Standard mantra from the Cinnamon couch heard on almost a nightly basis…150 channels give or take, and nothing…to be honest we watch way too much bad TV…bad meaning, “there is nothing on so I guess we’ll watch this tired, overplayed, predictable crap.” Am I alone in this vacuum, this void, this seemingly black hole of never-ending, non-original, non-sense? Have we come to the end of creative, funny, dramatic, intense, informative ideas? Certainly not. We just aren’t getting anything original because the dinosaurs that run the networks don’t like risk, or unknowns, or anything new that doesn’t have a built-in audience and guaranteed revenue streams. Might I suggest something…the big media conglomeration are actually dying and will go the way of the dinosaurs and TV as you know it is about change; and I’m not talking about the overblown switch from analog to digital in February.

I don’t think you’ll wake up tomorrow and CBS, NBC, ABC, & Fox will be gone – of course not…but they are losing power and market share everyday and just like the big three automakers they will wake-up to the realization that most people (especially the younger generations) now consider the status quo a liability/trash/not worth their effort – people didn’t stop buying Ford’s or GM vehicles because they don’t make reliable cars, people stopped buying because ‘reliable’ lost its value and the cool, hip, fresh, risky became the deal maker - How else do you explain people driving cars that look like a box with 4 wheels! Meaning simply this: the average/reliable/safe/status quo just aint good enough anymore. This was never so evident to me than on Tuesday night when ABC premiered a new show…’Scrubs’ a zany show about a daydreaming doctor and his struggle to understand life through pithy circumstances surrounded by a group of hilariously wacky people. Problem is Scrubs premiered in 2001 on NBC…I actually like the show but after watching the ABC incarnation Sarah said they didn’t change anything, it’s the same exact show – and let’s face it – it’s tired, overdone, overplayed, and predictable.

So what is filling the creative void in the market? What is taking the eyeballs away from the networks? The internet…don’t make a mistake here and assume that the internet is actually the cause of change…it’s not…it is merely the tool by which creative, talented individuals are able to distribute and build communities around their work. Jay Black a blogger for tvsquad.com writes an interesting piece about Leo Laporte…one such entrepreneur that has succeed in capturing a niche audience that would otherwise go unserved or be reduced to enduring the terrible G4 cable channel. I’ll let you read his take on what Leo is doing - for full disclosure purposes I am a TWiT and happen to agree with Jay. I’m also a guy who found great interest in the ’24 hours of iPhone Coverage’ Leporte did during the iPhone 3G launch, which was basically people talking about the new iPhone while standing in line to get one – so you might not be able to track with my level of geekiness – I understand. But Jay’s point is valid, a network TV show cost roughly ½ million to 1 million to produce per hour…Leo’s (per his tweet commenting on the tvsquad the story) cost is about $450 per hour to produce – Someone in Leo’s position only needs a few thousand viewers to make a nice living – just wait until there are 100 TWiT-like networks or when there are a thousand – one or two them serving up content that you and a few thousand others really enjoy.

Ok, so maybe that’s only a small part of the equation and the TWiT network is more tech news oriented & round table discussion than pure original creativity. So what about creative people doing creative things? You have the recent Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog incident. If you have not seen it you should. It is a 43-minute musical film, initially produced exclusively for Internet distribution. It stars Major Minor TV star Neil Patrick Harris (Doogie Howser, M.D. or Barney on How I Met Your Mother) and tells the story of Dr. Horrible, the aspiring supervillain alter ego of Billy; Captain Hammer, his nemesis; and Penny, their mutual love interest. The short movie was written by writer/director Joss Whedon during the writers’ strike. It’s original, funny, edgy, and pretty entertaining.

