A New Species of Couch Potato Takes Root
| News Media Commentary | |
|---|---|
| Title: | A New Species of Couch Potato Takes Root |
| Commentator: | James Barron |
| Date(s): | November 6, 1994 |
| Venue: | online (originally print?) |
| Fandom: | focus is on The X-Files |
| External Links: | A New Species of Couch Potato Takes Root page 1, Archived version A New Species of Couch Potato Takes Root page 2, Archived version A New Species of Couch Potato Takes Root page 3, Archived version |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
A New Species of Couch Potato Takes Root is a 1994 article by James Barron in the New York Times.
Excerpts
CHRISTOPHER FUSCO watches his favorite television show from a chrome-legged swivel chair he bought at a yard sale. The moment a commercial comes on, he whirls around to his I.B.M.-compatible personal computer, dials up an on-line service and types out messages to other fans who are also tuned in to "The X-Files," the Fox network's New Age answer to "The Twilight Zone" or "The Outer Limits."When the commercial ends, Mr. Fusco, a 24-year-old molecular biologist who lives in Germantown, Md., logs off and rolls back to the television.
Mr. Fusco is the newest kind of couch potato. When not staring at one video screen (his television), he is staring at another (his computer monitor). When the closing credits roll on one, the show is just beginning on the other.
Gone are the days when America had to wait to argue about who shot J.R. Now fans can sign on to an on-line service for their morning-after water-cooler conversation without holding off until morning, without gathering at a water cooler and without actually speaking a word. "On-line lets us get that feedback immediately," declared Mike Markowitz, a writer for "Duckman," the USA Network's "Beavis and Butt-head"-style cartoon show. He said he knew the show had arrived when someone set up a "Duckman" news group on the Usenet, a loose affiliation of computers and bulletin boards linking 10 million people. "What more success can you achieve?" he asked.
On-line services are an odd 90's version of the "if you want to know more" reading lists at the end of documentaries. But with the right software, you can do more than read: you can download photos of stars or play advertiser-sponsored trivia games. "Full motion video," which is computer jargon for the kinds of continuous images you see on television, is not quite there yet. You can watch videos on line, but they need to be transmitted at speeds most modems can't handle, so they come out looking herky-jerky.
Every minute that an on-line user like Mr. Fusco is logged on is a minute he could have spent watching television. But the networks aren't worried that their viewers are being siphoned away. Far from it. The broadcasters are flocking to on-line services, in part because computer users tend to be precisely the kinds of people who network executives had feared were deserting them -- younger and wealthier than the average viewer.
Until Delphi, Prodigy and America Online figure out what users really want, the television publicity mills are filling on-line directories with promotional materials. Some bulletin boards about specific shows are set up by users themselves, like the old-fashioned fan clubs, rather than being "authorized" by the networks. A click of the mouse will bring up photos and video clips that users with the right software can download, and on the NBC Online section of America Online, they can read recent press releases the network has issued. On Prodigy, they can read David Letterman's last five "top 10" lists; on America Online they can go over the sober transcript of "Washington Week." They can order "Murder, She Wrote" coffee mugs or tickets to "Late Night With Conan O'Brien."
Even the people behind the on-line services are stunned by just how ardent that love affair is. "I am amazed at the public," declared Mitch Davis, a special events producer at ABC News who helps oversee ABC Online. In its first week, 800 to 1,000 people downloaded snapshots of ABC News anchors like Mr. Jennings or Ted Koppel, even though it takes 15 to 20 minutes for each photo to come through. "It's like we opened a spigot," Mr. Davis said. "I still don't know what uses people have for those things."
On-line services are like the bar in "Cheers": everybody knows your name. But the name everybody knows is your user name, which is usually a made-up jumble like MYRIAD1 or SMARTKISS or REAPR.
Warren Littlefield, NBC's programming chief, has one, though NBC won't say what it is. "He called me and said, 'Did you read what this guy said on America Online?' " Mr. Moore says. "I thought, jeez, I wonder if somebody in Lincoln, Neb., knows it's being read by the head of the network. Warren can sit at his desk, turn on the computer and if he has a minute or two, punch this stuff up, and there it is, uncensored." The Qualms Robust Exchanges Or E-Small-Talk?The only person eavesdropping on the old-fashioned water-cooler chitchat was an angry boss barking back-to-work orders. Now it's network bosses and feedback-hungry producers who go incognito on line. "Like a good scientist, you don't want to upset the process by being there," said Mr. Kennedy, the Fox research chief. "People become more upset with you or more positive toward you if they know you're there."
Or more excited. James Wong, an "X-Files" executive producer, logged on Delphi as WONG. "Immediately, 25 questions: are you James Wong?" said Mr. Jacobson of Delphi. "It was like an Elvis sighting."
It is all a bit much for Chris Carter, the show's creator. "It's a little hard to synthesize all these things," Mr. Carter said at the end of a week in which 10,000 people used the "X-Files" section of Delphi.
That is not to say he is usually impressed by what he sees on line. "It's not as interesting to me as a well-written letter, hard copy, snail mail," Mr. Carter said. "Most of the Internet stuff is very conversational. Some people think that's the beauty of it. The written word is what it is, and if someone is going to put together a thoughtful commentary or criticism, it takes more than just sitting down and dashing something off."
To the fans, what matters is the access. "Who's got time to meet with fans?" said Mr. Fusco, whose devotion to "The X-Files" so impressed the people at Delphi that they eventually hired him to manage the bulletin board about the show. "In essence, they're kind of too busy. They're in California or wherever they are, or commuting to Vancouver, where they do the shooting. But by putting them on line, they can respond whenever they have time."
Not all celebrities are rushing to go on line, though, as Mr. Moore found during an "auditorium session" on NBC Online. He logged on at the NBC studios in Burbank, Calif., ready for an electronic dialogue with 300 fans, when Jay Leno walked in.
"He sees this, sees me typing, and says, 'What are you doing?' " Mr. Moore recalled. "I say, 'I'm talking to hundreds of people who are sitting at their computers on a Saturday night.' He goes, 'Why don't you just pick up the phone? You have to type to do that. This is a regressive technology. This is not an advancement.' As the carpal tunnel syndrome was kicking in 45 minutes later, I thought, 'Yeah, I can talk a lot easier than I can type.' "