhat familiar to you, you may remember him as Walter Berman, AKA Duck Face, Stephanie’s avian imitating boyfriend from Full House. Or maybe you didn’t spend your youth watching Full House in which case I pity you.

Filed under: Tilzy.TV by Kirk Faulkner
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Under the banner of Awkward Pictures (so named for its founders’ pension for uncomfortable photography), Los Angeles-based triple threats Payman Benz and Sean Becker write, direct, and star in their own web shorts. The duo also helps create videos for comedians like Nick Swardson (of the Adam Sandler produced Grandma’s Boy), Owen Benjamin and Howard Kremer.

Before they launched their own web presence in April 2006, Payman and Sean had already amassed a number of award-winning shorts on the film festival circuit. Audiences have laughed at and judges have honored their efforts at the Moving Pictures Magazine Short Film Festival, Wizard World Film Festival, RadioAlice Film Festival, and more.  The pair also took home first prize in YouTube’s inaugural sketch comedy contest, the Sketchies, beating out over 5,000 other entrants, and are helping to promote the just announced Sketchies II.

On a recent trip to LA, Josh was able to catch up with Payman and Sean to learn about their process and hear about their beginnings:

Awkward Pictures produces funny web shorts and series with simple set-ups and clever punchlines, the visual equivalent of shaggy dog party jokes overheard at your buddy’s party.### Ruining Christmas Dinner features comedian Patrick DeLuca, frustrated by the poorly executed jokes of a five-year-old nephew, who he disparages as “a real piece of shit” in front of the entire family. A Day In The Life of Nick Swardson follows the actor in his “typical average joe” Hollywood day, which involves a Mount Fuji of cocaine, murder, and fellatio.

When it comes to the already stale shock humor of the internet, Awkward Pictures attempts to take it one step beyond, and usually succeeds. The kind of set-up which drains your patience but has an ending that makes you glad you stuck around. That’s the case with Tuesday, the tale of an earnest telemarketer having a bad day, which couldn’t get any worse, until it does. But I’m not going to ruin it for you.  And someone with an inability to talk dirty isn’t the freshest comedy conceit, but it still works.

Their best work, however, is a 35-second piece of comedic genius with impeccable production, music, acting, and timing.  Take half-a-minute and give it a watch:

Filed under: Tilzy.TV by Greg Rock
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