What's On: The Networks Do Cyberspace

by Marshal Rosenthal
Spring 1998

Going online might be a great way to study art or brush up on your history, but we all know what's really important: Entertainment! The broadcast networks know this too. Although their initial embrace of cyberspace was lukewarm, featuring little in the way of creativity and lots in the way of recycled material, they learned their lesson fast. Create interesting interactive content on the Web to enhance the viewing public's favorite TV programs and the eyeballs will follow. Once the networks realized the Internet was here to stay--and that people liked seeing TV-oriented content on the Web--they all jumped on the bandwagon and began to produce so-called "TV companion sites" containing "companion content." When made well, these sites, designed in conjunction with popular television programs, can do a lot more than a TV show can by itself. In most cases, the new sites are developed under the network's logo, making it easy to find what you like just by going to a single online location. Here, then, are some of the best examples of what the major broadcast networks have produced to take you for a TV trip through cyberspace. Fasten your seat belt and surf on!

Extend The Experience

One way companion content works is for a network to create a Web site that takes the story line from its show and extends it online. This allows the online viewer to continue the so-called "suspension of belief," enter the TV show's reality and become an interactive participant.

NBC's The Pretender Adventure (www.nbc.com/thrillogy/pretender/) allows viewers the opportunity to be one of the bad guys that never quite seem able to catch the elusive Jarod. Choose from one of many assignments (or try a training mission first), then go about deciphering clues and searching for where Jarod might be found. This site is very similar to those static-screen role-playing games where you click on places to move about from one place to another and learn what's going on. You can even "talk" to characters that you meet. The more you communicate -- the more information you'll uncover that can help you accomplish the mission.

Homicide: Second Shift (www.nbc.com/homicide) also creates a new scenario based on the popular Homicide: Life On The Streets program. The viewer is involved in "TV-like" stories that focus on the "other side" of Homicide--the crew of detectives, sergeants and lieutenants who work the hours opposite the TV characters; sitting at the same desks as their counterparts and combing the same Baltimore neighborhoods for clues to the latest murders. This "cyber-spinoff" from the series features interactive elements so viewers can participate in ongoing crime investigation and compare notes with the online detectives. It should be noted that, due to strong graphic content, this site is intended for mature audiences.

Also intended for adults is ABC's At the Scene of NYPD Blue (www.abc.com/primetime/nypd_blue/index.html). According to the mantra, "Every detective's dream is an ordinary citizen who can provide an eyewitness account and the iron-clad proof needed for an arrest," viewers are placed at the scene of a crime and given the chance to view what has occurred. They then become a "witness" and are cross-examined by the online detectives. It's a chance to see just how good your powers of observation really are.

At The Max (www.nbc.com/atthemax/pgv_maxcafe.html) is a fictitious online diner where the teen gang from Saved by the Bell: The New Class hangs out. This site provides entertainment and educational issues through original content and a host of activities (such as the regularly scheduled "Chat Parties"). Quiz games like "How Do You Rate" challenge teens to compare handling real-world situations and tough issues, and are accompanied by video clips from "Bell" and other NBC youth-oriented shows.

But as bad as teen angst can be, Adam MacArthur of the Fox Network's The Visitor (www.thevisitor.com) has it worse. Viewers interested in knowing more about this mysterious stranger will find the site's "Web show" a rich vein to tap into. Designed in conjunction with Intel, and featuring cutting edge technologies (thus making it frustrating for those with slow PCs and modems), you're able to join in on the hunt for Adam. Clues are provided through streaming video clips, audio and text files, and tie-in with the episodes being broadcast.

Playing With The Experience

Another way to tie the television show to its Web site is to provide secrets and hidden bits of information about the show. ABC has Prop Secret, which reveals little-known tricks of the TV trade. On their Soap site (www.abc.com/soaps) can be found bios of the daytime characters chronicling their adventures and daily trials and tribulations. For the devoted soap fan, this kind of information is much more useful than some trivia about how tall Susan Lucci really is. ABC extends this theme in their TGIF block (www.abc.com/tgif) which is geared for the teen and pre-teen audience with such shows as Sabrina: The Teenage Witch, Boy Meets World and Teen Angel. Games at these sites both feature and encompass all the shows - such as TGIF Stars & You, which lets kids answer questions and then see which of the TGIF stars they most closely resemble on an animated chart.

CBS takes interactivity one step farther at their WHEEL 2000 site (www.wheel2000.com). This type of companion Web site that is designed to be used while the show is actually being broadcast. Based on Wheel of Fortune and starring David Sidoni and Lucy, the animated "virtual" hostess, participants can become "virtual" contestants by filling out a submission form online. When a player on the TV show lands on the special spot on the wheel, one of these submissions is drawn. If the on-air contestant gets a letter on the board that round, the "virtual contestant" wins a prize.

And then, of course, there's the staples of online TV--cast photos, biographies, program guides, fan sites, and other goodies. Chat is another growing trend, with more online chats happening with stars from the TV shows than ever before. Rosie O'Donnell had so much success with her daytime chat sessions she started doing them every Monday during commercial breaks. Some stars will even answer their e-mail directly (we've been told that the entire cast of ABC's The Practice will do that).

So get out there and surf. It's a lot more fun than just lying back with a remote.

Marshal Rosenthal is a freelance technology and digital entertainment journalist.