Chelsea Lately - Why Is The Show Funny To You?

Ok. I'm not getting the humor of the TV show Chelsea Lately. Why is it funny? What is it that makes it entertaining? I'm not getting it. Tell me. what is it?

Hulu - I Get My Hulu Invitation, Watch Bionic Woman

I received my Hulu invitation two days ago, which allowed me to take a look around. It's not anywhere like YouTube, and in my view NBC and others that have elected to take down their YouTube channels have made a massive error. These platforms are complementary.

In my view, Hulu is simply network television online. YouTube is a video distribution device that's designed to cause viral video propagation. YouTube clips are generally between three and six minutes. "Bionic Woman" -- shown here -- is 42 minutes long (and you can watch the whole episode "The List" above right now). Thus, the best strategy for NBC is to maintain and explains its YouTube presence and install links to Hulu-based shows. In my view, Hulu will never reach YouTube's level of viewship just by design.

But that written, I like the Hulu system. The video picture is clear, even my Mom liked it and she's used to the standard tube and watches YouTube videos.

Hulu brings up another interesting question: are Hulu views part of the Nielsen ratings for Bionic Woman?

Hulu Lanches, But It's No YouTube Challenger - Hulu Will Fail In Two Years

Hulu was tagged as a YouTube challenger, but one visit to its site tells me that is not the case, and that was confirmed by CrunchBase , which wrote...

Hulu is NBC Universal and News Corporation’s online video joint venture. The site is set to launch in the Fall around October and will focus on professional content and not take on YouTube directly as a viral video destination. The site raised $100 million in financing from Providence Equity Partners.

Hulu videos will be played in their own embeddable branded player. Content from at least a dozen TV networks and two major film studios is promised. Initial distribution partners include AOL, Comcast, MSN, MySpace and Yahoo.

Jason Kilar, hulu’s CEO, explains “Objectively, Hulu is short, easy to spell, easy to pronounce, and rhymes with itself. Subjectively, Hulu strikes us as an inherently fun name, one that captures the spirit of the service we’re building.” However, we’re not so sure it was the wisest name to pick.

It's rumored that News Corp./NBC have acquired Bejing-based startup Mojiti and will use its platform for the basis of Hulu.

NBC has always tried -- and failed -- to capture the Internet for it's use. This is the latest go around. NBC misses the boat because it is trying to use Hulu as a basis for its TV shows, even charging for each episode. That news left this blogger to say...

"NBC executives are crazy if they think I am going to Pay $5 an episode for TV Shows. I live overseas, but will happily ban watching any and ALL NBC shows. $1.99 per show or less than $35 a season is not bad. I hate to see what else they are going to do."

And that's the point. NBC executives are crazy. The problem is no one's telling them so. Look, if you've got TV programs no one will see on TV, people aren't going to rush to see them in droves online. NBC was bitching about iTunes and only making $15 million but that's because few people knew NBC shows were on iTunes. Plus, for those that did go to iTunes, they had a chance to get other content, not provided by NBC. That's all NBC's fault that they didn't work to promote their iTunes presence. Tisk.

I mean how stupid is this. You have this great way to tell millions of people about something at once, and you don't use it. NBC did not tell its viewers about iTunes on a consistent basis, and so it failed. No big surprise to me. And guess what. NBC's going to repeat the error with Hulu.

It will also be no big surprise when Hulu fails, either. I'll give it two years, tops. For more on the reasons why, stay tuned. And for another set of good reasons, check out Mr. Bren's take.

Ann Coulter - Say She's Part Of A Sick Joke - Admits Bigotry Is Wrong

Political Pundit and all around bomb-thrower Ann Coulter posted this on her site yesterday:

Dear Readers,
I've been participating in a charade for nearly eleven years, now. Quite frankly, I'm sick of it. You have all been a part of a sick joke that I began considering shortly after first getting on the air. At first, it was quite interesting to see how people would react when I would use twisted logic and poorly masked bigotry.

But eleven years is a long time to be living a fake life, and I can no longer tolerate this falsity. Even someone as fake as I tires out eventually.

Here's the truth, I don't care what people believe. Jews don't need to be "made perfect" as I so arrogantly proclaimed to Editor & Publisher not a half week ago.



I don't even care if people are Muslim. Granted, I don't know much about the religion or the people, but they are people. This is something that we cannot forget, they are in an abhorrent situation. These people are in need of education. Perhaps if we did not participate in causing them misery, they would not hate us so.

In fact, does it really matter whether we are Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Atheist, or even Pagan? We are one nation. One. We should not let petty differences separate us, we are all American, and should act in that manner.

And with that, my precious viewers, I bid you adieu. My career as a media figurehead is over.

