 |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Think McSteamy will ever be back to face off with McDreamy on Grey's Anatomy? Want to know more about what goes on behind the scenes of CSI: Miami or The Unit? Maybe you just can't get enough of Dwight Schrute, The Office dork.
Go to the blogs. SURVEY: Which TV show blogs do you follow? Official websites for television programs long have offered episode information, cast biographies and photo galleries, but the newest must-have accessory is a blog. While most blogs are opinions, thoughts or random comments similar to what's found in a diary, newsletter or op-ed piece, TV show blogs range from factual to fictional to just plain funny. On ABC's Boston Legal, the blog is in the form of wacky Case Notes from lawyer Denny Crane (played by William Shatner). On NBC's Medium, Allison Dubois' husband, Joe, keeps a journal of her dreams. On CBS' NCIS, Pauley blogs about anything going on that week; it is written by actress Pauley Perrette, who plays a goth scientist. "It's nice for shows to have connections with the fans. It makes you closer and more involved in the product you're watching," says Corey Miller, executive story editor and blogger for CSI: Miami. In general, TV is a hot blogging topic. According to blog-tracking site Technorati.com, about 30,000 posts a day in the past month mention "TV." Only about 2,000 a day have mentioned "George Bush." "I can tell you from the TV-show fan perspective that TV blogs are very much growing in popularity," says Sherri Lonon, a writer at teevblogger.com. As blogging goes berserk on the Web in general, TV shows are beefing up their blogs to help market their programs in a more community-friendly way, offering eager and younger tech-savvy fans a bonus for being loyal and, in the end, boosting ratings for the shows. "Everyone these days in network television is feeling the pinch of the erosion of viewership, and any way we can reach out to viewers and find people in other ways has become an important mandate from the network," says Tim Kring, executive producer of NBC's Crossing Jordan. The show's Nigel blog — written by character Dr. Nigel Townsend, a quirky forensics expert — has escalated into a video story line of its own that will be incorporated into the on-air plot. "It really behooves all the shows to do this," says Steve Andrade, vice president of interactive development for NBC. "I've been in this job for 10 years. For the first time, all the creative people in town are finally realizing how advantageous it is to work in this space. They all know it's going to be part of their future. There is no model. We're all trying to figure it out." But Andrade warns blogging can get bloated. "Every blog is not necessary. The key to blogs is if they work from a creative point of view." They seem to be working on NBC's The Office, one of the biggest blog-loving shows around. Rainn Wilson, the actor who plays Dwight Schrute, writes his own character blog called Schrute's Space. And he's not alone. Just about all the actors are online at myspace.com as the show is being filmed. "We sit at our desks and do our comments and write blogs," says Jenna Fischer, who plays receptionist Pam Beesley. She almost always is seen sitting behind her computer, which makes it easier to keep up with her weekly blog about what goes on at the set for TVGuide.com and her own personal blog at www.myspace.com/pambeesley. Fischer and Andrade think the extra work pays off. For Season 1 last year, The Office averaged 6.6 million viewers. Now, the show is available on iTunes, the blogs have boosted online interest, and it's in a new Thursday night slot after MyName Is Earl. The Office has averaged 8.6 million viewers this season to date. "What's especially interesting about The Office is that it benefited from aggressive promotion on iTunes," says Pete Blackshaw, chief marketing officer of Nielsen BuzzMetrics. "How much is unclear, but there's no question that NBC is receiving an impressive level of extra buzz online." Online buzz gives a new kind of validation, Fischer says. "I grew up doing theater. That's where I was trained, and I got used to that instant feedback, but you don't get it doing TV. Having a blog, you get that feedback. You get to hear what people think." While Fischer blogs about behind-the-scenes antics (catering folks brought in steak and lobster, and NBC sent a gelato stand to the set on the final day of filming), over at ABC's hot, soapy doctor drama, Grey's Anatomy, blogs are approached entirely differently. Stacy McKee, a Grey's staff writer, pens The Nurse's Station, a blog written from Nurse Debbie's point of view. Chris Van Dusen, who is the assistant to creator Shonda Rhimes, writes Joe's Blog, done from character Joe the bartender's perspective. A third blog is Grey Matter, penned by whoever writes that week's episode. The goal of the nurse's blog and Joe's blog, McKee says, is "to have the fly-on-the-wall character who sees them at work and then in the evening — a similar voice as the fans' but a little more information. It's like gossiping with your friends when you read it." The two blogs have been so successful that she and Van Dusen have a book coming out by their characters in the fall. The blogging is all thanks to Rhimes' vision, Van Dusen says. "She wanted to have a really cool website with lots of features." It was Van Dusen's idea to create Joe's blog because Joe is in the middle of everything. Like most good bartenders, "Joe gets an earful." Not all shows go the character-blog route. Eric Haney, author, ex-Delta Force member and executive producer of CBS' new hit show The Unit, says he spends about "five minutes" knocking off a few paragraphs for a blog each week. "I am one of the last of the low-tech dinosaurs. In creating and producing our show, I thought it was pretty funny that we needed to have a blog, but I'm one of the owners. When you take your pigs to market, you have to tell people about them." His goal: to give fans a "little inside peek" at the show. "Everyone wants to feel like you're sitting down to talk to them." Fans demand interaction that message boards can't give, says James Van Praagh, executive producer of CBS' Ghost Whisperer, which features Jennifer Love Hewitt as a medium. Van Praagh has had a worldwide following for his work as a medium. In his blog he not only tells people what's going on in the set, but he also can add "a spiritual dimension to it." He adds, "You have to remember also, I'm a teacher. The reason I'm doing these shows is to teach people that there is life after death." He adds jokingly, "I talk to dead people and you want to talk about blogging?"
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
