And if you could show the bad guys using Linux and AMD machines on a Juniper network, that’d be great
I suppose how you feel about this depends on what you expect from popular entertainment these days. If you’re inured to the insinuation of commercial brands into the creative process, it’s probably worth just another eye-roll. If you still have an old-fashioned attachment to the idea that there should be a line between the creative product and the machinery used to make money from it, it’s one more discouraging development.
NBC Universal is reanimating its Digital Studio unit to produce and discover programming for its various online properties, and in an effort to get around the browsing public’s distaste for commercials, it’s taking the next step in sponsorship. Working with Omnicom Media Group, Digital Studio will work directly with advertisers to create shows based around their marketing plans. Due first is a sci-fi cop show that mixes live action and animation called “Gemini Division,” starring Rosario Dawson, and the brands helping to shape the show so far are Intel, Cisco, Microsoft, UPS and Acura TSX. The show will play out in 50 four-minute webisodes, starting in summer. Also in pre-production, with sponsors not yet announced, is “Woke Up Dead,” about a college student who wakes up feeling zombie-ish and caught up in the middle of the usual vast military-political-religious conspiracy.
“This is the first time that programming with the distribution potential of NBC Universal will be centered from the start around advertisers,” said Matt Spiegel, CEO of OMG Digital. “When we were presented the opportunity of a strategic alliance with NBC Universal Digital Studio, it was immediately apparent to all that combining the strength of NBC Universal’s storytelling and the breadth of their distribution network with our insights and understanding of brands offered a unique way of giving brands a seat at the table with writers and producers in developing episodic programming that ties directly to brand needs.” Sure, it’s part of an inevitable trend, and no, it doesn’t mean that untainted entertainment is doomed or anything, but still … discouraging.
You know, by the time “Syrup” reaches the theaters, it won’t seem so far-fetched that a mainstream studio films a big-budget two-hour commercial.
And the slow death of the movie industry continues unabated.
Hah! Look at it this way. NBC Universal is just taking the lead when it comes to driving people away from their crappy “media rich” website. What else would you expect from network #4 (out of 3)?
Today would be a good day to go back and watch the original Max Headroom movie. It’s 60 minutes of yesterday’s future - today!
Let’s see, it’s NBC Sunday, I think I’ll watch that new game show “Ouch! My prostate!” (brought to you by Flowmax).
It’s on right before “Law and Order - Violent Sexual Atrocities Exploitation Unit”.
Yum.