But a single instance of creativity, or brilliance, or amusement won’t kill TV as we know it. So here are a few more examples of where individual are making almost TV quality content without the money of the big networks and more importantly without the influences of the big networks. Revison3.com is a whole network of internet-only shows. Many are focused at a niche group of people like comic book nuts or movie junkies or tech nerds. One of the shows on the network that Sarah and I both enjoyed was ctrl-alt-chicken, a slightly off beat cooking show hosted by a couple of nerds who don’t know how to cook. Sarah actually made two of the dishes they featured on the show – Chicken Cordon Blue (not so good) and Manicotti (very good) The point is the Revison3 network is full of shows that hit a target audience along with being fresh, untethered, and unpredictable. No network involvement, no scared CEO’s to nix something a bit different or new and if the show fails to gain an audience, like ctrl-alt-chicken which is out of production, you simply archive the dozen shows you made for the fans and you move on to next idea. For brevity I’ll mention only one more of the internet-only networks, though there are many and growing everyday… another example is channelflip.com – a British take on tech, games, movies, culture, comedy, etc…

Fueling their own death of dominance, big networks are jumping on the bandwagon and putting together/sponsoring sites like hulu.com and Joost.com. These sites are turning big numbers and making big in-roads even though they are only replaying network produced material. These sites have the advantage of being on-demand and pretty high quality. So now you can watch all three seasons of the off-beat comedy Arrested Development for free on Hulu.com – pretty cool. But they are making the mistake I warned you not to make – they assume incorrectly the internet is the catalyst driving the loss of eyeballs on TV, but it isn’t the internet at all. It is the pitiful content they produce year after year that has people searching for the new, the interesting, the next. They should instead launch sites with fresh new programming contrived and created by the best talent they have under contract and turn them loose to become a brilliant hit or a horrible failure (in the Revision3 vane – try something and see if it sticks). But of course they won’t and they will discover far too late just as the Big Auto Companies, the Newspaper Business, the Big Record Labels that individuals have changed and no longer value reliable cars, news that is printed on paper, or music produced by propped-up plastic artist that can’t really sing and no longer what to watch the same old junk they keep turning out.

One final area that is creating a huge distraction from traditional TV are sites like YouTube.com, Metacafe.com, FunnyorDie.com, etc…the list is endless. Most feature short clips that range from music videos to original comedy sketches to homemade videos of every stupid thing imaginable. Some of these sites like YouTube have actually been an asset to the big networks by reminding people of some the descent content they are producing. For example the recent resurgence of Saturday Night Live which hasn’t been funny for years, but recently with the political climate and the talents of Tina Fey has drawn a lot of attention – don’t worry I don’t expect it to be funny again for at least another four years. I’m also sure the phenomenon of these sites driving eyeball back to the network will fade too. Especially since the networks are actively trying to keep sites like YouTube from having and showing  their material. 

All this and more is changing TV as we know it. Not for the masses at first, but eventually the sheep will follow.

A milestone of sorts has been reached. One year ago we started theCinnamons.com blog. It has served as a pretty consistent flow of information for friends and family. I imagined it to a bit more than just family happening but that’s on me. I haven’t written the kind of thoughts that branch out beyond projects or funny things the kids do. Anyway here are the stats for 2008:

I enjoy numbers so it’s pretty cool to see how many unique people visited and how many pages were viewed this year. Google analytics is pretty awesome.

-Chris

To say I don’t read might be an overstatement…I can indeed read – I have to all the time, my job(s) require it. To say I don’t read for fun or enjoyment is more to the point. I don’t. My first actual read for fun, my first completed book where someone wasn’t forcing me to consume the content was Left Behind…I was twenty-one (Imagine my disappointment when I realized I would have to read another 21 books to see how the story ends).  I don’t even think I finished the Seuss classic Green Eggs and Ham – I remember getting to ‘would you like them in a box or with a fox’ and either getting hungry or deciding the impracticality of eating such a food in those places with those animals was beyond my sensibilities.?

