Television is the New Television

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed by this person are highly uninformed and courageously out of date. I am neither a knowledgeable person, nor a person of knowledge, and I would never claim to know the difference between the two. Nor am I knowledgeable about the world of web series, not today, tomorrow, or probably into next week. Honestly, I could probably spend the next eight hundred weekends studying the world of the web series and would come out in no better position of understanding then than now. Why? Because I'm an idiot. I'm not a complete idiot, but I'm mostly idiot. I have more idiot in me than not idiot, so my days of being an authority on anything other than what's in my many storage boxes never began. As a creator of a web series (Hold For Release) myself, I guess you could say I'm just another majority idiot working in the world of web series. Is that anything to brag about? Of course not. Idiots have had a place in Television for as long as I've been watching my box- for many years, they were the ones programming it. And as is the case in most arenas of life, the smart people eventually will force out the idiots and I think that's what's happening in Television over the last couple decades, because let's face it- it was really bad for many years. And now, it's not so bad if you know where to look.

Which leads us back to web series. As a web series outsider, I'd say that it's mostly pretty bad, but like any Art, there's brilliance if you know where to look. And in ten years, more smart people will be in web series, and just as they did in Television, they will push us idiots to the fringe of whatever Television will be in the future. What will it be? Well, I think any decent idiot will tell you it will be what it is now, only different. If you wiki Television, you'll see way down at the bottom the section "Internet Television"- that, that right there, that'll be a much bigger section. More words, you could say. Because one thing I'm pretty sure of is that Television, Big Television- the networks and the Netflix and the Net money- will always go where the audience is. So if you think the web series landscape is crowded now, just you wait.

At conferences I've never attended and in matter-of-fact conversations I've never participated in, the consensus seems to be if you can't bring a hundred thousand views and ten thousand followers to the table, you can forget it. The chances of monetizing that web series you can kiss goodbye. Well, that sounds like Television, only worse. A complete disaster scenario for a social media Philistine like myself. Some people have compared the rise of the web series over the last decade to the early years of New York based Live Television. This is an inspirational comparison for myself because my grandfather, Fred Coe, rose quickly through the ranks of NBC to produce some of the finest moments in that era like the original broadcast of Marty on Philco Television Playhouse. But the party didn't last in New York, with live television, anyway. The money, the big money started calling the shots. Television left New York and the Golden Age ended.

So, whether the early television comparison goes any deeper than the idea that generally people want to be a part of something new and fresh, part of a Golden Age, I'll leave it to the smart people to decide. But I think it's clear the honeymoon is almost over and there's nothing quite innovative about making a web series at this point- it's simply a perfectly plausible reflection of the evolving media landscape. A remarkably accurate and understandable answer to where people spend their time. Television is the new Television- wiki is just a little slow on this one. But let's argue we are still in the last days of the Golden Age of web series- then I say, as one idiot to the next, let's enjoy it. There really is some great shows out there in the world of web series. Maybe the next Marty is streaming on You Tube right now. And when someone asks you "what do you feel like doing tonight?", put down your smart phone for a second and tell them, I'm already doing it, you idiot- I'm watching TV.