Well, here we are at Friday. Even though it’s been a short week, it has felt like a month. It’s been a crazy week for me. As always, this is an off-topic post and you can talk about whatever you’d like to share with the other Zoners who are frequenting this thread.
I’d like to start the conversation with sharing a video that was left in the comments today, and I thought it was interesting enough to share. It’s a bit long, but it’s worth the watch if you’re at all curious about why the Viacom sites do what they do with their sites. Although the content in this videos is not specific to Stephen and Jon, this is a very interesting video featuring VP’s of media from all over the Viacom spectrum discussing the development of their web site content. Specifically, it’s a forum featuring Erik Flannigan, EVP-Digital Media, MTVN Entertainment Group; Courtney Holt, EVP-Digital Media, MTVN Music and Logo Group; Nada Stirratt, EVP-Digital Advertising, MTVN; Steve Youngwood, EVP-Digital Media, MTVN Kids and Family Group. It’s very enlightening hearing the direction of the Corporate ideas behind the online strategies manifested in the official sites for TCR and TDS. The speaker you want to pay attention to is Erik Flannigan, who is in charge of the sites for our favorite shows. He goes into depth into the history and revamp of TheDailyShow.com as well as other issues relating to that site.
We actually wrote an open letter to Erik Flannigan when he took over the media site with suggestions for the official sites for ‘The Colbert Report’. To Comedy Central’s credit there have been many improvements on the official sites for ‘The Daily Show’ and TCR, especially involving the embeddable video. Flannigan addresses this issue multiple times in the below video, and he is very aware that the video content issue is very important to the integration of the message of the shows into social media.
It certainly looks like the official CC site is going to continue to take positive steps to give the Colbert fans the features they desire in a web site. I think the top of my wish list so far of changes that have yet to be made is a date-searchable video database similar to TheDailyShow.com. Second is to have a full library of videos similar to TheDailyShow.com. Listening to Flannigan speak in the video, I get the impression that this is very much on the agenda for all of the Comedy Central sites, and that makes me feel good that we will see these features eventually.
On a different note, I have no idea what direction that ColbertNation.com is going, but it seems like any development that was scheduled has been on hold since the strike began and “Avery” went into a coma. The tone of the site has simplified since the return of the writer/s during the strike, but there has not been any true growth or development with the content or direction since the July 2006 revamp. I’m curious to see if they’re going to try to develop that site into something more useful, or if they’re going to give it a good Christian burial. I have heard rumors that the site was planning a revamp including major changes to the content, but that was months ago and I haven’t seen any progress to any of the things I heard. But I haven’t given up hope yet.
We’ve already discussed a wish list for No Fact Zone, but I’d love to see discussion about your wish list for the official site (and for ColbertNation.com) in the comments.
I was just surfing the internets and read an old article that began “blahblah Rachel Maddow, 21, blahblah,” and knew that it would’ve been 13-14 years ago. Then I see the date on it, 1995. And I pause. And I think to myself, that’s not right. Then I do the math. This is what followed:
HOLY CRAP 1995 WAS 13 YEARS AGO?! IT FEELS LIKE NOT THAT LONG AGO! THAT WHOLE DECADE FEELS LIKE JUST A COUPLE YEARS AGO! HOLY CRAP WE WERE STILL LIVING IN NORTH CAROLINA THEN! HOLY CRAP I WAS ONLY SIX THEN!
I do this a lot, I think. Men in Black, for example, seems like it was made fairly recently. I know that it was made in 1997, but I have to stop and think to realize that that’s over ten years in the past. I’ve a feeling it’s just because that’s the decade I grew up in. Does anybody else do this sort of thing, or am I just going crazy?
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no i totally feel the same way, i dont think i will ever be able to see the ’90 as being retro or anything close to it, no matter how much time passes, cus honestly IT WAS JUST YESTERDAY! or else it really feels like it lol it is really strange… but soon we’ll be into the teens of the 2000′s, its so crazy…. oh how time does fly
lol and 1995, i was 6 also…
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LOL. I was also 6 in 1995! And in North Carolina (I’m still in NC)
And yeah, you’re right. I loved the 90′s and still hold them in a special place in my heart. They do seem like just yesterday, back when we had the original Playstations, and Segas and Nintendos, and we watched Rugrats and other Nickelodeon shows.
Ahhh… the good ol’ days.
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… I was TEN in 1995. You youngin’.
Similar things happen to me, though. Recently I was discussing the musicals at my old high school with my younger sister, and she said they were thinking about doing Bye Bye Birdie.
