Congdon debuts on ABCNews.com
Cory Bergman December 12th, 2006
Today was former Rocketboom host Amanda Congdon’s first video blog post on ABCNews.com. As Chris writes in comments, “It looks like Rocketboom with an ABC logo to me.” Yes, you’ll recognize the Rocketboom influence, from the set to the camera turns to the story selection. Now, I have mixed feelings about her new gig. Kudos to ABCNews.com for having the guts to go beyond traditional repurposed TV on the web. Yet I wonder if the “garage cool factor” is gone now that she’s part of a professional ABC News production. Sometimes slapping a big media brand (or a 30-second pre-roll ad) on something can ruin it. But Amanda doesn’t seem to be too influenced by it all. Right out of the gate she dissed ABCNews.com’s pop up video player (she likes embedded players) even declaring, “Javascript sucks.” A young, hip person poking fun at a traditional network on the network’s own site? Now this could get really good.
Did you watch? Tell us what you think in comments…
21 Comments Add your own
1. Chris | December 13th, 2006 at 8:06 am
Looks like Rocketboom with an ABC logo to me.
2. Allen | December 13th, 2006 at 8:47 am
Nice set, nice lighting, but I never saw the appeal of her reports. A little too over the top for me. And for someone so on the cutting edge, why does she use the term “film” when talking about Tori Spelling’s video shoot of her “yard sale”?
3. thedetroitchannel | December 13th, 2006 at 9:40 am
“nice set”.
yep, looks like a d-cup!
4. terry | December 13th, 2006 at 10:48 am
:30 pre-roll commercial? Come on…….you guys can do better than that.
5. adam | December 13th, 2006 at 12:19 pm
Pure trash.
6. John | December 13th, 2006 at 12:23 pm
Are the ABC suits so out of touch that they let her wear a Steely Dan T-shirt on her first effort? I don’t really care either way, just surprised to see a sex toy plug so soon. And don’t try to tell me it’s the music she’s supporting.
7. Safran | December 13th, 2006 at 12:53 pm
John: ’70s rock band T-Shirts are in, or at least were in earlier this year or late last year. (Help me out, Rex.) I’m looking for a Foghat, Sweet or ELO.
8. Jason | December 13th, 2006 at 1:43 pm
The player is so horrible. I kept struggling with the ad for Vonage, which kept expanding. Really ruined the viewing experience for me.
9. J.C. Payne | December 13th, 2006 at 2:28 pm
Maybe I just don’t get it. Cute girl, hip newscast, whatever.
If ABC is willing to put the work in to really push Amanda Congdon, more power to them. Personally, I’m not sure if I really want to fool with another Rocketboom clone, even if it is cloned from Amanda herself.
10. Anonymous | December 13th, 2006 at 2:42 pm
this is so horrible its not even funny.
11. W | December 13th, 2006 at 3:31 pm
It’s nice with the sound off!
12. Anonymous | December 13th, 2006 at 4:30 pm
Even more difficult to watch.
13. Jonathan | December 13th, 2006 at 6:07 pm
This is not videoblogging, it is a videocast when produced by an established broadcast company.
The ads that precede the videocast, the ads that surround the page, the camera distance from Amanda, all shout “this is not Rocketboom.com, not even close.”
When on Rocketboom.com Amanda was often criticized for having a pretty woman TV appearance, but it worked. Well you can bring TV aspects to videoblogging but apparently you cannot successfully bring the soul of videoblogging to TV–too much corporate overlay for that to happen.
14. flotsam | December 13th, 2006 at 8:57 pm
…and in addition to the gripe fest above, there is this.
when a major newspaper draws a straight line connecting amanda congdon and walter cronkite, the world as we knew it came to an end.
congdon and cronkite? the heffernan person at the Times needs a serious head examination.
15. Steve Safran | December 14th, 2006 at 8:18 am
Amanda jumps the snark.
16. Anonymous | December 14th, 2006 at 10:10 am
Holy f*ck. That was horrible.
17. Donnie MacIntyre | December 14th, 2006 at 12:17 pm
I watched till 3:11 and couldn’t take anymore.
18. nakedeye | December 14th, 2006 at 8:10 pm
…..could they have concentrated any more on demonstrating that ms. congdon has breasts? the t shirt…she lighting..the camera angles…
….not quite to the soft core-come on level, but this was, for sure, sex for sale.
19. Zack | December 15th, 2006 at 8:03 pm
Man, did that ever suck.
To bad they couldn’t do something other than a bad clone of RB.
Did creativity leave this planet?
20. Jonathan | December 20th, 2006 at 12:01 pm
Amanda, Amanda, Amanda, it’s the look and feel of the whole site, not just the Wal-Mart ads that tell me this is not going to work. You said to follow the links to follow the story about the jailed journalist, but there were no links to follow. I wanted to use the slider to view parts again but there is no slider.
Unlike what Time Magazine proclaimed, we, your viewers and you, are definitely NOT in control at ABC.com
Why not go it alone and regain your control?
21. MOJO | January 18th, 2008 at 5:59 am
Wow, thanks for the excellent information!
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