So why am I sputtering on about reading for recreation and expansion of the mind, when it’s obvious it is not a priority and I don’t make time for it…because I have discovered something that has me excited about finally getting to enjoy the world of literature like never before. This is not a new concept, in fact if your parents, grandparents, or primary school teachers were concerned with your mental development, vocabulary skills, and ability to grasp concepts – they read to you. That’s right…Someone Reading to you! This concept is not new to me either, for nearly all twelve years of marriage Sarah has fought nausea to read while we traveled in the car somewhere. We have read some great books – 5 or 6 Frank Peretti books, Creating Community, Church Planting Books, and most recently Crazy Love by Francis Chan.

Up to this point I had not found a way to convince Sarah to ride everywhere with me and read ;0
For Christmas my loving wife out of her wisdom and grace got me a subscription to Audible.com. Audible is bookstore of over 55,000 books in audio form…it is an incredible resource and a new way to consume content like never before. I am of course late to the game, early adopters have been using and enjoying Audible.com for years but now that I have found it, I wanted to share it with anyone who will listen (pun intended). I typically spend at least 1h 15min in the car on my commute everyday plus an hour working out a few days a week…with that recaptured time I should be able to read at a minimum a couple books a month.  

Here is a free way to see you are going to like Audible.com
You can get a free audio book that I’m reading right now called Tribes – this is a book about the social culture of people and how they respond to leadership. Pretty insightful book about taking a group of people and turning them into a movement. It’s free, it’s about 4 hours, and it is read by the author. I’m enjoying it…

Click here to get it http://www.audible.com/adbl/entry/offers/productPromo2.jsp?BV_UseBVCookie=Yes&productID=FR_ADBL_000302

You won’t need a credit card or anything but you will need to setup an account. Follow the steps to download the audible software and it will put the book in your media manager of choice – I’m using iTunes. I think if you try it…you will love it. Let me know.
www.audible.com

--Chris

Some people are still confused about all this sub-prime mortgage stuff and how we have gotten into such a financial mess. Dilbert is one of my all time favorite comics and this particular strip is so clarifying.

Many people have asked me what it is like to now be a stay-at-home mom. While it took some adjusting at first (primarily becasue I was detoxing from a 50+ hour a week job and was pregnant) - I feel like I've gotten into a rhythm and absolutely love it. The one thing that I do miss however is adult conversation!! Don't get me wrong - Isaac is quite engaging - but it's just not quite the same as 'girltalk'. For example - here are a few of today's main topics...

    * My tummy's telling me I'm hungry (self explanatory)
    * I need a possible to feel me better (I need a popsicle to help me feel better).
     * I'm dancing with my peepee (Please don't ask).

It's these types of conversations that get me excited/nervous for what tomorrow holds! :) And keeps me loving life with my babies! (However, anyone up for a little 'girltalk' - feel free to give me a shout out any ol' time!!) :)

At Blackbaud, where Chris works, there is a pond in the parking lot. Chris sent me these pictures today. If this is what's going on outside - what on earth is happening inside? No wonder the poor boy is so stressed!!

This week has been a lot of fun for Isaac because his buddy Joshua has come over to play and spend the day with him three different days (Monday, Tuesday and Today). Then to top that off we went on a playdate with Joshua, his mama Jenny, their baby girl Emma and our baby girl Lacie yesterday at the Charleston Children's Museum (an extremely cool place for those of you who live here in SC). In fact I felt like 'super mommy' yesterday because after a fun morning playing at the museum we had to go straight to the doctor's office for Lacie's two month check-up. Where we found out that our little girl - well, isn't so little. :) 24 inches and 12.3 pounds. 90-95 percentile for her age. WooWee! After long naps from both of them, we all trecked off to the YMCA for mom and dad to have some time to exercise. It was a hopin' day and a rather successful one at that.