“Ha!” says I. “They won’t do that! They don’t repeat plays until like ten years passes. They did Bye Bye Birdie when I was in 7th grade.”
“Um…” says she. “That was ten years ago.”
Says I: “… omg.”
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7 years old in ’95. wow.
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I swear the WristSTRONG bracelet has some magical healing powers. My wrist has been hurting all day (after I took it off around 5pm), so I decided to put it back on (it’s now 11:30pm), and the pain stopped!
Does anyone else have any WristSTRONG stories?
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haha,
yeah i’m a drummer, and i’ve always had wrist problems, but ever since i got my wristSTRONG bracelet, things have been looking up, and my wrist is in better shape…
then again, more than likely it’s all in my head, and had nothing to do with the bracelet, but it’s still fun to pretend lol, also i’m kindda superstitious, i believe in good luck charms and whatnot…
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thanks for the video! new media strategy is interesting
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Here’s a plea I have for Comedy Central and/or whomever is in charge of this: I would really love to see you all retire the I Am America (And So Can You!) closing credits for the U.S. version of The Colbert Report.
Don’t get me wrong, IAA(ASCY!) authors; the book is a hoot, and I still smile every time I see it on the shelves at the bookstore. But we’re going on eight months now since the book’s release. Judging from the book’s impressive performance on the bestseller lists and the, er, zeal of the show’s fanbase, I’m thinking the people who’ve watched the show four nights/week ever since October 9th last year are more than ready to see the end of the advertisement over the closing credits.
Having seen the way the Global Edition ends, I’m even more ready to see the IAA(ASCY!) version of the credits go.
Just a suggestion/plea.
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I agree with you Ms I. I am tired of the IIA (ASCY!) closing credits. I have been turning the TV off as soon as I see that is how the show is going to end. I would love it if the US version of TCR had the same closing credits as the Global Edition. Another idea I thought of is that they could show us deleted scenes while the credits roll.
I have also been wanting them to change “President Have a Hotdog with Me” in the show opening. I liked it originally but I’m ready for “Warrior-Poet” or something else to replace it.
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I agree completely! I have previously railed against the annoyingly incessant “I Am America” close… what’s wrong with giving us Colbert and his adoring audience for 10 or 20 seconds?
And yes, the hot dog thing is old, and it was a one-off joke to start with. I thought Self-Evident was great (Philly shows) — it got a big laugh from me, and then disappeared. New word, please? *grabby hand*
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So, is Avery *still* in a coma? Cuz wow, that really sucks if he is. I think ColbertNation is a little better now (no offense to Avery or Avery-fans), but I feel bad for him if he’s still out.
Just a quick side note that’s totally irrelevant: I’M OUT OF SCHOOL! YAY! Today was the last day. Now I can stay up and watch TDS/TCR and not record them! :D
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From what I understand, there is no “Avery”. There is a gentleman who works in the Colbert offices (as opposed to the CC blogging department, who does the official site), who is in charge of content, and ColbertNation.com is run independently of the official sites run out of the Viacom corporate offices. So, no coma.
Besides, we had NFZ staffers at the event in question where Avery was supposedly injured and sent into a coma, and we have multiple witnesses that claim no ambulance was seen during the entire event. So yeah, no coma.
One of the problems I’ve always had about the site is the fact that it proports to be an “authentic” fansite, and has fooled many people into believing its authenticity as an independent fan site. And there actually was quite a bit of concern for “Avery” when he was “injured”. At times, it seems as if the site is purposely mocking those who believe in the farce. And they’ve got to be aware of the feelings of the fans on some level – they no longer allow comments after a blistering series of comments left during the strike.
All I know is that while the concept of ColbertNation.com is good, the execution has been poor almost since its inception. There is so much potential for even a faux fan site, and it seems a waste to let the site linger in such an embarrassing state.
There are absolutely no resources at that site that aren’t being done better somewhere else on the web. The Colboards are monitored by vigilent fans who get absolutely no official acknowledgement of their work and are forced to work with very limited resources. The small bits of original content on CN.com, such as Tek Jansen excerpts and “fan fiction”, haven’t been updated since before No Fact Zone started up. The content has mercifully dropped a large portion of the Avery schtick, but again, the space is wasted on meaningless filler.
I don’t blame “Avery” or the person claiming to be them on the site. I’m sure they’re doing the best they can with the resources available and are following the guidance of someone who has made it painfully obvious that they have absolutely no concept whatsoever of what the readership wants in web content from the show. But the resources simply seem to have not been alloted to the maintainers of the site, and because of that, the site is a pimple on the face of the ‘Colbert Report’ web presence.
