| 07.15.04 • The TiVolution
Will Be Televised (but only to be watched later)
Let me start by saying that I “loooove” my TiVo.
No more VHS tapes, no more clocks blinking “12:00”
at me, no more confusion over what I want to tape and when.
TiVo uses all kinds of newfangled technology that not only makes
recording a breeze, but will even start automatically picking
shows for me to watch. Once I got past the initial set-up phase,
and TiVo finally accepted that I don’t speak Spanish and
stopped recording daytime shows on Telemundo, we settled into
a most enjoyable groove (not to be confused with the new groove
on my couch that bears a striking resemblance to my butt).
Between TiVo and my DVD player, my VCR is feeling a bit shafted,
but I think it will get over it. After all, even the VCR has
to agree that TiVo’s greatest achievement is not just
being able to pause and rewind live television (“Um, did
I just see Janet’s boob?”), but the ability to never
watch another commercial at normal speed again. Yes, I realize
that the advent of the VCR allowed us to do this as well, but
never before with such ease (and nifty little “bloop”
noises). Plus, digital doesn’t lose quality like video,
so you can record to your heart’s content and not lose
any quality. This also increases the quantity of your use, and
if there’s anything we Americans love, it’s super-sizing
things.
Now, I don’t have anything against commercials in general.
As a matter of fact, some of my favorite TV moments have been
clever ad campaigns. I just don’t like them getting in
the way of my shows. Sometimes I even pause a show that I’m
watching, meander off to the kitchen for a snack, or maybe to
my computer to check some e-mail, and then come back just so
I can fast forward through the commercials and streamline the
viewing process.
When the time comes that every American household is utilizing
TiVo, or some other form of Digital Video Recording, the television
medium itself may need to be drastically altered. Forced into
recognizing the audience’s complete apathy, and disdain
really, to their ads, networks will work in tandem with the
show’s sponsors to change the way each program is actually
structured. Could we be looking at the removal of ads during
shows, and with them, the writer’s need to create a cliffhanger
every 10 to 15 minutes? The Europeans have been doing it to
our shows for years, why not us?
Whether or not it is a reaction to the proliferation of TiVo,
and the TiVo user’s love of the fast-forward button, advertisers
are definitely taking product placement and sponsorships to
new highs (or lows).
Almost as ubiquitous as his snarky commentary, was Simon Cowell’s
giant cup of Coca-Cola on American Idol. Just about
every reality television show incorporates such shameless product
placement. MTV’s Real World/Road Rules Challenge
is a constant battle for daily prizes, and immunity can be won
by securing a coveted “Saturn Ion Lifesaver.” Now
that’s what I call subliminal advertising: hundreds of
thousands of young, impressionable TV viewers slowly meandering
towards a Saturn dealership in search of a car that can save
their lives, or at the very least keeps them from ingesting
as many arachnids as possible in under two hours.
Of course, game shows pioneered the use of prizes as product
placement, so this is nothing new. Geritol was bringing us Twenty-One
when Puck was still a Shakespearean creation, and not an ex-skate-rat
desperately trying to suck the marrow out of his 15 minutes
of infamy.
It’s really that I feel the world heading toward the faux-reality
of The Truman Show. It won’t be long before the
well-lubricated kids on The Real World turn directly
to the camera and start extolling the virtues of grape-flavored
Pedia-Lite, the world’s most miraculous hangover cure.
And like Jim Carrey’s unwitting reality TV star Truman,
we may also furrow our brow at the screen and wonder aloud,
“Why are you talking like that?”
It helps to put things in context by stepping back and looking
at how other entertainment mediums have adapted to change.
With radio play lists shrinking like support for the GOP, and
consumers beginning to explore the commercial-free world of
satellite radio, record labels are cross-promoting at a rapid
clip. Getting music online or on TV is a logical step in reaching
out to a larger audience.
The WB has embraced the concept of using modern music to enhance
its shows. At the end of each program, you hear a sound bite,
see an album cover, and listen to a reassuring voice intone
that, “tonight’s show featured music by JET.”
But the enlightening part, is reading the fine print below the
album cover: “Promotional consideration for JET provided
by Elektra Records.” So how does this differ from the
bygone era of radio payola, when DJs and station program directors
were slipped money, drugs, and sexual favors for increased airplay?
Semantics, baby! Repeat after me: Payola is dead. Long live,
Promotional Consideration!
Personally, I prefer simply using the music and telling me about
it over the credits to seeing the boys from JET onstage at the
Peach Pit After Dark, looking remarkably embarrassed and lip-synching
(poorly) to their latest hit. One my favorite new shows, Smallville,
made me cringe two seasons ago when they had the band that performs
the show’s theme song play at the school dance. OK, not
exceptionally horrible. But then young Clark Kent walks up to
his bestest friend Pete, and this bit of dialogue comes spewing
forth:
CLARK: Hey, Pete, who’s the band? They rock!
PETE: Remy Zero! YEAH!
I felt like a baby seal getting clubbed over the head.
As overwhelming as the advertising onslaught may feel, I can’t
blame them for trying. After all, if the mountain won’t
come to Mohammed, then Mohammed’s people should probably
develop a focus group to study the problem, create an incredibly
large SUV with DVD players in the headrests that show me the
latest episodes of Who Wants To Be A Bazillionaire,
and go 4x4’ing over the damn mountain. All powered, of
course, by a “Hemi.”(See, even TiVo users aren’t
completely immune to the barrage of inane ads).
But this is the price I pay for embracing my TiVo and its ability
to watch three or four minutes of commercials in 15 seconds.
And truth be told, I can live with that.
*Promotional consideration provided by TiVo, MTV, Pedia-Lite,
the WB, and Elektra Records.
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