Signed,

Ann Coulter

That was posted on her site. It's too bad it was not her writing. (Or that's what they say -- it could have been a publicity stunt. ) It's said that her site was "hacked" but I'd like to know by who. I'd like to congratulate them.

Blyk Is Innovative Solution That Could Revolutionize Communications

I just learned about Blyk a few seconds ago. The website for the product reads..

Blyk is the new mobile network for 16 – 24s that’s funded by advertising. Blyk links young people with brands they like and gives them free texts and minutes every month.

For advertisers, Blyk is an innovative, new media channel, providing direct access to the 16-24 year old market.

Blyk is now live in the UK. It will go pan-European during 2008 with the potential to reach over 40 million young consumers.

Blyk was co-founded by CEO Pekka Ala-Pietilä, former president of Nokia Corporation, and Antti Öhrling, Chairman and CEO of Contra Group.

Blyk has offices in London, UK and Helsinki, Finland

This network is free to the user and the target audience Blyk identifies is in every high school and college in the World. Wow. The most obvious connection to me is...

Well, I'm not going to say. Let's just leave this -- the clue: "Save The Cheerleader. Save The World."

Courant's Jessica Marsden Reports We've Got Too Much Media

Media Consumers Finally Saying, `Enough Already!'
Begin Cutting Claims On Time

By JESSICA MARSDEN | Courant Staff Writer
August 8, 2007

Americans' appetite for time in front of the computer, iPod or television may finally be on the wane, after almost a decade during which our media consumption grew steadily.

Consumers spent slightly less time with media - including both traditional and digital offerings, in print and onscreen - in 2006, compared with 2005. It was the first decline since 1997, private equity firm Veronis Suhler Stevenson reported Tuesday.

We now log an average of 9.7 hours each day consuming media. Some experts say we're at the saturation point.

"There's only so much time available to add more kinds of media," University of Hartford communications Professor Jack Banks said. "At some point, something's gotta give."

That something is likely to be traditional, ad-supported media like broadcast television and printed newspapers, which the report found are enjoying less attention from consumers as emerging media take up more of their time.

The 3,530 hours that the average consumer spent with media in 2006 - a whopping 40 percent of all hours, including sleep time - represented a 0.5 percent drop from 2005. Over the previous decade, media usage typically increased 1 percent to 3 percent a year, said Leo Kivijarv, vice president for research at PQ Media, which produced the report with VSS.

The term media was widely defined, including TV, newspapers, movies, books, music and video games, not to mention the wide world of the Internet.

Much of the previous decade's growth in media consumption stemmed from new technologies that generated new excitement. Kivijarv said. For example, consumers replacing VCRs with DVD players tended to spend more time with the new devices.

The slowdown in media consumption in 2006 represents a saturation point, Kivijarv said, but that doesn't mean Americans are waning in their hunger for the offerings on the vast media menu. Rather, he suggested, "on-demand" digital technologies allow consumers to be more efficient. Instead of leafing through several sections of a newspaper, readers are able to call up the two or three articles of interest to them, almost immediately on a newspaper's website, he said.

"Somebody goes online, they're very specific for what they're looking for," he said.

In a landscape as broad as American media, there could be plenty of room for growth in some areas even as others are saturated. For example, we could be unable to digest more active, leisure-time media at home, but have time available for more at the office, said Robert Thompson, professor of popular culture at Syracuse University.

The VSS report notes that media use at businesses and government offices - for legitimate work purposes - increased by about 3 percent in 2006, to an average 260 hours per employee. With a 40-hour week totaling 2,000 hours a year, that represents room for growth.

Then there is the matter of procrastination at work, as computers bring a festival of time-wasting opportunities that expand as old-line media jump online, Thompson said. Now that TV networks have started to offer their programming online, you can spend a very long lunch hour catching up on the latest episode of "Grey's Anatomy."

Last year, Thompson said, "was a big year for being able to watch TV at work and get away with it. You could never have dragged a portable TV set into your cubicle."

Young people are "probably at 100 percent media saturation, even counting sleeping," he said. Multitasking intersperses media consumption with the rest of life, and portable technology makes it possible to bring those habits anywhere, he said.

The report draws a sharp distinction between media that are mostly paid for by advertisers, such as broadcast TV and print journalism, and subscriber-funded media, including cable TV, video games and some websites. The first group, the heart of traditional mass media, is declining. The latter group is growing.

Advertisers have already followed audiences into new media, and that trend will gain speed. By 2011, the VSS report estimates, the Internet will surpass newspapers as the largest medium for advertising.

Contact Jessica Marsden at jmarsden@courant.com.