The best TV ain't on the box my friend.

This morning, quite accidentally, I stumbled across a TV show. I shouldn’t say TV show, is should maybe just say show, because the box in the corner of the lounge didn’t help me watch it.

I know, I know, I will chew the ear of anyone who will listen about the wonders of the digital revolution and how it will ultimately leave broadcast TV behind. Currently the internet TV we’re seeing that is viable is also broadcast on TV and cable and is either available on multiple platforms, or a copy made and distributed of a TV show. Basically: TV on a smaller screen, or piracy. There are lots of online TV services (the previuously discussed and excellent WasabiTV for example), but we are still at the thin end of curve.

The internet is meant to be freeing and democratic, and when we start to bring these ideals into the production and distribution of programs we will continue to see more and more new and interesting things. The idea of a populace making their own television. An individual could make one TV show in there whole lives, a period where they truly and critically engage with media and create something new. If 1/1000th of the world did this we would drown in millennia of content. The economic model for something like this is of course ridiculous, but a boy with a spare millennia can dream.

But I digress. I found a little show on the youtubes (one can only assume these are tubes for you?). “Radioface” has to be one of the funniest shows I’ve seen in quite a while. I can’t call it a sketch show as the whole show seems to sit inside this great performance of a very refreshing and self-aware internet identity. There are still all the nods to television continuity and editing, so this isn’t something so “new” (read: crap) it is totally unwatchable as can happen with entirely internet shows. The comedy isn’t really for everybody, but as an internet based show this is really to be expected. There are still elements that are entirely dependant on computers: the editing of computer game footage, hypertextuality, and the shaking of laptops to manipulate performances. The result is an exceptionally funny show that is well worth the half hour to watch the three parts.

Parts two a three embedded in the extended.