The Continental - Hamilton College

talk of the townthe future of televisionInternet. Television. Between the two of them, they pretty muchhave the market covered on your spare time. But with advancesin streaming time and the cost of producing a television showeach increasing exponentially each year, what can be said aboutthe mixture of the two? What about internet TV?There are a few different ways of looking at internet television.First, we have the age-old (and by age-old I mean abouta year old) practice of watching yourfavorite shows from NBC, CBS and ABC onthe respective websites. It’s handy and takescare of those nasty commercials. Score onefor the corporations keeping in control, butthat’s not quite what I’m getting at here. Theonly ways in which that’s really revolutionaryis that it means you don’t need a TV to watchTV. Pour the champagne.Second, then, is YouTube. I love YouTube.I could write sonnets to YouTube. But in andof itself, YouTube isn’t really a form of television. It’s more like a reallylong episode of America’s Funniest Home Videos, without the commercials,but plus some really creepy stuff. Plus, even here, copyrightedcontent sneaks in. YouTube has a tendency to host anything except forporn, which leads to a lot of illegal scans of TV shows and movies. And,well, funny as YouTube is, it’s not really known for its scripted content.I can watch every episodein order whenever I want,without waiting for a marathon,and the only othershow that lets you do thatis Law and Order, but that’sjust a fluke.Which brings me to number three, scripted internet content.That’s right, there is television on your internet. Sure, it may not be thatgreat, but it’s there. The best example of scripted content which wouldordinarily be on a television network is the show Quarterlife. It’s a sortof soap opera about being in your mid-twenties. It’s melodramatic andangst-y, and since the longest episode is about eleven minutes, ridiculouslyaddictive. All you have to do is load up a couple and start watching,and before you realize it, you’re hooked.You can’t help but cheer every time Jed givesDylan a puppy eyes look. Plus, every episodeis right there for you. Right. There.And that is why the internet actuallymakes a fair point here. Let’s face it. Televisionhas all the good content: Lost, House MD, Heroes,How I Met Your Mother, etc. What theinternet has is archiving. Quarterlife may be acraptastic show, but I can watch every episodein order whenever I want, without waiting fora marathon, and the only other show that lets you do that is Law andOrder, but that’s just a fluke.We may need to give the internet some time to get its act together,but it’s getting there. I mean, what’s not to love? Every episode available,you don’t have to buy a TV, and after all, there’s always YouTube.- rachel frazier ’09the continental | spring 2008 27