"You're going to make it after all!"

Despite being 38 years late to the party, The Mary Tyler Moore Show is officially one of my "shows." I find myself watching it every chance I get - all thanks to Hulu.com.

Now, since I am a student of Television, I can say that I have previewed a bit of The Mary Tyler Moore Show and most certainly understand its importance from a historical and academic point of view, but all that aside, it is just a really good show. And to quote my favorite professor - "it really holds up!"

Hulu.com has tapped into something that is important when assessing the current Internet video landscape - old TV shows. Think about it, if the random computer user went onto Google and typed in The Mary Tyler Moore Show today they would get a link to access Hulu.com which in turn would take them to 3 complete seasons of the program - all for free and all legal. Besides it being legit, it is also so easy to use and it's design is attractive.

Back in March of 2007, NBC Universal and News Corp announced a partnership to create a website that would allow users to view quality content for free. This ad supported site would include popular television programs as well as full length feature films. Finally in October 2007, the beta site for Hulu.com launched and there were rave reviews! Today many still find Hulu to be the out in front favorite for streaming TV content despite the fact that not all of the major networks have climbed aboard. Despite that fact if you type in a CBS program such as Swingtown Hulu will direct you to the CBS.com website.

The other cool thing about Hulu.com is that you can embed entire episodes onto your own website (see below!) Also, if I wanted to tell you about a particular portion of the show, Hulu.com allows me to pare down the show and embed just that portion. Again, pretty cool.

But really for me, the best part is all the shows on Hulu.com. I love that there old shows on there that I can watch whenever and wherever I want. I mean, honestly, where else can I (with a conscious - i.e. not stealing/pirating) watch an episode of The Dick van Dyke Show, Alf or The Office, I can just go to Hulu.com.

Admittedly, I've stumbled upon this site because of my research project, however, with the lackluster summer TV lineup I found myself last night watching a couple of episodes of MTM Show despite the fact that a Food Network Challenge (Birthday Cake Surprise) was on my TV.

Which brings me to the big question in this hodgepodge of a post - Are people more inclined to watch reruns online rather than new (yet fluffier) summer fare on their TVs? Well, if the chart from Alexa.com is any indication, perhaps this is the case.

LINK TO ALEXA.COM GRAPH

In this graph we see the four major networks websites compared with Hulu.com. As a researcher, I cannot in good faith make ANY conclusions about this except to say that Hulu.com traffic has increased in the last few months since the season finales aired. The graph is comparing the network websites not the viewership of the television networks themselves. That said, I'm wondering if because the content on the TV channels is not garnering interest, the same rolls over to the websites and therefore, online viewers who usually watch their shows from the network homepages are not doing so as much when their shows were in season. Whereas, the Hulu.com viewers are remaining steady. What would be more interesting is if the Hulu.com line increased at the same rate that the others decreased. That is not the case here, obviously.

So, these are some of the things I've been thinking about today. Enjoy and be sure to let me know what you think. In the coming week I'll be discussing more about the various online destinations for TV content as well as places for original web content. It is truly amazing (also exhausting) to know how many options there are out there!

"Best Office Prank Ever"

One of my favorite shows is The Office on NBC. The writing is sharp, the acting is awesome - overall great show. One of my favorite relationships on that show is between Jim and Dwight. They sit essentially facing each other and Jim, the office prankster is always coming up with hilarious ways to torture Dwight (well, I guess the writers are, but you get the point). One time, Jim molded Dwight's stapler into a mold of Jello - hilarious! Another time he snagged some of Dwight's letterhead and sent him an ominous message from "future Dwight."

Here's a great series of clips of some of the best pranks in a video called "Jim v. Dwight":



So, seeing my penchant for office pranks I decided on this humid Tuesday I'd add one of my favorite web videos. I first found it on CNN's sister site ireport.com and is titled "Best Office Prank Ever." When I looked further I noticed that this video was created and produced through CheeksDown.com. I think what I love most about this site is the VP of Sales who stares so long at the wall as if it might move if she concentrates real hard! Also, what CEO wears gym clothes to the office. As of when I posted this entry, this video received 1,342,012 views since it was posted in August of 2007. Can't determine if those are unique views (most likely not), but figured I'd give some stats.
Watch and enjoy!


If you want to hear how they did it - click here to see the same clip, but this time with their commentary.

A little explanation about CheeksDown.com:
This doozy of a site consists of videos made for the Internet to be passed around for pure amusement. The people that create the content for this site are a comedy troupe with merchandise and well, I guess I should let them speak for themselves about who they are and what they do. Here's a video they made to explain "WTF is CheeksDown.com?"




It has come to my attention while writing this particular post that there is a whole mini-culture of cubicle pranksters that get their inspiration from The Office. On the show's website, there are even photos and stories about those people who reenact pranks from the show. I've created a list below of a few videos, blogs and articles about office pranks. While prank videos abound online, it seems that the office prank and its popularity is in no small way linked to the NBC hit.

Super Funny Prank: This is one of my favorites because a similar thing happened to me back in my cubicle days. A friend sent me a forward and a scary image came up like the one in the video below and I shrieked so loud that people from other departments on my floor came running to see what happened. Embarrassing - yes, Funny - absolutely!



At Entrepreneur.com they detail the "Top 10 Office Pranks Exposed" in an article devoted entirely to Office pranks.

Windward Reports: Cubicle Wars 2006: This video has been viewed over 1.8 million times and is clearly a staged/produced comedy spoof on the growing office prank web videos. It also uses the same stylistic elements from The Office by making it a "mock-umentary."


Golf Office Prank: What is interesting about this prank is that it is actually an ad for the state of Nebraska and their site visitNebraska.org.


Ultimate Cubicle Prank: This seems a bit more amateur-ish, but some of the aesthetics are the same and the self-reflexive nature is evident in their mentioning of other pranks posted online. The prank in and of itself is pretty funny and quite impressive!


I guess these videos all leave me asking the same questions: where do these people work? don't they have better things to do with their work day?!
Hope you enjoy!