Thursday, November 15, 2007

Last Post

11:40 PM So, the show has now finished and I pause to reflect. It's hard work and my back is aching. Typing very intensely and quickly for an hour, trying to listen to the telly, read texts on the TV screen, interpret, type and correct type at the same time, while trying to string together poignant reflections. Time for a cuppa.

But what's my takeaway from this? Well, it strikes me as very strange that when I sat down at 10.30pm to watch, the first feeling that struck me was of boredom. The minute the show started. Why does this kick in? Was it the desperate predictability of it all? Am I cynical? Or is it really that the staged drama of two politicians standing on podiums answering predictable questions in staged words really has become "past it"?

I honestly think it has. There was nothing to touch me in the broadcast TV content. It was sameold sameold. The real interest lay in how the txters bantered with each other, and tried, alternately, to make poignant, relevant, sage and insightful comments on the one hands and sharp witty asides on the other.

The txting show was a community. It felt like being WITH people rather than watching a show. I felt part of it - knowing I could txt in, get noticed and get some response, live from around the nation.

If this ever catches on, I suspect the future of TV will be massively different and "broadcasts" will become ever less relevant and uninteresting. It will catch on.

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