[steps off soapbox]
ReCAPTCHA: “and mourns” How appropriate.
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OH MY GOD. I didn’t know that…holy moo, why would they do that? That’s terrible! Wow…I really don’t even know what to say to that. Thanks for the info, DB. Good to know.
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Thank you, DB, for mentioning a whole host of things about the ColbertNation.com site that have been dancing around in my own head for months. It’s a shame that something that started out as being a really fun place for fans to converge has sort of fallen by the wayside. I’m pretty sure I’ve ranted about the whole Avery in a coma shtick thing before, and why they chose to create a “character” who manages that site I’ll never understand. In my own honest and humble opinion, I really think that’s part of the reason why so many folks have migrated here to collectively “squee” about the fandom. I’ve met some wonderfully amazing folks here which I never did over at the Colboards. I really believe that there are a lot of die hard forum posters still there, which is why I seriously doubt they’ll ever “close” them, or integrate it to the shiny new “official” site.
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Why be so modest, DB?
I remember that NFZ “exposed” Avery last year…
ReCaptcha: FARRINGTON Aloha – !?!
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Actually, Avery did pop out of his coma before the Report went to Chilidelphia, and announced on the blog changes in his life that suggested he was distancing himself from the loser-living-in-mom’s-basement schtick.
Since then, though, I haven’t kept up with the blog. It’s pretty boring, mostly featuring user-submitted stuff, which is fine, but since they disabled the comments you can’t even comment on what you like and don’t like.
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I totally agree. Though, I will say, the Clambo posts during the strike were pretty funny. But, other than that, it’s been somewhat of a snooze-fest.
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Here’s an off-topic ramble (so what better place for it?) that popped up because of this story I saw over in The Hill: “GOP has more time to drink at convention“.
Evidently, the Minnesota legislature and the Minneapolis City Council have approved/are about to approve a measure allowing bars to stay open until 4:00 a.m. while the GOP Convention is taking place (bars close at 2:00 a.m. in Denver, where the Dems will be).
This amuses me for two reasons:
(1) When I was an undergrad in MN, a friend of mine drove a limo for a black tie dinner or some such during one of the big government visits to Minnesota (IIRC, it may have been Al Gore who was visiting). My friend told me that he and the other drivers were chatting with the Secret Service while the event was going on, and that one of them (the drivers) made a joking “complaint” about how late the event was running, noting that the liquor stores would be closed by the time they got off of work and that (since MN’s liquor stores are closed on Sundays) they would be out of luck for the rest of the weekend. The Secret Service agents, hearing this, supposedly began making brusque comments into their handpieces … and before long, fellow agents had “liberated” a couple of cases of fine champagne for the drivers to take along with them at the end of the night. Ah, my tax (and party!) dollars at work. :)
(2) I’m not sure whether it’s ultimately sadder or funnier, but I’ll settle for “funny enough” for now. I know public sentiment has turned pretty decisively against the Republicans of late, but are things so bad for them that they now need an extra two hours per night in which to commit suicide by liver disease?! I mean … wow.
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Thank you for the info, MsI. This reminds me of why I hate conventions. Self-involved, self-congratulatory, self-abusing wastes of money, where the balloon budget alone could feed thousands of hungry people.
I vote for sad.
I’m looking forward to pointed skewering on the level of the Indecision 2004 coverage. And I will greatly miss Stephen roaming the floor (back when most did not recognize him) and dancing with the ridiculous conventioneers. May I please repeat myself and demand coverage from Jon AND Stephen at the same desk? There is nothing to compare with this.
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I totally agree with your Jon & Stephen Collaboration wishes. They MUST know how happy that would make at least 90% of the Nation, if not more. And yes, it’s going to be odd watching convention coverage, and not see Stephen bouncing around in the way only Stephen can. Though I do have a special place in my heart for John Oliver.
The conventions themselves are just another thing on the long, long, LONG list of things that make me sad in regards to the more important issues that the thousands and even millions of dollars spent could go into.
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Much as I love seeing Jon and Stephen (together!), I’m still just not sure this could be a possibility. Combining the shows to broadcast from a single stage would necessarily reduce the size of the live audience unless they could find some larger venue and fix it up to use just for that night. I know I’m biased because I did see one of the election shows in person, but it would have been a shame to have missed it due to space constraints.
