What exactly do we mean by TV?
I probably shouldn’t write about this, but I can’t help myself. I had a conversation with a copy editor at the Globe tonight, for a story on Lonelygirl15 (which is in the paper tomorrow), and I found it revealing and frustrating at the same time. Let me say before I start that copy editors are incredibly important. And this one is not only very nice, but rescued me from making a stupid mistake with a name, and I appreciate that hugely.
So I wrote about Lonelygirl15 doing a spinoff called KateModern, which is based in London, and I said that this new media, Internet-television experiment was getting something that is traditionally associated with TV — a spinoff. But the copy editor in question had serious problems with the way I put it. “What’s Internet television?” she said. “Is it on TV?” Well, no. “Then what makes it television?” Good question, I said. That’s kind of the point, in fact. So we agreed to call it Internet video — but I think it’s more than that. It’s short-form, episodic, character and plot driven narrative. How is that not television? But it’s not on TV.
So this editor kept getting confused when I mentioned TV, because this isn’t on TV and never will be, in the sense that it isn’t on “the box” and doesn’t come from a network. So what about streaming TV — is that TV? What about out-takes and mobisodes featuring the same actors — is that TV? That’s kind of what I’m writing about. But it makes it hard when even the people I’m writing it for don’t get what it is I’m writing about.
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(On Apr 25th, 2007 at 8:59 pm)
Internet video?
We’ll see if that phrasing catches on.
When people say they went online to read the newspaper, I guess they’re just wrong, too.
(On Apr 25th, 2007 at 10:07 pm)
I guess the terminology hasn’t quite caught up — but then, lots of people still talk about having to “dial” a number on the telephone
(On Apr 25th, 2007 at 9:12 am)
A good example of what you’re talking about: ON Networks. I watched a couple episodes of their shows (average about 6 minutes each) last night. The production quality is very high. I think they might be ON to something … ha! Now, I’m not saying I loved anything there, but I will check back in the future to see what they have added.
(On Apr 25th, 2007 at 9:25 am)
Thanks for mentioning that, Mindy. I will definitely take a look.