So riding that high, today I thought to myself - I will put on my 'super mommy' underoos and fly through the day again. I will take all three kids out shopping. So I lined the back seat with carseats and piled everyone in. Having my handy dandy cracker supply and multiple sippy cups filling the center console - we were off and running. First to the dump- yeah the dump (don't knock it til you try it!), then off to Target or as it is affectionately known in our home the 'popcorn store'. About the time we reached the store - Lacie decided she was hungry. No problem. Parking at the far end of the parking lot I pulled her out and from the front seat proceeded to entertain the boys with every song that I knew of - filled with silly faces and funny noises I soon had the back seat giggling without control. Super mommy to the rescue. Finishing quickly we headed into Target and to one of their 'monster' carts. Sitting both boys in their seats and Lacie in the front basket, quickly buying our $1.09 popcorn combo we were off and rolling yet again. The boys sweetly shared their popcorn - Isaac would hand Joshua a piece 'Tank oo Isaac' 'Oh, you're welcome Joshua', all while Lacie sat bright eyed cooing and smiling at the lights overhead - sweetness oozed from the cart. Slowly I walked the aisles collecting only a few necessities and daydreaming about the things I wished I could buy. It was a lovely time. We checked out and made our way back to the car where Lacie realized that she was tired and would not be settled down with a mere pacifier. Placing the boys in their seats, giving them their cups and remaining popcorn - I gently rocked and sweetly sang Lacie to sleep. Super mommy rides again. We were soon on our way home when I heard a panicked voice from the backseat. "I got to pee!' This is not good. There is no way that I can pull over, unbuckle all three babies - hurridly make it inside somewhere and get him on a potty without an accident. What do I do? This is just not good. I actually thought to myself - maybe he can hold it - okay not a particularly smart thought. The crys and screams from the backseat quickly escalated as the poor child was doing everything in his power to try and hold it. I looked back to see a true look of fear and terror on his face and really could only imagine what was going through his head. So doing the only thing a 'super mommy' could do - I pulled the car over to nearest parking lot, flung him out of his seat, stripped him bare for all to see and loudly demanded 'PEE'! I can only imagine what people veering out of their windows must have thought. Of course I had no dry clothes for the boy (there was some leakage) - so I promptly placed my bare butt child back in his seat. And we have now made it home. Needless to say I think my 'super mommy underoos' now have a shot elastic band and I, like the children, am ready for a nap!

Have you ever had one of those nights where no matter how tired you were, how long your day had been, or how very much you wanted to go to sleep - you simply could not!! Tonight officially marks my fourth night of having such a feeling. For the past three nights I haven't been able to fall asleep before 2:30 a.m. and given that it is about 1:00 a.m. currently it's not looking so good for tonight either. Laying down has become a new form of 'cruel and unusal punishment' for me so I thought that kicking my feet up in the Lazy Boy would be the solution. That and putting some distance between myself and Chris - who is thoroughly enjoying a good night's sleep - seems to be a good idea since I want very much for him to suffer along with me. The distance between the chair and him prevents me from 'inadvertently' whacking him with something to which I could then say, 'Oh, you can't sleep either.' But I digress - I have been able to actually get a little relief and comfort - but because of that - now I don't want to move. The problem with this you ask? The remote to the t.v. is now on the floor, just out of reach. (Many of you are now feeling my pain, right?) So I have found myself 'stuck' watching a show - get this - called 'Scott Baio, 46 and Pregnant' (Yes, the same Scott Baio who was on 'Happy Days' and 'Charles in Charge'). It is a reality show that follows after Scott as he refuses to grow-up, is scared to death of commitment and is now freaking out because he's about to become a daddy. Yes, folks - now that is quality television. I would share more with you about tonight's particular episode, but wouldn't want to spoil it for any of you who may still be watching his first reality show - 'Scott Baio, 45 and Single' (Oh, how I wish I were making that up). So my advice to those of you, who like myself, are finding it hard to give into sleep - run as fast as you can into a wall until you knock yourself out or simply take a couple of Tylenol PM - either option would be less painful. Pleasant dreams, my friends.