And the overseas broadcasts are a whole added element. If you look at the UK broadcast, with More 4 owning TDS and FX owning TCR, I just think there would be a ton of bureaucratic nonsense to deal with if the shows ran with a single broadcast. I’m no entertainment and/or copyright lawyer, but it just seems like it would be a jumble.
I’m sure whatever the shows do will be wonderful; I just don’t see a Jon and Stephen re-teaming as being feasible, myself.
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Two more bar hours to pick up a “companion” for the Convention off-time. Sad but true. The bars near the state capitol here really hum during legislative sessions.
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Hmmmm…a wish list, eh?
I will say, when I first happened upon the seriously revamped Daily Show site, I was ecstatic over being able to catch up on the 10+ years I missed of the show (and watch tons of “Back in Black”s, my favorite bit on the show). And after the new TCR site was unveiled and mirrored the Daily Show site, I couldn’t have been more pleased or excited.
My only qualm, and wish list item, is not having some of the most classic and beloved segments available to view on the TCR site. In helping WWG here and there update links on CU, I was really disappointed to see that a bunch of classic video gems were labeled as “This Video Is No Longer Available”. Though perhaps the general population, or casual fan, might not be concerned, it saddens me that I’ve yet to watch some of the funniest and most brilliant bits that were on earlier episodes of The Report.
I understand that the folks who worked on the 2 aforementioned sites are also working on developing other sites for Comedy Central. But, I really hope the fandom’s request to have all videos from all the previously aired episodes is heard. I appreciate all their hard work and dedication thus far to really give Comedy Central’s internet presence a makeover, however, I sincerely hope that sometime soon, they’ll dig through the treasure trove of goodies TCR has produced over the years, and make them available to the newest generation of fans.
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Great Friday Free-for-all photo — thanks!!
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Anybody else watching the DNC Rules & Bylaws committee coverage? What’s up with all this applause and booing? I’d think that they’d forbid that sort of thing and try to keep up a modicum of respectability. Plus it’s holding up the proceedings. And is annoying.
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My hubby is currently watching the DVR’d made for TV movie, The Andromeda Strain on A&E, and he called me into the room to watch a specific part of it. Here’s an excerpt from a review of it (SPOILER ALERT: It summarizes the movie, so if you’re into it, don’t click on this link) which sums it up better than I could…
[...] “It contains more humor than one would expect, and these comic touches help relieve the movie’s extreme tension.
For instance: After a pot-smoking young woman flees her affected boyfriend, she encounters investigative journalist Jack Nash (Eric McCormack, ‘Will & Grace’), who’s also on the run from military men trying to silence him.
When he tries to calm her by wondering if she’d seen him on the TV news, she replies: ‘No, I just watch Colbert; ‘South Park’ sometimes.’ “
Just had to share…couldn’t find a video of it to post, but I thought it was cool.
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They actually put humor into it?
I was pondering whether or not to watch it, because I like the whole could-actually-happen-scares-the-crap-out-of -you type things like that, but rarely do they contain humor. Lol.
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They did, actually. There were a few parts where I heard him laugh out loud, particularly this one, mostly because he has to live with my fandom. Hehehe…
I’m totally with you on movies and such that are more lifelike or could possibly happen being the scariest. “The Day After Tomorrow” gave me nightmares…
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Yeah! I own that movie, actually.
I’m also a big fan of Michael Crichton books, which are the same genre. I’m currently reading Next and it’s kinda freaking me out. Lol.
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Check it out! David Sedaris is scheduled to appear on The Daily Show on Tuesday, June 3rd!!
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I saw that! I’m so excited!
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Me too, how cool would it be if David got to do the toss to Stephen instead of Jon.
recaptcha: Time bacteria!
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Has anyone else bought the Colbert Barnes & Noble bag? I got one for everyday water bottle/reading material/shlepping/etc. use, and a 2nd one for shopping (which is usually carried rolled up in the first). I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen people smile as I pass and they catch a glimpse of the bag, or how many people have actually stopped me to remark about it. The presence of Stephen never fails to spread joy!
reCAPTCHA: Ecuador first. Viva!(?)
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Yeah, I got two. I love bringing them to the store with me. We’ve been using totes for groceries for a while, though, but I’m glad it’s starting to finally catch on.
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I went to my local Barnes & Nobles and they SOLD OUT. So I ordered one. The total came to an approx. $19. Pricey, but so worth it.
I can’t wait til I get it (4-5 buisness days).
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*celebrates*
I finally got the SWC DVD set for my birthday! Yay!
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