teng time

Go back to the 90’s (and even earlier than that), by watching some old school TV shows on the CBS Classics site.  Read this on Gizmodo yesterday and was psyched to re-live a little bit of that time when I ate Gushers candy and wore  stirruped hot pink stretchy pants.  Like the post says though, it’s no Hulu.  And it’s not as polished as the video players on ABC and NBC’s respective sites.  Although if I had to pick my favorite network TV site to watch video from, it would be ABC.  It seems to freeze less and the focus is on delivering the video.  And as a consumer, that is my #1 with-a-bullet priority.

But some of the old school TV shows have already been available on You Tube’s CBS channel since October. My nostalgia led me to explore the other aspects of the CBS site where I tried out the Watch & Chat where you join social viewing rooms and watch a show with other people.  They rolled this out in October as well.  You’re able to “comment” which is basically chatting with the other people in the same viewing room as well as play trivia games while watching your selected show.  You can also shoot an arrow or throw a tomato anywhere on the screen, accompanied by a cheesy sound effect.

It’s a really interesting idea and brings a new level of interaction to video.  It’s a bit ironic actually, since watching television has grown into more of a solitary affair.  Some families still watch their favorite shows together, but it seems more common to have a personal TV in every room of your typical middle-class family.  This is what comes to mind on a typical weeknight: Dad’s in the living room watching CNN, Mom’s in the master bedroom catching up on the daytime soaps she DVR’d, kids in the family room watching Hannah Montana.  Sounds stereotypical, I know.  But the point is this: people have the tools today to watch what they want, when they want, whereever they want.  Especially with TV available on the internet.  This leads to more solitary activity.  With more access, you won’t have to clear your schedule Monday night to watch 24 when you could record it on DVR, or catch it on Hulu or Fox.com.  Or for those so inclined, you could search for a torrent and download it with bittorrent on your computer.  It’s not as big of deal as it was before these tools.  So I’m not sure how much social viewing rooms will catch on when people are used to watching TV alone.

When things are a big deal however, people want to share the experience with others and that’s when interactive video can take advantage.  People tend to go to the movies with their friends and rarely, if ever, go alone.  There’s limited access to movies compared to TV so it feels like more special, more of an event.  And special events are meant to be shared experiences.  Like the CNN/Facebook Connect showing of the inauguration.  A historical event watched live, discussed live with live people over the internets.  And you could share this experience with people you actually knew, instead of the random anonymity that is more characteristic of live chat and commenting.  That’s definitely an exciting direction video is going.  I’m interested to see what other kinds of events this can be applied to.  Maybe sports.  Definitely the Olympics, that would be a great way to watch it.

Well, I’m off to indulge my nostalgia and watch the Pilot episode of Beverly Hills, 90210 on CBS Classics.